Minecraft Update 1.20, the “Trails & Tales Update”, is now available in your launcher. Discover all the new features it brings…
Minecraft’s latest 1.20 update, called “Trails & Tales Update” and released in 2023, is available to play today. This update introduces new locations, mobs, materials and blocks, while emphasizing “self-expression, representation and the art of storytelling”.
Let’s take a look at the contents of Minecraft 1.20. This Minecraft update is available at the same time for the Java and Bedrock versions. A corrective version of Minecraft 1.20.1 has been released, correcting numerous bugs.
Table of Contents
Creatures
The new creatures to be found in Update 1.20 are :
Camels
The camel in Minecraft is a mountable animal that can carry two players if fitted with a saddle. Robust, it has a health of 16 ♥ . He’s native to desert villages and has a particular affinity for cacti, the latter used for breeding and allowing you to force the camel to follow you if you hold one in your hand.
Its distinctive advantage is its height, which protects players from most hostile creatures no more than two blocks high, with the notable exception of spiders. In addition to this, it is capable of overcoming obstacles 1.5 blocks high, such as fences or blocks topped with a slab.
The camel also has unique behaviors, such as random sitting, which can make it difficult to move. In terms of mobility, it can walk at a slow pace or sprint at a fast one. In addition, it can perform a dash or charge forward when the player presses the jump button, but this reduces its stamina. After a dash, the camel needs to recover and cannot sprint or dasher again for a few seconds. A well-executed dash can cover more than 10 blocks.
Sniffer
The Sniffer in Minecraft is the creature that won the 2022 mob vote. It is the first creature to be considered “ancient” in the game. Its imposing size, corresponding to 2×2 full blocks, sets it apart from other mobs. However, despite its large size, it has only 7 ♥ of life.
Unlike many other mobs, the Sniffer doesn’t appear naturally in the game; you’ll have to hatch it from a sniffer egg found in the suspicious sand of warm ocean ruins. He has a singular habit of sniffing the air and occasionally digging for torchflower or pitcher seeds. However, this sniffing activity has a recharge time of 8 minutes.
As far as reproduction is concerned, torchflower seeds are used to seduce and breed Sniffers. Instead of giving birth directly to a young, the Sniffer lays a Sniffer egg after reproduction.
World generation
The main changes and additions to world generation in Minecraft 1.20 :
Cherry grove
The Cherry Grove biome is located in the mountains and is similar to grasslands. This biome is characterized by the presence of cherry trees with bright pink leaves, producing petal particles when agitated. These trees can grow close enough together to create a dense blanket of leaves.
The cherry grove is an attractive natural space for survival mode, as the scattering of trees can help the player avoid getting lost while harvesting unique resources. What’s more, emerald ore can be formed underground in this biome. Grass color is a shade of light green, lighter than that of plains biomes, while water is pale in color.
Trail Ruins
Trail Ruins are buried structures serving as archaeological sites in Minecraft, where suspicious gravel is found. These ruins, witnesses to a lost culture, can be found in a variety of temperate, cold and snowy biomes. They give the impression of ruined villages.
Trail Ruins are mainly located underground, with only the tip of their central tower showing through. They consist of a main road connecting small buildings and the tower, which is made of terracotta. Additional rooms and various small buildings are usually adjacent to the tower. Most of the structure is buried in various types of soil, including suspect gravel. In some versions of the game, they are more visible above ground.
Blocks
All the new blocks in Update 1.20 and their uses:
Bamboo blocks
Bamboo blocks feature a texture reminiscent of dried bamboo. Its appearance is unique among other types of wood, displaying a long, straight line across its face. You can create a bamboo block from eight pieces of bamboo, and also obtain a debarked variant by using an axe on it.
Bamboo board, made from a block of bamboo, is a versatile material for creating a wide range of objects, from buttons and fences to bamboo signs and rafts. Another decorative variant is the bamboo mosaic, created by arranging two bamboo slabs in a vertical strip.
Bamboo is best found in jungle biomes, where these plants transform small areas into bamboo jungles. These areas are also the most common place for pandas to appear. Although bamboo can be obtained by killing pandas, it is advisable to set up a bamboo farm to harvest this material more ethically and, why not, make scaffolding from it.
Cherry blocks
Numerous blocks accompany the arrival of the cherry grove biome. In this biome you’ll find cherry trees that provide you with logs (in several variants) and cherry leaves from cherry trees:
Cherry tree objects
You can turn these logs into cherry wood planks and all the usual wooden objects and blocks, plus the storage boat:
Pink Petals
Pink Petals are a decorative block generated in cherry tree biomes.
A Pink Petalscan be placed on a block of grass, podzol, mycelium, soil, coarse soil, rooted soil, moss block, mud, muddy mangrove roots or tilled soil. Pink Petals are used for decoration, and can be turned into pink dye.
More than one pink petal can be placed on a block, in the same way as other blocks such as sea pickles and candles. Up to four pink petals can be placed in a group on a block.
Hanging signs
Hanging signs in Minecraft are made from 2 chains and 6 debarked logs and come in 11 different variants (oak, spruce, birch, jungle, acacia, dark oak, mangrove, crimson, biscornu, bamboo and cherry). They can be hung under blocks, on corners or under other hanging signs, with varying orientations depending on the type of block.
These signs cannot be placed directly on the ground and may break if the supporting block is removed, unless they are fitted with a horizontal bar. Space for text is limited compared to ordinary signs, but it can be tinted different colors and made bright with pockets of shiny ink.
Chiseled bookshelf
The Chiseled bookshelf in Minecraft is a block that can be made using 6 planks and 3 wooden slabs. It can store up to six books, either enchanted or written. The special feature of this library is that books can be added or removed directly from any location, without the aid of an interface, simply by targeting the specific location.
The Chiseled bookshelf is also compatible with the redstone comparator, which gives a signal strength corresponding to that of the slot last interacted with. It can also be used with a funnel and dropper. However, unlike ordinary libraries, it does not increase the power of enchantment tables.
Calibrated sculk sensor
The new variant of sculk sensors, calibrated sculk sensors, offers players the possibility of filtering vibrations according to their frequency. These specific sensors must be made with a sculk sensor and three amethyst chips on a fabrication table.
These improved sensors differ from the standard version in several respects. They have a wider vibration detection range, up to 16 blocks, and a shorter recharge time of just one second. A redstone signal can be applied to one side of the sensor, the strength of which determines the frequency of the detected vibrations. Finally, their duration in active phase is reduced to 10 game ticks. These improvements bring greater control and responsiveness.
Decorated pot
The decorated pot is an ornamental block, made from pottery shards or brick objects. The material used determines the image that will appear on each corner of the vase, although a brick object leaves a blank surface. Materials are visible in the pot’s tooltip. This block is particularly fragile, breaking easily and decomposing into its original materials when struck with a tool.
It can, however, be recovered intact using an empty hand, a block-breaker tool with Silk Touch enchantment or pistons. Finally, the decorated vase has a “cracked” property that determines the sounds produced when it breaks.
Sniffer egg
The sniffer’s egg is a block that can be discovered in the suspicious sand of warm ocean ruins or obtained by breeding two sniffers. Once placed, it slowly hatches into a snifflet (baby sniffer), a process that is twice as fast when resting on a block of foam.
These eggs don’t require a support block underneath and, unlike dragon eggs, are not subject to gravity. They begin to crack over time, hatching after two cracks. This process takes around 10 minutes on foam blocks, and twice as long on blocks without foam. Note that progress towards hatching does not occur if no player is within 128 blocks of the egg.
Suspicious sand and gravel
Suspicious gravel and suspicious sand are two new blocks with a rougher texture than their ordinary counterparts. These blocks are affected by gravity, but disappear on landing. Suspicious gravel appears naturally in cold ocean ruins and trail ruins, while suspicious sand is found in warm ocean ruins, desert temples and desert wells.
Extracting them with a shovel and brush reveals objects, with four stages of extraction displayed on their texture. However, once extraction is complete, they revert to normal gravel and sand. It should be noted that only naturally generated blocks with a valid archaeological Looting table can extract objects. Suspicious gravel can be home to bamboo, while suspicious sand can be home to cacti and sugar cane.
Cherry tree boat
The cherry wood boat, a new boat variant made from cherry wood planks. This boat not only offers a new aesthetic, but can also be upgraded to include a chest, creating a Cherry Boat with Chest.
Raft
Made from bamboo planks, this raft functions in the same way as ordinary boats, but features a unique design and superior model height.
Pitcher plant
The Pitcher plant is a plant that develops from a planturna pod, through four stages of growth, for a total of five stages. Once fully mature, the Pitcher plant only falls when broken, otherwise leaving the pod behind.
This plant can be transformed into two cyan dyes, but cannot be placed in a flowerpot. Although likely to be destroyed by pests, sniffers may be able to sniff out and dig up this plant.
Torchflower
Torchflower is a new species of flower that develops from torchflower seeds in three stages. Despite its name, it emits no light. At maturity, it only falls if broken, otherwise it drops its seed. This flower can be turned into orange dye and placed in a flowerpot.
It has a variety of uses, notably in the preparation of a suspicious stew that confers the night vision effect on the player, and can also be used to attract and breed bees.
Piglin head
Piglins will now drop their heads when killed by a charged creeper. The piglin head will flap its ears when powered.
Items
All new items from update 1.20 and their uses:
Brush
The brush is a new tool used in the archaeology system to search suspicious boulders such as Suspicious sand or Suspicious gravel and uncover various objects. Made from a stick, a copper ingot and a feather aligned vertically, its use consumes one point of durability when an object is successfully extracted.
Its use on other types of blocks has no effect. The brushing process, while slowing down the player and creating breaking particles, does not damage the block. After approximately 4.8 seconds of continuous brushing of a suspicious block, a random object falls out and the block turns into ordinary sand or gravel.
Smithing template
Smithing templates are innovative items used to customize tools and armor, while retaining their enchantments. They are consumed when used, but can be duplicated using an existing model, its material and diamonds.
Two categories stand out: Netherite upgrade smithing templates, found exclusively in bastion remains and needed to upgrade diamond equipment into netherite, and armor trims smithing templates, spread across various structures and used to apply ornaments to armor.
These ornaments are purely aesthetic and do not affect the armor’s characteristics. Smithing templates are used at the smithing table and are generally obtained at random from chests generated in their respective structures, although there are a few exceptions.
To find out more about their use, read our guide: Minecraft smithing templates: how to find them and use them to customize armor?
Pottery shards
Pottery shards are a collection of twenty unique objects used to create vases decorated with distinctive patterns. They are obtained exclusively by using a brush on suspicious sand or gravel, found mainly in trail ruins, ocean ruins, desert pyramids and desert wells.
When a decorated vase is broken without using the Silk Touch enchantment, it releases all the pottery shards used in its manufacture. It should be noted that each pottery shard is one of twenty variants.
Other additions
Music
New ambient soundtracks, all by Aaron Cherof.
- “A Familiar Room” plays in Survival mode (all biomes), as well as in menu screens.
- “Bromeliad” plays in bamboo jungle, cherry orchard, flower forest, forest, jungle, sparse jungle, and menu screens.
- “Crescent Dunes” plays in desert, all types of badlands, as well as menu screens.
- “Echo in the Wind” plays in cherry grove, flower forest, lush caverns, all types of badlands, as well as menu screens.
Command
The /return command is a new feature used in functions to change the return value and omit subsequent commands within functions. It allows you to control the flow of execution within functions and modify their return value.
As a result, it skips the remaining top-level commands in the currently executing function and modifies the result value of the function command that triggered execution.
Advancements
Eight new achievements added:
- Smells interesting
- Obtain a Sniffer Egg
- Little sniffs
- Feed a Snifflet
- Planting the past
- Plant any Sniffer seed
- Crafting a new look
- Craft a trimmed armor at a Smithing Table
- Smithing with style
- Apply these smithing templates at least once: Spire, Snout, Rib, Ward, Silence, Vex, Tide, Wayfinder
- Respecting the remnants
- Brush a Suspicious block to obtain a Pottery Sherd
- Careful restoration
- Make a Decorated Pot out of 4 Pottery Sherds
- The Power of Books
- Read the power signal of a Chiseled Bookshelf using a Comparator.
Download Minecraft 1.20
How do I install Minecraft 1.20 ? To get Minecraft 1.20 on your computer, go to your Minecraft launcher, then select “Latest version 1.20”. For basic information, please refer to our guide: how to download and install Minecraft or how to change your Minecraft version.
On consoles (for the Bedrock Edition) Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, iOS, Android, and Windows 10 launch the game and it should update itself to version 1.20.
