Mojang reveals the first addition of Minecraft's new year-round update schedule: A creepy forest biome haunted by a tough-to-kill monster

At today's Minecraft Live 2024 livestream, Mojang revealed the next update coming to the game, the first of a new, more regular cadence of smaller additions. The Pale Garden biome and its resident critter, The Creaking, are set to go live "in the next few months," while players will find them in snapshots, betas, and previews "very soon."

We got the skinny on the Pale Garden toward the end of the half hour presentation, which also included some back and forth about, as well as a new scene from the upcoming Minecraft Movie. Quality-wise, it all more or less lines up with what we saw in the first trailer.

The Pale Garden will be a new forest biome somewhat reminiscent of a real world mangrove swamp, with moss hanging from the trees, low visibility, and no wildlife to be found⁠—during the day, at least. Mojang developers emphasized the sense of eerie dread they hope to evoke with the biome, which they characterize as atmospheric and isolating.

At night, the Creaking will come out. The misshapen tree men look like something out of the Witcher, and move with the sounds of grating wood and snapping twigs. In addition to looking spooky, the Creaking will be mechanically distinct from other Minecraft mobs: They'll only move when you're not looking at them, and you can't directly damage the creatures. Instead, each one is tethered to a "Creaking Heart" hidden somewhere in the forest that you'll have to destroy.

The new biome seems like a fun addition to Minecraft, and I like how Mojang is leaning into the game's more uncanny elements with this update. We don't have a set date for the Pale Garden's arrival, but I would expect it before the end of the year. You can also check out a recap of today's livestream on the Minecraft website.