Features

Here's everything that's new in Minecraft 0.16's first beta

Ocean monuments! Wet sponges! Cheats!

Here's everything that's new in Minecraft 0.16's first beta
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Minecraft's new update just went into beta. And we've played it.

We've mined the update for details, looking in every nook and cranny for tweaks and features.

Here's what to expect when the update goes live in a couple weeks.

New settings menu Settings

The settings menu has been given a complete overhaul.

There are now sections for profile (your Xbox Live stuff and texture packs), video, audio, and language. And separate control settings for keyboard and mouse, controller, and touch inputs.

You'll also find a new toggle crouch option, and separate sliders for music and sound volume. Though, music has not yet been added to the game. Maybe that will be in an update, or perhaps an add-on pack.

New Create New World screen World

This screen has been given a makeover, too. Everything is now on one page, so you can easily access the seed and world type settings. And you can choose the difficulty before you even load the world.

New slash commands Slash

You can also turn on cheats from that menu. This will disable achievements, but will let you do all kinds of crazy stuff to your world - even in survival mode.

Tap the message button at the top of the screen and then type a forward slash into the box to see a list of commands. You can spawn blocks, kill mobs, change the game mode, and more. We'll go into more detail on this soon.

Ocean monuments Ocean

One new biome in the beta is the ocean monument. This is a giant underwater temple, made of new blocks called prismarine, prismarine bricks, and sea lanterns. Inside you'll find a treasure chamber containing gold blocks, surrounded by dark prismarine

Ocean monuments only spawn in areas of large, deep ocean. If you're rocking the beta and want to explore one yourself, use the seed "-1436927780" and you'll find a temple in the ocean, right in front of you.

Guardians and elder guardians Guardians

All treasure is guarded, and the gold blocks in ocean monuments are no exception. These temples are patrolled by guardians and elder guardians who shoot lasers and generally try to ruin your day.

If you can defeat them, guardians often drop primsmarine shards and prismarine crystals. But they are only used to make prismarine blocks and sea lanterns so not massively exciting.

Sponges Sponges

Sponges return to survival mode in 0.16, and come in two forms: wet and dry. Sponges will be wet when collected from the ocean but you can dry them out in a furnace.

Once the fuel has been used and the sponge is finishing drying out, you can place an empty bucket in the fuel slot to fill it with water. Neat!

That's all folks

Hold on! What about add-ons and resource packs? What about the wither and beacons? Hold your zombie horses. More features will be added in future beta builds for 0.16 so stick with PG and we'll let you know what's new.

Mark Brown
Mark Brown
Mark Brown is editor at large of Pocket Gamer