After a relatively quiet year, Minecraft is set to expand significantly with fresh new DLC content, as well as an array of tweaks and improvements in Game Update 1.21. As announced during Minecraft Live 2023, two new story-based expansions are coming to Minecraft shortly, in the form of Star Wars: Path of the Jedi and Planet Earth 3.
Star Wars: Path of the Jedi is a DLC arriving on 7 November 2023 that allows players to embody a Jedi Padawan excelling to the status of Knight across an unfolding story. This pack features lightsaber combat and Force powers, as well as an array of Star Wars characters and locations that will be familiar to fans of the franchise.
The Planet Earth 3 DLC arrives in 2024, and will be inspired by the BBC Earth series of the same name, with players able to immerse themselves “in the wonders of the natural world” as a means to better understand the human connection with nature.
Even more content is planned to launch in 2024, as part of Mojang’s 15th anniversary celebrations for Minecraft. As noted by the developer, the game has now sold 300 million copies worldwide, making it the best selling game of all time.
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Minecraft Update 1.21 and Minecraft Legends
Alongside these reveals at Minecraft Live 2023, Mojang has also confirmed an array of updates arriving in Minecraft and Minecraft Legends.
For those playing Minecraft Legends, you can expect an array of updates to launch later in 2023. These include new Lost Legends challenges, including the Halloween-themed “Creeper Clash” (19 October) and the holiday-adjacent “Snow vs Snout” in December. Also in December, players will gain access to new features including “frogs, new piglin unit and structure, and new witch allies in the game who will throw potions.”
As for the new Minecraft update, it looks like there’s plenty of new features on the way for keen players, including automated crafting, new light-emitting blocks, spawners, mobs, and more. Here’s the features rundown, per Mojang:
- The Crafter. For the first time, automated crafting is coming to Minecraft. A new feature that will be of particular interest for redstone engineers, the Crafter also includes a unique intuitive UI to help players new to redstone understand the feature’s mechanics.
- Trial Chamber. Procedurally generated structures underground, the new trial chamber present a unique challenge (including a new hostile mob!) for players to overcome. The trial chamber is generated using new copper block sets, Tuff block sets and copper bulbs.
- Copper Bulb. These new light-emitting blocks are made from copper and like other Copper blocks, can oxidize over time, be waxed, and scraped with an axe. The light level it emits depends on the oxidation stage – the more oxidised it is the dimmer it becomes!
- Trial Spawner. This new type of spawner will not spawn additional mobs for an extended period after it has spawned a specified target count of mobs, different than standard mob spawners. The spawner also rewards players by ejecting its loot. Trial Spawners will adjust some of their parameters dynamically based on how many players are nearby.
- The Breeze. The newest hostile mob added to Minecraft, the Breeze is found in the Trial Chambers, a challenge for players braving the chambers. The Breeze moves by jumping and shoots projectiles of wind energy that explode on impact, like how Blazes shoot fireballs. If it collides with a player or entity, it explodes immediately.
Minecraft‘s latest full-scale update is set to launch in mid-2024. You can look forward to this release, and a strong array of upcoming DLC expansions, over the next few months. Catch up with all the announcements from Minecraft Live 2023 on YouTube.
