Minecraft's big Nether Update launches on June 23rd
Light your portals
The overhaul for Minecraft's underworld is almost here. Mojang have been throwing out new information about the changes coming to The Nether for a while now and you'll get to check it out for yourself before the month ends. The Nether Update launches on June 23rd for both the Windows 10 and Java editions of Minecraft.
I popped in to take a look at some of the new underworld areas earlier this year when the first Nether Update snapshot got pushed to the Java edition of the game. At the time I mostly flew around checking out the new biomes being added.
Up until now, The Nether has had just one massive biome full of lava, soul sand, and fortresses. The update will add the spooky blueish Soulsand Valley, blood red Crimson Forest, otherworldly teal Warped Forest, and the grim, grey Basalt Deltas. Each biome has different spawn rates for Minecraft's Nether creatures, including the new baddies coming with the update.
Naturally, most of the new mobs in the Nether will want to kill you. The Hoglins are hostile mobs that you can capture and breed for food if they don't murder you first. Piglins are humanoid mobs that will attack you with sword and crossbows. Apparently they love gold so much that if you wear gold armor they'll be passive and open to trade with you in exchange for gold ingots.
The Striders are the weirdest but the coolest in my opinion. They're odd reddish creatures that look like a head with two legs attached. They can walk on lava, a handy ability made even handier for players who decide to saddle and ride them across the Nether's giant lava seas.
It's a seriously big update for what feels like one of Minecraft's last big frontiers. Mojang have given some love to everything from oceans to villages to mineshafts while the Nether has remained largely the same spooky place it's always been. Heck, don't we all want to build our Nether bases out of something other than Netherrack and Quartz? Think of the building possibilities with new Nether blocks.
One of the other big additions in the update is a set of new musical pieces by composer Lena Raine who you may know for her work on Celeste.
You can find out more about the Nether update on its official website. It will hit both the Windows 10 and Java editions of the game on Tuesday, June 23rd.