While Minecraft's 1.21 update aims to encourage players to team up and take on its new Trial Chamber structures, the Ancient Cities from 1.19's The Wild might benefit more from an in-depth look as part of 1.21's adventurous approach. As more details are confirmed ahead of Minecraft's upcoming update, it seems that Mojang has been focused more on "combat adventures" and less on "tinkering," especially considering the recent introduction of the new mace versus the problems Minecraft's copper faces even after 1.21. But if Mojang is committed to adding new adventure experiences for players, it should at least revisit a structure from an older update.
With Mojang positioning its new Trial Chambers as dedicated dungeons for players to complete, many other structures throughout Minecraft that once filled this role now need a revamp to bring them up to 1.21's standard. More specifically, Ancient City structures from Minecraft's 1.19 The Wilds should be reworked through 1.21's combat adventure focus, allowing Mojang to capitalize on both the familiarity of a recent update and the intrigue it had introduced. In doing so, Minecraft could finally return to the short-lived mysteries surrounding these Ancient Cities while ensuring 1.21 offers a variety of combat adventure experiences for all players.
Minecraft's Trial Chambers and Ancient Cities Each Represent Their Update
Between Minecraft's 1.19 and 1.21 updates, each introduced a specific structure that tried to incorporate and reflect the new features they were adding. For instance, Ancient Cities were perfect representations of The Wild's update, as players silently explored the new Deep Dark biome at the game's deepest level, fearful of becoming hunted by Minecraft's latest mob, the Warden if they made too much noise.
Even the design of the Ancient Cities accounted for the Warden's sound-based mechanics, with the structure generating more sculk shriekers and wool blocks or carpets to both help and hinder the player.
Minecraft's Trial Chambers Might Fall Short of 1.21's Focus
Likewise, the new Trial Chambers reflect 1.21's focus on combat adventures with its new range of structure-specific blocks and items, such as the trial spawner, which scales the number of mobs it spawns with how many players there are. But while trial spawners can force players to adopt new combat strategies against various mobs, the overall experience may become stale as Trial Chambers become repetitive and players learn to predict which mobs will spawn based on block configurations. As far as "combat adventures" go, this could pose a significant player letdown for Minecraft's Trial Chambers.
Minecraft Should Expand 1.21's Combat Adventures Beyond Trial Chambers
Rather than overhauling the Trial Chambers themselves, these new structures might function better as an introduction to an improved combat adventure experience for Minecraft. Once players have experienced and mastered a typical Trial Chamber, new trial spawners should be generated in other Minecraft structures, adding new complexity based on each structure and the surrounding biome. But beyond underwater combat in Ocean Monuments or the dangers a Bastion Remnant poses to players, Minecraft's Ancient City structure should be reworked first, as aside from its obvious high-stakes combat potential with the Warden, it has the strongest connection to 1.21's underutilized tinkering focus.
Ancient Cities' Redstone Rooms Reflect Minecraft 1.21's Tinkering Focus
Though it almost went unnoticed during Minecraft's 1.19 update due to the new Warden or sculk blocks, Ancient City structures feature "Redstone Rooms" which perfectly reflect 1.21's tinkering focus. Similar to how igloos "teach" Minecraft players how to cure Zombie Villagers, these secret rooms may use the Redstone circuitry to show players how these mechanics work and how they can use them. Therefore, with the 1.21 update focusing on both combat and tinkering, Minecraft could make sure it lives up to the latter by encouraging players to explore Ancient Cities, face the Warden, and find crafting-related rewards in these Redstone Rooms.
Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition
- Released
- November 18, 2011
