Minecraft 1.20 Trails and Tales Update: All You Need to Know (2023)

The Minecraft 1.20 update is one of the strangest updates the community has ever seen. It doesn’t have an official theme, all of its announced features are already playable (in beta) and most of its features are still behind a curtain. So what has changed? In this blog you'll be able to find out leaks , new features and everything you need to know about Minecraft 1.20 update.

Minecraft 1.20 Trails and Tales Update: All You Need to Know (2023)

We have included confirmed features, announced changes, and a few speculations for the upcoming Minecraft 1.20 update. Use the table below to easily browse through the different feature speculations and officially confirmed features.

Minecraft 1.20 Update: Release Date

During the Minecraft Live 2022 event in October, game developer Mojang revealed that the next major Minecraft 1.20 update won’t release until 2023. Following the previous release patterns, we expect the Minecraft 1.20 release date to be around June 2023. This is much later than the previous speculations, but hopefully, the additional wait will be worth it.

Looking back in time, Minecraft released its last five major updates in the following months – June 2022, November 2021, June 2021, June 2020, and December 2019. Now, if we don’t count the gap in the pattern because of the pandemic year (2020), the timeline announced falls in line with this pattern.

Sniffer: Minecraft Mob Vote 2022 Winner

With over 50% of the votes, Sniffer has won the Minecraft Mob Vote 2022 and is coming to the game with the next update. This mob will also feature a baby version, opening more breeding possibilities for the players. In terms of gameplay, the sniffer is supposed to sniff out seeds for new and unique plants in the overworld. We are excited to see how many new types of Minecraft farms this mob leads to.

In late January, Minecraft’s official social media handles gave us the first look at the Sniffer in the game (image above), and its first impressions are quite exciting. Contrary to early expectations, this six-legged mob is even larger than the player and has detailed textures. Due to its size, many players might be wondering about its rideability, which is unlikely to happen, but the new ride command in Minecraft 1.20 can give you a workaround for riding the Sniffer.

Leaving its appearance aside, the Sniffer can lie down on the ground when it wants to rest, much like the new camel mob. Otherwise, it roams around randomly. Furthermore, its movement is slow, and its nostrils bounce slightly while the Sniffer is “sniffing” around. Looking at this new mob in action further validates the community’s choice in the latest mob vote.

Though, all hope isn’t lost for the losing mobs. The developers assured players in the Minecraft Live 2022 event that the mobs from other Minecraft titles and previous announcements can make it into the game at a future date. That is, only if they fit with the plans the company has for the future of Minecraft.

What Is the Minecraft 1.20 Update Called?

The Minecraft 1.19 update was truly different than any other game updates in the past. It added a bunch of new features, including biomes, blocks, and even the strongest mob of Minecraft, the Warden. Yet, most of the community thought that it didn’t live up to its title of “Wild Update”. So, learning from its mistake, the developers of Minecraft presented the next update without an official name and a myriad of cool evolving features.

Well, Mojang has finally put all rumors to rest and revealed the official name of the Minecraft 1.20 update. Drumroll, please! We will get the Minecraft 1.20 Trails and Tales update next, including the much-awaited archaeology features, 2 new mobs – camel and Sniffer, an armor customization feature, and a lot more. You can scroll down and read more about it.

Minecraft 1.20 Update: New Features (Confirmed)

As revealed during Minecraft Live 2022, the Minecraft 1.20 update will bring a bunch of new features to the game. Though there are many features planned for it, the developers have only revealed a few of them. They don’t want to overpromise and underdeliver, as they’ve done in the past. More features for this update will be revealed in the upcoming months. For now, let’s go over all the features that, for sure, are going to be the part of Minecraft 1.20 update.

• Archaeology Features

After years of waiting, Minecraft is finally adding the much-anticipated archaeology features to the game. With it, you can go around your world looking for suspicious sand blocks. These new blocks, when dusted, reveal pottery shards that you can combine to create ancient pots. Each pot has a unique design that reflects something from the Minecraft world. Furthermore, the archaeology update also includes a new “brush” tool for the process of dusting.

Currently, we know that there are 4 unique pot designs within the archaeology system. However, we expect more to arrive as the release date inches closer. Moreover, unlike the teased archaeology mechanics in Minecraft Live 2020, we are not getting a new structure for the same. Instead, the suspicious sand blocks will spawn around the existing Desert Temples of Minecraft. So, you will have to find individual blocks and dust them down.

• Hanging Signs

Solving the ever-lasting problem of not finding the right place to put your sign, the hanging signs can be hung on any block. You can place them on the side and even the bottom of the blocks. You no longer have to put them on the ground. Moreover, you can create a bunch of decorative items by putting signs under signs as well, creating a wind-chime-like structure. We already have a guide to help you quickly learn how to make and use hanging signs in Minecraft.

• Bamboo Wood and Rafts

Minecraft 1.20 is bringing a new family of bamboo wood in Minecraft, featuring their own planks, blocks, and more. They are a part of the developers’ attempts to bring a more accurate representation of wood types to the game.

Moreover, this wood set is even more special due to its exclusive sets of blocks. You can use the bamboo wood can be to craft decorative bamboo mosaic blocks. There is no such block for other types of wood in Minecraft, making it truly unique. Not to forget, you can also use bamboo wood to craft rafts in Minecraft. They work like boats in Minecraft but are more open looking in appearance.

• Chiseled Bookshelf

At last, bookshelves are useful in Minecraft. After crafting the new chiseled bookshelf, you can store regular and enchanted books in them. You’re free to place any book in any slot on the chiseled bookshelf, but it’s visually impossible to differentiate between them. Though, this doesn’t mean that each slot is equal. Every single storage slot of the bookshelf sends out a Redstone signal with different strengths. So, with the right mechanic, you can use a chiseled bookshelf to make secret doorways (as shown during Minecraft Live 2022) and much more.

• Creative Inventory Reshuffling

The inventory in Minecraft 1.20’s creative mode is systematic and features items in a much cleaner manner than the earlier versions of the game. It now consists of the following set of tabs:

1. Building Blocks: Common blocks and items that are used in structure creation

2. Colored Blocks: A variety of blocks that have multiple color variants like beds, candles, terracotta, etc.

3. Natural Blocks: All the blocks that generate naturally within Minecraft’s overworld and other dimensions

4. Functional Blocks: Blocks that can be used for a variety of purposes including job site blocks, beacons, light blocks, etc.

5. Redstone Blocks: All blocks that be used in or impacts a Redstone circuit

6. Tools & Utilities: Various useable items that fulfill a variety of purposes in Minecraft

7. Combat: Weapons, projectiles, armor, and other items that can be used during combat in Minecraft

8. Food & Drinks: All items that can be consumed in the game including potions (all types), stews, and food

9. Ingredients: Items that serve as the most common crafting and brewing ingredients

10. Spawn Eggs: Almost all of the Minecraft mobs in the form of spawn eggs

11. Operator Utilities: Blocks like light, barrier, structure blocks, and various command blocks that affect a Minecraft world’s default properties.

• New and Better Mob Heads

Mob heads, which some mobs drop when killed by a charged creeper, have been part of Minecraft for a while now. But, other than using them as a mask or a decorative item, their purpose has been quite rudimentary. Fortunately, this changes with Minecraft 1.20, as it allows us to connect the mob heads with Note blocks to create ambient mob sounds. These sounds relate to the mob whose head you are using. For example, the skeleton skull makes the sound of an arrow being fired.

Not to forget, Minecraft 1.20 is also expanding the mob head library by bringing Piglin heads to the game. To obtain one, you have to go to the Nether and then kill a Piglin using a charged creeper. This new head makes Piglin sounds and waggles its ears when triggered by a Redstone signal.

• Armor Trimming and Customization

After years of using plain-looking armor, Minecraft 1.20 is finally bringing armor customization to the game. For each piece of your armor, you get 11 pattern designs in 10 unique colors. Considering the various types of armor in Minecraft and how you can mix and match items, you can easily get dozens of styles for your armor selection.

This armor customization feature is possible thanks to a new item known as ‘armor trim,’ a variation of which spawns in almost every major structure in the Minecraft world.

Once you find the trim, you have to combine it with your armor and the color in the new Smithing table UI. While the custom designs look amazing, the purpose of armor trimming is only aesthetic. For example, using gold trim on your armor doesn’t make it Piglin-friendly. Still, uniquely designed armor is going to be a big hit in the best PvP Minecraft servers as team uniforms.

• Netherite is Harder to Use

In Minecraft 1.20, you will have a harder time obtaining Netherite items. That is because of the introduction of the new Upgrade Smithing Template, which is now a mandatory item to make Netherite armor or Netherite sword on the Smithing Table. So, instead of only creating Netherite ingots, you’ll now also have to collect the upgrade template from the Bastion Remnant. Not to forget, they are not easy to collect and you need one for every item upgrade.

• Fill Biome Command

Introduced with Minecraft Snapshot 22w46a, you can use the “/fillbiome” command to manually change the biome of any given region in your Minecraft world to any other Minecraft biome. To make it work, you have to set the coordinates for two points between which you want to replace the biome.

It’s similar to the popular fill command in Minecraft, except it focuses on biomes instead of blocks. Expanding on that, the new “fill biome” command also allows you to bring biomes from one dimension to another. Though, these biomes don’t affect the dimensional features like exploding beds in the Nether.

• Fixed Mob Spawning in Nether Portal

Giving a major nerf to the Nether farms in Minecraft, the upcoming update will significantly reduce mob spawning around the Nether portal. As you might be aware, every hostile mob in Minecraft requires the light to be below a certain brightness level to spawn itself. So, the upcoming update is bringing down the light level for the spawning of Endermen, Skeletons, and Wither Skeletons to level 9 in the Nether dimension.

This light level was 11 in the earlier versions, which is the same as the light level of the Nether portal. Because of this change, these mobs can’t spawn and directly teleport into the Nether portal. If you were using the existing mechanic for a farm, you will now have to give an incentive to these mobs for entering the portal.

New Mobs Added in Minecraft 1.20 (Confirmed)

Mojang currently has three games within the Minecraft franchise, including Minecraft, Minecraft Dungeons, and the upcoming Minecraft Legends. Even though the games aren’t directly linked, the developer is known for porting mobs from one game to another. But instead of adding one of the mobs that we saw in Legends or Dungeons teasers in the past, Minecraft is adding a new mob to the desert biome.

• Camels Come to Minecraft

Minecraft is bringing camels to the game. As you might expect, they will naturally only spawn in desert biomes. They are one of the largest mobs in the game, and you will be out of the reach of hostile mobs while riding it at nighttime. When tamed, two players can ride one camel at the same time. You can use our guide to learn how to ride a camel in Minecraft 1.20 in no time. But keep in mind that, unlike horses, camels are much slower than horses in complex terrains.

Though, thanks to their dash ability, they can cover comparatively flat areas much faster. This same ability also allows them to jump over ravines. Not to forget, you can breed camels in Minecraft using cactus as food in desert biomes to create baby camels. So, under the right circumstance, they can end up being a common mob breeding farm in the game.

New Biomes in Minecraft 1.20 (Confirmed)

Over the years, Minecraft has teased several new and revamped biomes, but they never reached the players. Though we initially hoped to see biome updates for the desert, savanna, or badlands, Minecraft 1.20 has surprised us by adding a new cherry blossom biome. Read all about this new biome right here:

• Cherry Blossom Biome

As an unexpected Valentine’s day gift, Mojang revealed that Minecraft 1.20 is getting a new “pink” biome in the form of Cherry Blossom. As you might expect, it is an overworld forest biome that features the iconic cherry blossom trees with their pink leaves. Moreover, the flowers in this biome are also pink. As for the mobs, we are not getting any exclusive mob spawning here, but as per early screenshots, you can expect to see rabbits and bees predominantly.

Since this biome is bringing the new cherry blossom tree to the game, we are also getting a cherry wood set. This wood set features light pink blocks and items. As a bonus, you also get the new cherry blossom sapling and cherry logs from this biome. Not to forget, when compared to other forest biomes, cherry blossom has thickly packed trees with a unique branch-based generation. It is not only beautiful but also fitting for creating a hidden base in them.

Minecraft 1.20 Snapshots Released

Ever since the announcement of the next major update at the Minecraft Live 2022 event in October, developer Mojang has been releasing beta updates (or snapshots) to test new features with the community. To date, we have seen the release of six Minecraft 1.20 snapshots for the Java Edition, and we will keep updating this section as and when more updates are released. You can find details for all the snapshots right here:

Snapshot 22w42a

• Released: October 19, 2022

• Added camels which spawn in the desert villages

• Added hanging signs

• Introduced bamboo wood blocks including new mosaic blocks

• Added bamboo raft and bamboo chest raft

• Added chiseled bookshelves

• Reworked the creative inventory

• New world settings now include experimental data packs

Snapshot 22w45a

• Released: November 9, 2022

• Added Block of Bamboo and Stripped Block of Bamboo

• Changed the look of Vex

• More creative inventory changes

• Snapshot 22w46a

• Released: November 16, 2022

• Added Piglin mob head

• Added playable mob head sounds using note blocks

• Changed texture of Bamboo Planks, Block of Bamboo, and Block of Stripped Bamboo

• Added Telemetry options

• New fillbiome command

Snapshot 23w03a

• Released: January 18, 2023

• Armor stands preserve custom names when placed and broken

• Added an accessibility onboarding screen

• Added support for arrow-key navigation

• Other technical changes

Snapshot 23w04a

• Released: January 24, 2023

• Toned down enchantment glint to make it more subtle

• Added Smithing Templates

• Added Armor Trims and customization

• Changed the creation of Netherite items

• Changed UI of Smithing Table

• Added origin-based relation for commands

Snapshots 23w05a

• Released: February 1, 2023

• Transformed new world creation screen

• Added option to easily switch armor & Elytra in-hand with the equipped ones

• Tweaked enchantment glint

• Added accessibility options to change the speed and transparency of glint

• Tweaked texture of Dune Armor Trim

• Changed spawn rate of various Smithing Templates

• Added ability to add Armor Trims to leather armor

• Added option to add Armor Trims with the same material that the armor piece is made of

• Introduced infinite duration for in-game effects

Snapshot 23W07a

• Released: February 1, 2023

• Added Sniffer mob, winner of 2022 Mob Vote

• Unlocked all archaeology features including pottery shards, suspicious sand, brush, and decorative pots

• Added Cherry Grove biome along with cherry blossom wood

• Added Torchflower, an ancient seed that can be used to breed the Sniffer

• Made horse breeding more viable as the baby’s features are no longer biased toward average

• Jukeboxes now emit Redstone signal and interact with hoppers and droppers

Minecraft 1.20: New Features - Bedrock (Speculated)

Based on the recent developer editions, here are a few features that you can surely expect to find in the Minecraft 1.20 update:

Spectator Mode

First spotted in a Minecraft Preview earlier this year, the developers are testing the spectator game mode for Minecraft Bedrock. It was also shown off at Minecraft Now in April. This game mode allows players to see through blocks and freely fly through the solid parts of the world. Since this mode is already a part of the Java edition and its Bedrock edition is quite stable, we surely expect to see it in Minecraft 1.20 update.

If you don’t want to wait, you can use our step-by-step guide to get the spectator mode in Minecraft Bedrock right away. Do keep in mind that it’s not completely functional because this feature is still under development.

New Bedrock UI

It’s no surprise that the Minecraft Bedrock edition doesn’t have the best UI when compared to the Java edition. And that’s not only for its settings and pre-game options. In the touch edition of the game, even the gameplay gets compromised due to misplaced buttons.

Fortunately, recent preview versions of the game have shown off a new UI for the Minecraft Bedrock edition. It feels more or less finished so seeing it with or before Minecraft 1.20 update is a given.

Parity Changes in Minecraft 1.20

In the past 2-3 years, Minecraft Java and Bedrock editions have become much more similar than ever before. But the two editions still have major differences that might get resolved in Minecraft 1.20 update.

Banners in Maps

In Minecraft Java, you can put banners in your world, and they show up on your maps. This functionality allows players to mark certain locations around the world. But the Bedrock edition has no such option. Because this is a much smaller change when compared to other parity concepts, Minecraft 1.20 might finally address it