What you need to know
- Mojang Studios has pivoted to smaller, more frequent updates for Minecraft, and the latest is just around the corner.
- "The Garden Awakens" adds a spooky new biome with a terrifying inhabitant.
- Players can brave The Pale Garden for a chance at securing new crafting and building materials, as well as a Creaking Heart for more nefarious purposes.
- Minecraft "The Garden Awakens" is dropping today, on Dec. 3, and should be rolling out to players on all platforms.
Minecraft is in something of a transitionary phase, moving into brand-new entertainment mediums and shifting the way game updates are approached. Mojang Studios has pivoted to "Game Drops," smaller and more frequent releases that regularly add new features to everyone's favorite survival-crafting game, and the latest has finally arrived.
"The Garden Awakens" is the newly revealed title of the newest major Minecraft content update, which brings with it a spooky new biome, an even spookier new hostile mob, and a handful of reasons to encourage players to brave the dreary forest known as "The Pale Garden." You can begin your exploration whenever you're ready, too, as "The Garden Awakens" is now rolling out to all Minecraft Players across Xbox, Windows PC, PlayStation, Switch, and mobile devices as of today, Dec. 3, 2024.
Recent updates
Dec. 3, 2024 @ 12:05 p.m. ET — Updated now that Minecraft "The Garden Awakens" is properly releasing across platforms. My original article continues below.
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A horror theme and a modest list of additions
I'm not one to tiptoe around an issue, so I'll go out and say that "The Garden Awakens" isn't the most exciting Minecraft update that has ever come out of Mojang Studios. These new "Game Drops" are more modest by their nature, and this update is no different. The list of new content and additions is relatively short, but there's still plenty to entice players to return to Minecraft's Overworld.
"The Garden Awakens" centers entirely around The Pale Garden, a new rare forest biome that players can discover in Minecraft. The Pale Garden is devoid of color and cast in ominous overtones, with a pervasive silence that's only broken once night falls. That's because The Pale Garden is home to Minecraft's most terrifying entity: The Creaking. These tree-like monsters hunt the grounds of The Pale Garden once the sun, recedes, and they can be horrifying foes.
The Creaking only move when you can't see them, and stop the moment you lay eyes on them. This doesn't make them easier to deal with, though — The Creaking are effectively immortal, with only one way to deal with them. You have to track down their Creaking Heart, embedded in a nearby tree, and destroy The Creaking at their source. If you conspire to pick up a Creaking Heart rather than destroy it, then you can spawn your own legion of Creaking wherever you want.
Aside from The Creaking, The Pale Garden is also home to the Pale Oak trees and Pale Moss, both of which can be used to craft interesting and unique structures and creations. Aggravating The Creaking at night will also result in the production of resin, another new material that can be used to spice up your building. Finally, The Pale Garden is home to eyeblossoms, a unique new flower that only blooms at night and glows orange in the dark.
Minecraft's "The Garden Awakens" update officially drops on Dec. 3, 2024 for Xbox, Windows PC, PlayStation, Switch, mobile devices, and Xbox Game Pass as a simultaneous update for both Java and Bedrock Editions. While a smaller update, it is certainly one of the spookiest releases Minecraft has ever enjoyed. There's no word yet on what comes next for Minecraft, but I'm sure we won't have to wait long to find out.
In case you missed it, I recently sat down to talk with the team behind Minecraft Experience, a new real-world attraction that lets you physically step into the world of Minecraft.
