M
inecraft’s Village &
Pillage update is the
biggest the game has
ever had. It overhauls
how villages work,
adds a host of new blocks, and
brings a new raid system that acts
as a high-level combat encounter.
But first, let’s talk about grass.
Bamboo is one of the big new
features. Bamboo is a useful addition
that can be found in jungles and in
two new biomes: Bamboo jungle and
bamboo jungle hills. You can chop it
down instantly by hitting it with a
sword and it can be combined with
string to make scaffolding—a quick,
easily destructible building aid you
can use to clamber around your
mighty constructions.
Bamboo without pandas would be
heresy. These stout, pointless bears
have different personality types: Lazy,
worried, playful, aggressive, and so
on. You can tell what type they are
from their appearance, and, more
adorably, their behavior. Lazy pandas
lay about on their backs, playful
pandas roll, and worried pandas have
panic attacks during thunderstorms.
No, really. Stray cats have also been
added. They’re distinct from ocelots,
which can no longer be tamed.
They’ll sleep on your bed, bring you
‘gifts’ in the morning like chicken and
rotting flesh—thanks, cat!—and scare
away phantoms by hissing at them.
Canines also get some love. Tamed
dogs will now attack mobs you shoot
with projectiles, like you’re a hunter
in World of Warcraft. Foxes are in,
too. And finally, there’s the Ravager.
This massively powerful hostile mob
has 50 hearts and looks like the
offspring of an angry table that’s had
sex with a bull.
It’s not just about new mobs,
though. Everything about the way
villages are generated has changed, as
has the way you interact with them
as a player. The aesthetics of each
village now alter depending on the
biome—climate and available
resources make a difference. Thebiggest surprise, however, is with
professions. Villagers now learn skills
from point of interest blocks. These
spawn in villages and assign trades to
jobless villagers who interact with
them. The smoker block, for example,
will turn a villager into a butcher. You
can also interact with most of these
new blocks when crafting. Smokers,
for example, cook food twice as fast
as furnaces... somehow.
The new villages are so good,
in fact, there’s an entirely new type
of -illager created just to exploit
them. Pillagers spawn in patrols
across the world and in large outpost
towers. If you kill a pillager captain—
the guys with banners on their
backs—you’ll get flagged with the
‘bad omen’ debuff. While this is
active, you’ll trigger a raid when
you enter a village. Once this begins,
the village will get attacked by waves
of enemies: Pillagers, standard
villagers, witches, and so on. If youmanage to beat off all the attackers,
you’re treated to a firework display
and a new effect, called Hero of the
Village. This lowers the price of
trades and causes villagers to
occasionally throw items at you. An
unconventional way of saying thank
you, perhaps, but then it is your fault
the hordes arrived—maybe you
deserve that chop to the head.
Pillagers in Minecraft also come
armed with the best weapon ever to
be removed from the Elder Scrolls
games—crossbows.WITH BELLS ON
Finally, we’ve got all those lovely new
blocks. There are too many to list
here, but there are some standouts.
These include the campfire, a cosy
light source, perfect for telling ghost
stories, which also prevents flames
from spreading. Campfires also create
smoke pillars. There’s also a bell,
which is more exciting than it
sounds. You can right click these or
shoot them to warn villagers of
impending danger, and they’ll run
inside and hide. Useful when the
raids begin. Yes, the raids you caused.
You monster.NEED TO KNOW
RELEASE
Out now
PUBLISHER
Mojang/MicrosoftDEVELOPER
Mojang
LINK
minecraft.netMINECRAFT
Breaking down Mojang’s biggest ever update. By Matt Elliott
BUILDING CAREERS New blocks with specific jobs
BAMBOO
WITHOUT
PANDAS WOULD
BE HERESYLECTERN
Used to hold books
that players can
read together. How
nice! Also generates
librarians.LOOM
Used to recreate
banner patterns.
Villagers become
shepherds when
they interact with it.SMITHING
TABLE
This one doesn’t do
anything yet, apart
from creating
toolsmiths.SMOKER
Cooks food twice as
fast as a furnace,
which is nonsense.
Also turns villagers
into butchers.STONE CUTTER
Basically a more
rugged version of
the crafting table. It
turns villagers into
stone masons.BLAST FURNACE
Smelts ore twice as
fast as an ordinary
furnace, and acts as
the job block for the
armorer job.CARTOGRAPHY
TABLE
Used for cloning,
zooming, and
expanding the
maps.COMPOSTER
This block rapidly
generates bone
meal, and turns
villagers into
farmers.FLETCHING
TABLE
One of two blocks
with no crafting
abilities. Villagers
become fletchers.GRINDSTONE
Combines damaged
items to increase
their durability and
turns villagers into
weaponsmiths.WHAT’S NEW IN THE BIGGEST GAMES
UPDATE