Caves & Cliffs was announced in Minecraft Live 2020,[4] 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.[5] 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 Java Edition, 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 Bedrock Edition, 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.[6][7] 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.[8]
Both Java and Bedrock editions received Caves & Cliffs: Part I on June 8, 2021, and Caves & Cliffs: Part II on November 30, 2021.[9]
Additionally, features from Caves & Cliffs: Part I, were released for Minecraft Education 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.
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).[10][11]
Henrik Kniberg also recalled memories of past visits to caves around the world.[12]
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.[13]
Archaeology and Bundles were originally planned to be added in this update, but were delayed to a later version when the update was split.[14]
At the 0:24 mark of the Caves & Cliffs: Part I trailer, the Capricornus constellation can be spotted in the sky, which represents the sea-goat and is the Latin name for goat horn.
Caves & Cliffs release logo
