Games

Maybe I'm blind, but I can't see it? The target audience is PC gamers, and even though I rarely browse gaming websites anymore, this type of snark seems to be fairly standard for the last 10+ years.

Minecraft is the best-selling game of all time, but it's looked pretty much the same for the entirety of its almost 14 year run. There's an argument to be made that it's showing its age in places, an argument I won't make because I don't think so myself, but all the same, as revealed during today's Minecraft Live, Mojang announced that the sandbox game is getting a pretty big visual overhaul update called Vibrant Visuals. Now, don't worry, it'll still be all blocks and squares 'n' that, but it will be changing up how lighting looks.

A blog post explains things in a bit more detail, with one of the big things being that there'll now be volumetric lighting. What that translates to is things like sunlight shining more naturally across different surfaces, even shining through windows, and every individual block will cast its own shadow. Mobs and items will glow a bit more too, so it's not just about the overworld lighting.

This update is coming to the Bedrock Edition of the game first, with the post noting that it hopes to bring this "graphics revamp (either fully or partially) to as many devices as possible", though there's not even a release window for it yet. There are plans to bring it to Java Edition too.

I might not have much of a horse in this race as someone that only really plays Minecraft once in a blue moon (and normally swiftly puts it down because I'm not that kind of creative and I get too stressed out from survival mode), but honestly, I'm not a fan. Minecraft is inherently not a natural looking game, and this lighting overhaul just adds a touch to much realism for my tastes. Besides, this kind of lighting already exists in countless mods, so for plenty of people it's not even really needed.

In any case, there were a few other announcements from Minecraft Live too, like the fact you'll soon be able to fly around on friendly versions of ghasts, which I do quite like the look of. There's a live event taking place from March 25 to April 7 too where you get to hang out with Jack Black's version of Steve to defend a village in some mini-games, which'll net you a cape if you're successful. Bit less exciting, but to each their own!