The long-awaited Summer content drop for Minecraft is finally out now across all platforms, officially bringing the happy ghast mob to the game along with overhauled leashing mechanics, another new music disk, and more. If the Chase the Skies drop isn't enough, Mojang has also rolled out a gorgeous graphical overhaul for the entirety of Minecraft with Vibrant Visuals, although this feature is currently exclusive to the game's Bedrock Edition across select platforms only.
Many in the Minecraft community have been counting the days leading up to this release since its contents were first revealed during Minecraft LIVE earlier this year. The drop introduces what might be the game's cutest mob yet and brings a number of refreshing quality-of-life changes that improve upon some of the game's existing mechanics, such as leads. Minecraft's development team recently moved away from its traditional approach to updating the game, focusing less on building one big update each year in favor of developing smaller "drops" that can be released much more frequently. This gives the game more freedom to breathe and experiment with new features while keeping fans more consistently engaged with the game.
Minecraft Could Go Sky-High After Its Caves & Cliffs, Vibrant Visuals Updates
A growing trend of seemingly small changes across previous and upcoming updates could finally prompt Mojang to revamp Minecraft's skies and mountains.
The latest content drop for Minecraft is called Chase the Skies, and the bulk of its content is focused around a single new mob - the happy ghast. Technically, fans get two adorable mobs in one package; this time, before Minecraft players can get their own happy ghast in their worlds, they'll need to raise a ghastling. To obtain one of these little guys, players will need to rescue a dried ghast block from the Nether and bring it back to the Overworld, where they can hydrate it in water until it becomes a ghastling mob. It can then be fed snowballs until it grows up into an adult happy ghast, a mob that players can use as a mount to fly through the skies of their worlds.
Minecraft's massive Vibrant Visuals update is also out now, but only on the game's Bedrock Edition at present. This massive visual overhaul totally changes the way Minecraft looks with improved directional lighting and shadows, volumetric fog, water caustics, reflectivity, and more. Every world and environment in the game looks dramatically more colorful and alive than before, and Mojang has confirmed plans to bring Vibrant Visuals to Minecraft's Java Edition later down the line.
Some Minecraft fans have already demonstrated a number of surprising uses for the happy ghast, but they'll be particularly useful to builders since they can be utilized as mobile aerial platforms that can be stood on by players, making them much more helpful than traditional scaffolding. In addition to these big features, the drop also brings improved leashing mechanics with leads, an overhauled crafting recipe for leads that no longer requires slime balls, and a new music disc that players will need to hunt for in the Nether specifically.
New Features
- Added Happy Ghast mob
- Added Dried Ghast block
- Added Harness items
- Added the Locator Bar, a new HUD element that shows the direction of other Players in multiplayer
- Added a new Music Disc with the track "Tears" by Amos Roddy
- Added 5 new music tracks by Amos Roddy
- Added new advancements
- Added Old Spelling Indonesian (Indonesian pre-reform) and Cantabrian language support
Happy Ghast
The Happy Ghast is a new mountable flying mob.
Dried Ghast Block
- The Dried Ghast block is found in Nether Fossil structures and is the first stage of the Happy Ghast mob
- Can be crafted with 1 Soul Sand block and 8 Ghast Tears
- When waterlogged, it undergoes 3 hydration level changes over approximately 20 minutes until it spawns a Ghastling mob
- The hydration level decreases when it is no longer waterlogged, using the same timescale
- The hydration level is not preserved when mined
- Makes sounds and shows particles depending on its hydration level
- The Dried Ghast block emits a vibration frequency of 11 when its block state changes
Ghastling Mob
- The Ghastling is a young version of the Happy Ghast mob
- Spawns from a Dried Ghast block that has continuously been waterlogged for about 20 minutes
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After spawning, the Ghastling will try and follow:
- Players within a 16-block radius or
- An adult, non-aquatic passive mob or some of the neutral mobs within a 16-block radius
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If no player or suitable mob is close around, the Ghastling will idle around within 32 blocks from its home position where it spawned or was last interacted with
- It will reset its home position if it is moved more than 16 blocks away from the border of its home position
- Can be tempted and fed using Snowballs
- Will grow up into a Happy Ghast after about 20 minutes, or faster if fed Snowballs
Happy Ghast Mob
- Can be equipped with a Harness and then be mounted by up to four players
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Tempted by Snowballs and Harness
- The Happy Ghast can only be tempted with a Harness when it has no harness equipped
- Slowly regenerates health, with regeneration speeding up during rain, snow or when flying at the same height as clouds
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The first player that mounts the Happy Ghast will control it, sitting above it in the front seat
- When controlled, the goggles of the Happy Ghast flip down to cover its eyes
- Players mounting after the first player are placed in slots on each side of it, starting clockwise from the first player
- Pressing the sneak key dismounts the player on top of the Happy Ghast
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If the Happy Ghast detects players standing on top of it, it ceases all movement and rotates to the closest cardinal direction
- This happens regardless of whether it has a Harness equipped or not
- When mounted on the Happy Ghast, the third-person camera is further away from the player
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When there are no players mounted or walking on the Happy Ghast, it starts its roaming behavior
- If players dismount midair, the Happy Ghast will descend towards the ground before it starts roaming
- The roaming behavior is similar to the Ghastling, except for the radius being 64 blocks
- When wearing a Harness, the Happy Ghast roams closer to the home position, within a 32 block radius
- When leashed, the Happy Ghast has a roaming distance of 10 blocks
- The Happy Ghast will try to stay close to blocks when roaming
- Cannot be bred
- Cannot enter boats
- Has no panic behavior when taking damage
Harness Item
- The Harness is a new item that can be equipped on a Happy Ghast to allow players to ride it
- The Harness comes in 16 different colors
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Can be crafted out of 3 Leather, 2 Glass blocks and 1 Wool block
- The Harness will have the same color as the Wool block used when crafting
- Can be re-dyed in the crafting grid
- Can only be equipped on a Happy Ghast
- Allows up to 4 players to mount the Happy Ghast
- Can be removed from the Happy Ghast using Shears when no players are mounted
Locator Bar
The Locator Bar is a new UI element that displays the direction of other players in the world.
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If another player is in the world (and that player is not hiding) the Locator Bar will display in the same area as experience bar
- When experience is gained the experience bar will appear
- If there are no other players in the world the experience bar will display as normal
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Facing other players within a 120 degree range will display those players as colored indicators on the Locator Bar
- Other players that are above/below the screen will also display an up/down arrow together with their indicator
- The indicator will change to different sized icons depending on how far away the other Player is
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Colored indicators are randomized for each player
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Operators can modify the colors of indicators with the /waypoint command
- e.g.: /waypoint modify @s color red to set an indicator to red
- Players on a team will override their default indicator color with their team color
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Operators can modify the colors of indicators with the /waypoint command
- Players can hide by crouching, wearing a mob head or a Carved Pumpkin, or using a Potion of Invisibility
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Players in Spectator Mode are not visible on the Locator Bar
- However, spectators are visible to each other
- The Locator Bar can be toggled off by setting the locatorBar game rule to false
Music and Sound
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Added a new music disc:
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"Tears" by Amos Roddy
- Can be obtained by killing a Ghast with a Fireball deflected by a Player
- Has a comparator output of 10 when played in a Jukebox
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"Tears" by Amos Roddy
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Added 5 new background music tracks by Amos Roddy:
- "Below and Above"
- "Broken Clocks"
- "Fireflies"
- "Lilypad"
- "O's Piano"
- Added a new sound for when a Lead snaps
- Added new custom sounds for shearing Saddles, Horse Armor, and Carpets from Llamas
- Added new sound volume category called "UI" for sounds played by UI elements, like button clicks
- Music now plays even when the game is paused
- Added an option to the Music & Sound settings that allows players to change how frequently music plays while in a game world
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Added an option to the Music & Sound settings that enables a music toast to be shown whenever a song starts playing
- With this option enabled, the song that is currently playing will always be seen in the top left corner of the in-game Pause Menu
Advancements
- Added new "Stay Hydrated!" Husbandry Advancement when a Dried Ghast block is placed into Water
- Added "Heart Transplanter" Adventure Advancement that is unlocked when a player places a Creaking Heart with the correct alignment between two Pale Oak Log blocks
Changes
- Changed leash mechanics and updated recipe for Lead
- Saddles are now craftable and shearable
- Updated Ghast texture
- Improvements to fog
- Updates to music and sound
- Improvements to the Realms configuration screen and introduced a region preference setting
- Piglins can now give Dried Ghast blocks when bartered with
- Splash Potions effect strength is now based on the distance of the hitboxes
- The target tolerance margin of projectiles now changes over time
- Changed Elytra so that while gliding, using a Firework Rocket will only be used as a boost even if it could be placed on a block
- Spectators will now teleport together with entities that move to other dimensions, but will stop spectating them
- Increased the third-person camera distance when spectating or riding Ghasts or Ender Dragons
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The fix to MC-3697 has been partially reverted
- Decorative hanging entities such as paintings and item frames are now immune to explosions from submerged TNT while items and armor stands are once again vulnerable to them
- Wolves, Sheep and Pigs now have their legs mirrored
- The test framework will no longer try to restart running tests after a server restart
- Clouds now exist all the way to the horizon, with an option to reduce them
- Updated the pattern of clouds in the sky
- Horses, Donkeys, and Mules can now be fed Carrots to heal, grow, and improve their temper
- Updated the main screen panorama
- Removed Herobrine
Leash Changes
- The Slime Ball in the Lead recipe has been replaced with a String
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Improved leash mechanics, with reworked leash physics, allowing for more stable leash connection, especially when leashed entities are not on ground
- When dragged on the leash, leashed objects will now orient themselves towards the entity holding the leash
- Using a Firework Rocket when flying with leashed entities will now break the leash connections
- Leashes are now rendered twice as thick, matching Minecraft: Bedrock Edition
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Leashes can now be used to leash two mobs together
- Sneak-interact on any mob while holding leashed mobs will leash these mobs to the entity interacted with
- Re-leashing an entity is prevented if the re-leashing would result in immediate leash snapping due to distance
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Leashes can be snipped from an entity when interacting with them using Shears
- This applies to its own leash connection as well as all entities attached to it
- Dispensers can now snip leashes from entities in front of them when they are equipped with Shears
- When leashing an already leashed mob, their previous leash snaps
- You cannot steal leashed entities from other players
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Interactions with a Leash Knot/Fences:
- Fails for entities that are not in range of the Leash Knot/Fence
- All entities leashed to the player will be leashed to the Leash Knot/Fence
- Transfers all its leashed entities to the player if the player has no entities leashed
- Sneak-interact only ever attaches leashes
- Shearing or punching the Leash Knot will result in all current connections to be broken
- A Leash Knot requires at least one connection to exist
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Boats and large mobs that can be leashed but cannot fit in a Boat (Horses, Donkey, Mule, Camel and Sniffer) can be leashed in a special quad connection to the Happy Ghast
- Happy Ghast will also show a custom layer when it's leashing something using a quad connection
- Entities leashed in quad connection are now rendered without slack
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Leash snapping distance has been changed from 10 to 12 blocks
- Happy Ghast has a leash snapping distance of 16 blocks
- The distance between two leashed entities is determined based on the center of their bounding boxes, rather than their feet
Saddle Changes
Crafting Saddles
- Saddles can now be crafted with 3 Leather and 1 Iron Ingot
- The recipe is unlocked when a player picks up their first Leather
Removing Saddles and Equipment
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Saddles, Horse Armor, Harnesses and Carpets can now be removed from the mobs by using Shears
- This does not work in case the mob has a rider, or if the player is crouching
- Saddles cannot be removed from Ravagers using Shears
- Dispensers with Shears cannot remove Saddles, Horse Armor, Harnesses or Carpets equipped on mobs
- Shearing Saddles, Horse Armor, and Carpets will emit a vibration frequency of 6, along with the Unequip frequency of 4
Loot Table Changes
The following loot tables have had Saddles removed from them and replaced with 1-5 Leather:
- Monster Room chests
- Ancient City chests
- Desert Pyramid chests
- Jungle Pyramid chests
- Stronghold altar chests
Fog
- Fog was tweaked for improved atmospheric perspective
- It now becomes foggier when it rains
- Fog is now applied to 3D HUD elements such as first-person player hands and items in hands
Ambient Desert Block Sounds Changes
- Ambient sand sounds no longer require sky access to play
- Ambient sand sounds now have a slightly decreased chance to play
- Terracotta blocks no longer trigger ambient sand sounds
- Sand blocks no longer trigger ambient wind sounds
- Terracotta blocks no longer trigger ambient wind sounds
- Short Dry Grass and Tall Dry Grass can now trigger ambient wind sounds when above 2 Sand, Red Sand or Terracotta blocks
- Dead Bush ambient sounds now have a slightly increased chance of playing
Music and Sound
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The following sound categories have been renamed:
- Friendly Creatures -> Friendly Mobs
- Hostile Creatures -> Hostile Mobs
- Rules for when ambient desert blocks sounds play have been tweaked
Realms
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Changed the layout of the Realms configuration screen to use tabs
- The Worlds tab allows changes to any of the world slots, creating new worlds and changing their settings
- The Players tab allows management of the players that have access and their level of access to the Realm
- The Subscription tab allows management of the Realms subscription
- The Settings tab allows changing the settings of the Realm
- Introduced a Region Preference setting that allows for more granular control over what region a Realm is hosted in
- Changed wording for Close/Open Realm to Temporarily close/Reopen Realm
- Added the Realms logo to the Realms loading screens
- Added region information when connecting to a Realm
Projectile Targeting
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The target tolerance margin of projectiles now changes over time
- Previously, all projectiles had a target tolerance margin of 0.3 blocks
- Now, all projectiles start with no margin for the first two ticks of their flight
- After that, the target margin will expand by 0.05 blocks per tick until it reaches the previous 0.3 blocks margin
- This allows for better precision close to the shooting player or entity, while still allowing for some collision leeway when the projectile is further away
Splash Potions
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Splash Potions distance to affected entities now depends on the closest distance between the entity hitbox and the splash potion hitbox where it landed
- This means that if an entity is hit directly by the splash potion, it will receive the full effect of the potion
- If the entities are grouped together, they will receive the same effect strength
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 90 /100 Critics Rec: 84%
WHERE TO PLAY
Minecraft is a game made up of blocks, creatures, and community. You can survive the night or build a work of art – the choice is all yours. But if the thought of exploring a vast new world all on your own feels overwhelming, then fear not!
Minecraft has no set goal and can be played however you’d like! This is why it’s sometimes called a “sandbox game” – there are lots of things for you to do, and lots of ways that you can play. If you like being creative, then you can use the blocks to build things from your imagination. If you’re feeling brave, you can explore the world and face daring challenges. Blocks can be broken, crafted, placed to reshape the landscape, or used to build fantastical creations.
Creatures can be battled or befriended, depending on how you play. The world of Minecraft allows for epic adventures, quiet meditations, and everything in between. You can even share your creations with other players, or play in community worlds!
- Engine
- LWJGL, PROPRIETARY ENGINE
- Multiplayer
- Online Co-Op, Online Multiplayer
- Franchise
- Minecraft
- Number of Players
- 1-4
- Split Screen Orientation
- Vertical or Horizontal
- Genre(s)
- Sandbox, Survival
- Platform(s)
- 3DS, Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Wii U, PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PS Vita, Xbox One, Xbox 360
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
- How Long To Beat
- 129 Hours
- X|S Optimized
- No
- File Size Xbox Series
- 1.42 GB (August 2024)
