Minecraft Gets First Caves & Cliffs Pre-Release Update

Mojang's been teasing Minecraft's Caves & Cliffs content periodically while letting players try parts of the new content out themselves, and on Thursday, the game moved one step closer to the first part of Caves & Cliffs being fully released. Minecraft got its first pre-release update for Caves & Cliffs this week which is now available for players to try out. From here on out, only bug fixes will be added to the build until the 1.17 update is ready to launch.

A set of patch notes accompanying the first pre-release for the 1.17 update detailed every new feature in the release as well as changes made to existing content. One of the most notable parts of the release that's different now is the addition of candles which have been re-added to Caves & Cliffs.

It's pre-release time! Here's the first one for Minecraft 1.17 with candles added back, new glowing signs and lots of new advancements... as well as many bug fixes! Check out all the changes here! https://t.co/E8O7XD8s35

— slicedlime (@slicedlime) May 27, 2021

"Additionally, based on feedback from the community, we have decided to include candles in part 1 of Caves & Cliffs again," the notes for the update said before getting into the details of everything else. "Candles will become available in Bedrock shortly after the release of part 1."

You can read through the full patch notes here, but a better indication of what's new and what to look forward to in this pre-release will likely come form the video embedded above. Minecraft's tech lead for the Java Edition, slicedlime, routinely shares videos like these to give insights into what's happening in Minecraft. If you haven't gotten yourself caught up on everything that's happening, that's the place to do so.

For those of you asking: Pre-releases are like snapshots, but only released once all features for an update have been added.

— slicedlime (@slicedlime) May 26, 2021

The tech lead also answered a question that's probably on Minecraft players' minds if you're just now tuning into all the Caves & Cliffs content: What's a pre-release update as opposed to a Java Snapshot? Pre-releases, according to slicedlime, are the early versions of updates released once all features have been implemented in an update. That's why only bugfixes and related changes will be made from now on to the 1.17 update since all the features are already in place.

Minecraft's Java Edition players can now download the pre-release to try things out themselves.