Everything New in Minecraft 26.3, Available Now!

Minecraft 26.3 is now fully released and available to play! Titled the Wilderness Bound update, Mojang has introduced a new biome, new sets of building blocks, a new structure, and more. We've broken down all of the changes in this update below so you know what to expect the next time you click play!

Dappled Forest Biome

A "wilderness" themed update wouldn't be complete without the addition of an all-new biome to the game!

The new Dappled Forest biome can be discovered in unexplored areas of your world (or anywhere in newly generated ones), and is home to a much warmer aesthetic perfect for the Fall season. This biome comes with a new signature wood from Poplar Trees, and you may notice the new shelf mushrooms growing on their trunks!

These shelf mushrooms can also be jumped on / stood on, making them another interesting addition for parkour, stairs, and other more creative building options.

Straw Beds

Traversing the wilderness is now easier than ever thanks to straw beds!

Whether you're roaming the world to find the perfect biome to build your home or exploring late-game for structures, straw beds give you a way to finally sleep through the night without setting your spawn to a random place in the world!

This means you can avoid monsters of the night while still keeping your spawn safe back at your home. Just be sure to bring a few, because straw beds are single-use only.

Concrete Slabs / Stairs

The first of three major updates to colorful blocks in the game is concrete!

The smoothest blocks in the game have now been expanded with the option to create stairs and slabs out of any color you'd like. These are crafted in the same style as regular stairs and slabs, but using colored concrete blocks of your choosing.

Wool Slabs / Stairs

Next in the expansion to the colorful blocks in the game is wool!

The classic, OG color blocks in Minecraft are getting some love in this update. They will now be able to be crafted into stairs and slabs, just like concrete!

We recently published an awesome guide here on how you can create these for use in your build here for anyone looking for that extra splash of color:

Minecraft 26.3: How to Craft Wool Slabs & Stairs

Cushions

Finally for the colorful additions to the game, we have cushions! A new block with a ton of creative potential.

As featured in our blog post covering the initial reveal of cushions, these now allow you a way to finally sit down in Minecraft!

Cushions come in every color that wool does, using wool slabs rather than regular wool blocks, and are made in by placing 3 wool slabs in a row in a crafting table.

These can be placed in the same block as another partial block, making the tricks above possible! You can place cushions inside of torches, signs, brewing stands, etc. You can place them inside of cauldrons, or place them on the bottom half of stairs!

Right clicking on cushions in this way will allow you to sit down on them, allowing you to finally take a break from standing.

Abandoned Camps

Finally for more major additions in 26.3, we have an all-new structure to discover in the wild!

These camps will be found around the world during your travel, and feature some containers for you to loot. More notably for some, though, they also include the new straw bed blocks!

If you're ever caught out at night and need a way to pass the time, the days of barricading yourself in the ground or in a wall are gone. You can try to hunt down an abandoned camp as well, knowing there's a safe way to sleep through the night there.

Smaller Changes & Additions

• Minecraft Realms have seen a big pass of quality of life changes, including the ability to manage invite codes.

• The Dappled Forest biome also introduces new types of natural blocks, such as the Red Shrub and warm-colored leaves on the ground.

• New explorer maps have been added to loot from structures like abandoned camps which can help guide you to structures like trial chambers, ocean ruins, woodland mansions, pyramids, and more!

  • Explorer maps are their own standalone items now and aren't lumped together with general filled maps, each including their own icon in your inventory associated with what sort of structure the map is guiding you towards.

  • Other map types have also seen a visual update with new icons to reflect their content.

• Mushroom stews can now be made with two of any mushroom.

• You can now see the direction you're facing on maps with your player icon.

• A significant pass has been made through improving the transparency processing in the game.

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