Minecraft Snapshot 20w45a Enables Testing of Caves & Cliffs Content
Mojang has released a trial version of the Caves & Cliffs update for Minecraft. Snapshot 20w45a enables us to check out some of the novelties from the upcoming update, such as amethysts, candles and lightning rods.
The announcement of a huge Minecraft update has awakened the already rich imagination of the community revolving around this popular sandbox game. Of course, they'll have to wait a long time for the launch of the update, but in the meantime they'll get access to some of its content. After the recent debut of goats, Mojang has released snapshot 20w45a, which enables us to check out some of the highlights of the Caves & Cliffs update for owners of Minecraft Java Edition. To do this, after launching the game client, go to the "Installations" section and enable snapshots. WARNING: before you activate this function, back up your world or run snapshot sessions from a separate folder, as test versions can permanently spoil your creations.
As the name suggests, Caves & Cliffs will introduce a lot of novelties related to caves, cliffs and rocks as such. This can be seen in snapshot 20w45a, which adds two new resources: amethyst and bronze. Apart from aesthetic considerations, both resources can be used to create new objects: lightning rods, tinted glass and telescope. Bronze is also subject to four stages of oxidation, with the possibility of stopping the process in order to preserve the colour we are interested in.
These are not the only new things. There are also candles in 16 colors (plus one colorless) and bundles, in which we can store other items. There are also changes loosely related to the theme of the upcoming update. The kettles can finally be filled with lava, and mining carts can ride through water (though not without losing speed). In addition, the developers have included a lot of fixes and improvements. One of them concerns Experience Orbs: when there are a lot of them, the orbs can start to merge into larger clusters to prevent performance drops.
Of course, this is just a foretaste of what we'll get with the release of Caves & Cliffs. The update will introduce many more types of blocks, plus new mobs, blueprints, and a host of other new features and improvements. However, even this modest sample gives players a lot of room for experimentation. Not that they have been lacking in creativity so far, as evidenced by numerous fan-made creations appearing on Reddit, but they will surely appreciate (and quickly use) the news from snapshot 20w45a.The full version of the Caves & Cliffs update will launch no earlier than in mid-2021.
