Minecraft is being updated with new textures and improved lighting

A major facelift awaits Minecraft with the Vibrant Visuals update, which Mojang has just showcased. The update aims to significantly enhance the game's graphics without compromising its iconic blocky aesthetic. The development of this update has been ongoing for several years behind the studio's walls, and Minecraft lead Ingela Garneji explained that the process came with numerous challenges, drawing lessons from previous missteps.

"We embraced a lot of those learnings. So for this time around, the studio really gave the team space to build in the foundations for the engine that we wanted to deliver on these feature sets. We weren't getting too ahead of ourselves and promising a lot of things that we couldn't build until we actually built them and shared them with the rest of the team."

Product manager Maddie Psenka also emphasised that the team is focused on building a solid foundation that Minecraft can lean on going forward. The update will be available for both the Bedrock and Java editions of the game. This means players on platforms such as PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and certain iOS and Android devices will be able to enjoy these visual enhancements.

Using the new visual profile will be completely optional and can be turned on or off via the in-game settings. For those who choose to enable Vibrant Visuals, the experience will be transformative, with volumetric fog and ray tracing making environments feel far more alive than ever before.

No official release date for the update has been announced yet, but Mojang promised that players can expect to enjoy this visual spectacle "very soon."

Are you looking forward to Vibrant Visuals?