You can try Minecraft 1.21’s biggest new features right now

You can play Minecraft 1.21 right now with snapshot 23w45a, which lets you explore the upcoming Trial Chambers and even encounter the 2024 update’s brand new Breeze mob too. While this snapshot isn’t representative of the final release of 1.21, getting a chance to play around with what’s coming up is always a lot of fun.

With Minecraft 1.21 coming in 2024 there’s a lot to look forward to, and now Mojang has released a playable Minecraft snapshot of part of the update – you should make backups of your world before loading the snapshot in – to keep us all busy in the meantime. A lot is going on in the Minecraft update, so let’s break it down.

You can expect the new Minecraft Trial Chambers and Breeze mobs in the update to Java Edition (note that it isn’t available in the Bedrock version), alongside some more minor changes.

“Trial Chambers are designed to be challenging moments of combat and exploration hidden medium-deep below the surface of the Overworld,” the Java team writes. “Trial Chambers bring new decorative and lighting blocks, new Trial Spawners to deliver a different style of multi-mob fights, and the bushy-browed Breeze, a new mob specific to Trial Chambers which will add quite a bit of chaos to your combats.”

According to the snapshot notes the Minecraft Breeze mob is a “cunning, hostile mob that can spawn via Trial Spawner.” They’re very aggressive and will leap around you, using wind attacks to both deal damage and send you flying by a few blocks, so keep your eyes peeled for them.

Trail Chambers are available in the mid-game, and after discovering them in the overworld you can use them to take on combat challenges – be sure to check the Deepslate layer of the underground where they are relatively common. They’ll give you Trial Keys, but as 23w45a notes, they don’t currently have any functionality.

If you want even more from Minecraft ahead of 1.21 next year, we’ve put together the best Minecraft seeds, Minecraft skins, and Minecraft mods for you to download and use in your game right now.