Minecraft developer Mojang has decided to kick off 2025 with a bang, releasing a new game drop full of features for players to test and try out in Java snapshot and Bedrock preview. They’re pretty fun little updates too, as not only is Minecraft getting new pig variations for the first time, but it’s also adding a bunch of “ambient features” for certain biomes, as well as a simpler recipe for the lodestone.
We’ll start off with the main bulk of the update, and that’s the new piggies. Two new pig variations have been added in the year’s first game drop, which are the cold and warm pigs, and they can be found exactly where you’d expect. Trek to colder biomes, and you’ll see a whiter pig variant covered in fluff, while you’ll find a browner pig when exploring warm and sandy biomes.
Minecraft Is Adding More “Ambient Features” To Certain Biomes
Next up, another fairly big feature being added in this game drop is more “ambient features” for certain biomes. Three new ambient features are being added in total, the first of which is wildflowers, which can be found in meadows, birch forests, and old growth birch forests. You’ll be able to pick them, craft them into dye, and speed up their growth with bonemeal.
Another cool little feature is the addition of crunchy leaves, which will be present in forests, dark forests, and wooded badlands. You’ll be able to hear the leaves crunch underneath your feet while walking through these areas, and they can also be used to decorate other blocks. The final feature is a little smaller, as all Overworld trees will now have leaf particles falling from them, which you can’t do anything with, but it’s a neat little detail.
Finally, the last update in this game drop is a small one, but it’s going to be pretty helpful to those of you that get easily lost. Lodestones are a great way to make sure you can always find your way back to your base, and now the recipe to make them is getting simpler, as all players need to do is combine chiseled bricks with an iron ingot, and you’ll be good to go.
It’s worth noting that these updates haven’t been rolled out to the main game yet, but if you want to test them out, you can either enable snapshots in Minecraft: Java Edition (or previews in Bedrock Edition), and install the snapshot via the Installations tab. If you’re still lost, Mojang has a handy little set of instructions you can follow depending on your console.
Minecraft
The best-selling video game of all time, Minecraft is a sandbox title developed by Mojang that bridges the gap between video games and education. Whether you want to raid dungeons and build whatever you choose, there’s something for everyone across almost every gaming platform you can think of.