Minecraft’s highly anticipated next update has arrived.

Dubbed the Village and Pillage update, 1.14 rolled out to all Java edition owners of the game on Tuesday, vastly transforming the games pre-generated villages, as well as their inhabitants. Houses now have variations and villagers have been assigned certain tasks to perform in the village. Along with this monumental change came a slew of new blocks, as well the introduction of a new mob: foxes.

Villagers can now offer players multiple trades and rank up from each interaction, furthering their abilities. Iron golems are now a permanent edition in every village, protecting villagers from threats, which now includes an alternative race of villagers called the illagers. These groups will raid villages, attempting to slaughter the population. You’ll be able to help out, improving your relations with the villagers.

Pandas have also made their way into the game, bringing a new biome along with them as well as bamboo poles. Scaffolding now exists, barrels are an alternative to the chest, the cartography table makes it easier to modify maps, the dye system has changed, textures have been revamped, cats are now seperate from ocelots, campfires are a thing.

There’s a lot to discover in the update, but if you’re feeling like doing a spot of patch note reading, you can read the full list of changes and additions here.

1.14 (Mini) Review

After some serious anticipation from fans, 1.14 is finally here. How does it compare to its predecessor, Update Aquatic? Quite good actually. I’ve spent some time traversing a freshly generated world and so far i’ve been enjoying the new content 1.14 has to offer. Villagers are no longer a subject to my blade and for once in my Minecraft career, I can coexist with them.

The constant threat of illagers has breathed new life into Minecraft, making village building a legitimate objective that is worthwhile. One of the biggest complaints with Minecraft being that the non linearity of the blocky sandbox is too much, spawning the “i’m bored” to occur. Who knew being carers for the villagers was the true objective of the game that refuses to die.

I have got a bone to pick with foxes however. These little terrors wreak havoc on the fish and chicken population which can cause some major issues if you’re planning to create a farm. To make matters worse, the only way to control this is by making them breed and kidnapping the child. Thankfully fences do a good job of protecting the chickens, but the cod is a lost cause.

I’m enjoying my time in Minecraft; it takes me back to my childhood spending late nights building pointless structures. It feels good to revisit those memories, and to experience it with new content (and the removal of Herobrine).