Caves & Cliffs

Caves & Cliffs is the name of two major themed updates for. The first part was released as Java Edition 1.17 and Bedrock Edition 1.17.0 on June 8, 2021, which focused on blocks and mobs. The second part was released as Java Edition 1.18 and Bedrock Edition 1.18.0 on November 30, 2021, and brought revamped overworld generation, including new caves and mountains.

Caves & Cliffs was announced in Minecraft Live 2020, and on April 14, 2021, Mojang Studios announced that the update would be split into two portions due to the amount and complexity of content, as well as team health. It was later announced in Minecraft Live 2021 that the Deep Dark portion, as well as certain items, of the Caves & Cliffs update would be delayed until The Wild Update to improve quality.

On, Part I started development with snapshot 20w45a, which was released on November 4, 2020. The first pre-release for Caves & Cliffs: Part I was released on May 27, 2021, and the first release candidate on June 4, 2021. Part II started development with 1.18 Experimental Snapshot 1, which was released on July 13, 2021, followed by the first pre-release on November 11, 2021, and the first release candidate on November 25, 2021.

On, Part I started development with beta 1.16.200.52, which was released on October 28, 2020. Most of the Part I features were behind experimental gameplay toggle until the Part I release and were not included in the full 1.16.200, 1.16.210, and 1.16.220 release. In Part II, development continued with beta 1.17.30.23, which was released on August 25, 2021. In 1.17.10, released on July 13, 2021, non-beta users were able to test out most of early Part II features behind experimental gameplay.

Both Java and Bedrock editions received Caves & Cliffs: Part I on June 8, 2021, and Caves & Cliffs: Part II on November 30, 2021.

Additionally, features from Caves & Cliffs: Part I, were released for in 1.17.30 on November 2, 2021. Part II features were released in 1.18.32 on August 9, 2022.

For China Edition, Caves & Cliffs: Part I was released on January 21, 2022, and Part II on August 26, 2022.

Notable features

 * New blocks
 * Amethyst Bud and Amethyst Cluster
 * Can be used to craft Spyglass and Tinted Glass
 * Azalea
 * Azalea Leaves
 * Block of Amethyst
 * Budding Amethyst
 * Calcite
 * Candles
 * Cave vines
 * Copper Block and variants
 * Copper Ore
 * Deepslate and its variants
 * Deepslate Ore
 * Big and Small Dripleaf
 * Dripstone Block
 * Hanging Roots
 * Lightning Rod
 * Block of Raw Iron, Gold and Copper
 * Moss block and Moss carpet
 * Pointed Dripstone
 * Powder Snow
 * Rooted Dirt
 * Smooth Basalt
 * Spore Blossom
 * Tinted Glass
 * Tuff
 * New items
 * Amethyst Shard
 * Bucket of axolotl
 * Copper Ingot
 * Glow Berries
 * Glow Ink Sac
 * Powder Snow Bucket
 * Raw Iron, Gold and Copper
 * New Spawn Eggs
 * The axolotl spawn egg.
 * The glow squid spawn egg.
 * The goat spawn egg.
 * Spyglass
 * Music Disc
 * A new music disc from Lena Raine titled "otherside"


 * New mobs
 * Axolotl
 * Glow Squid
 * Goat


 * New non-mob entities
 * Glow item frame


 * New world generation
 * Amethyst geode


 * New biomes
 * Dripstone Caves
 * Lush Caves
 * New Mountains sub-biomes
 * Meadow
 * Grove
 * Snowy slopes


 * New soundtracks
 * A new music disc from Lena Raine titled "otherside"

Java Edition

 * 1.17
 * 1.17.1 made changes to some game mechanics and fixes bugs.
 * 1.18
 * 1.18.1 made minor changes to fog and fixes bugs.
 * 1.18.2 added the command, made a lot changes to tags and custom world generation, and fixes bugs.

Bedrock Edition

 * 1.17
 * 1.17.1 was released exclusively on Nintendo Switch to fix a bug in which players weren't able to connect to any server.
 * 1.17.2 was released to fix bugs related to world generation.
 * 1.17.10 added candles, brought additional parity with, experimental features for 1.18.0, and fixed bugs.
 * 1.17.11 was released to fix some critical bugs.
 * 1.17.30 was released to bring additional parity with, new features behind the experimental toggle, and fixed bugs.
 * 1.17.32 was released to fix some critical bugs after the release of 1.17.30.
 * 1.17.33 was released exclusively on Amazon Fire devices to fix a bug in which players weren't able to launch the game.
 * 1.17.34 was released to fix a bug in which owned content did not appear in the inventory after redeeming a retail code.
 * 1.17.40 was released to fix bugs and add more features behind the experimental toggle.
 * 1.17.41 was released to fix some critical bugs after the release of 1.17.40.
 * 1.18
 * 1.18.1 and 1.18.2 were released to fix some critical bugs after the release of 1.18.0.
 * 1.18.10 was released to bring more parity with and fix bugs.
 * 1.18.11 was released exclusively on Nintendo Switch to fix bugs.
 * 1.18.12 was released to fix bugs.
 * 1.18.30 was released to add new Create New World UI, more parity with such as 64-bit seeds, hunger changes, and fixes bugs.
 * 1.18.31 was released to add the Spectator mode experimental toggle and fix bugs.
 * 1.18.32 was released exclusively on Android, Fire OS, and Nintendo Switch to improve game performance.
 * 1.18.33 was released exclusively on Nintendo Switch to fix bugs.

Trailer
A trailer for Part I was released on June 8, 2021.

A trailer for Part II was released on November 30, 2021.

Showcases
Videos made by slicedlime:

Soundtrack
Videos uploaded to Lena Raine – Topic and Various Artists - Topic by Ingrooves

''Plays in snowy slopes, jagged peaks, frozen peaks, stony peaks, and the title screen. ''Plays in meadows, lush caves, and the title screen. ''Not present in the game at the time of the album's release. ''Plays in groves, jagged peaks, stony peaks, dripstone caves, and the title screen. ''Plays in groves, dripstone caves, and the title screen. ''Plays in meadows, snowy slopes, lush caves, and the title screen. ''The fourteenth music disc added to the game, obtained from stronghold and dungeon chests. ''Plays in jagged peaks and lush caves. ''Plays in groves. ''Plays in snowy slopes, dripstone caves, and lush caves.

Trivia

 * Mojang Studios employees explored real caves to research for the update. This helped give inspiration and ideas for the update, including for the noodle caves (previously called mesh caves).
 * Henrik Kniberg also recalled memories of past visits to caves around the world.
 * The art style of the concept art for Caves & Cliffs was inspired by the concept art of the Adventure Time episode Diamonds and Lemons, which was a crossover with Minecraft.
 * Archaeology and Bundles were originally planned to be added in this update, but were delayed to a later version when the update was split.
 * The deep dark biome, sculk blocks, the warden, and goat horns were also originally planned for this update, but have now been postponed to release alongside The Wild Update.


 * Trailer trivia
 * At the 0:24 mark of the Caves & Cliffs: Part I trailer, the constellation can be spotted in the sky, which represents the sea-goat and is the Latin name for goat horn.
 * In the same trailer at 0:30, a Necromancer laugh from Minecraft Dungeons can be heard.