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Frozen zombie approaches through a dark Minecraft ice cave filled with icicles and crystal clusters.
News
Sofia Dankis
Written By
Sofia Dankis
Published
10/27/26

Everything you can test from the upcoming game drop

Your one-stop shop for the upcoming drop's beta, preview, and snapshots!

Brrrr! There’s a chill in the air, a sparkle in the ceiling, and an ominous groan in the distance. That can only mean one thing! The final game drop of 2026 is upon us, and before you descend into the ice caves we have to check that everything is ready for you! It’s time to test out the new features! For this frosty game drop, we’re going to collect all the moments right here, for new things to test! Cool, right? You can expect a lot of incredible wordplay in that icy vein but don’t let that discourage you!  

Go forth, test, and give us your feedback at feedback.minecraft.net and report any bugs you find at bugs.mojang.com. 

 

Click on the link to jump to each testing moment:

 

Mobs, caves, and more!

Explore the ice caves, battle the frozen zombie, fight with ice balls, and build with ice crystals and icicles. 

If you watched Minecraft Live you’ll know that this drop is so cool it’s positively frozen. Pull on your warmest, wooliest sweater because you’ve got new ice caves to explore! The caves are so shiny and pretty thanks to the new ice crystals and icicles decorating them. But be careful, they’re pretty sharp so try not to knock them over! Or do, if you woke up and chose chaos.  But while we’re on the topic of being careful, I would watch out for ice balls. *Wooosh* See! They’re fast! That one almost hit me, and I do not have time to get frozen right now.

Wait a minute… who threw that? Uh-oh. There must  be a frostbite around here.  You might know the frozen zombie variant. It was just too cool, so we had to name it. See for yourself, here it comes! 

Well, that’s my cue! Don’t worry, I’m sure you can use a Freezing potion if you get in trouble. But I’m not going to chill out and find out!

 

lose-up of a frozen zombie reaching toward the viewer inside an icy cave.
Grrr! Brrr! It's a frostbite! With an ice ball! Uh-oh. Run!
Bright lavafall descends through a towering cavern surrounded by blue ice formations.
Lava, meet ice. Ice, meet lava. Now they can live harmoniously in the ice cave!
Sparkling ice crystals glowing inside an ice cave.
Pretty! Glowy! Coldy! The three attributes of an ice crystal.
Large glowing icicles hang from the ceiling of a vast, shadowy frozen cavern.
Icicles aren't just pointy, they're fragile too! Maybe we should keep them away from the lava...

Read the full preview and beta changelog here.

Read the full snapshot changelog here.

Jukeboxes, brittle ice, and crevasses!

Stack your discs, mind the cracks, and drop into the ice caves.

Oh, good, you’re back! And you don’t look as frozen as I thought. Great job evading the frostbite! But there’s no time to rest, because there are three more features to test in the Java snapshot and Bedrock beta & preview and that are out today.  

Before we get started, let’s get some music going. There’s a lot to try out, so we’re going to need some continuous tunes. Maybe, a list. A list that keeps playing the music. To achieve this, all you need to do is put a chest over a jukebox block, fill it with music discs, and voila! You’ve got a mixtape á la Minecraft! Or a jukebox playlist, if you prefer the less millennial, more official name.  

Now that we’ve got a soundtrack, we can take a closer look at the new brittle ice blocks. The name implies that they’re fragile, which is appropriate as they will break if you stand on them. Not immediately, ice is still pretty sturdy. But once the cracks go CRACK, they’re going to keep cracking until they break. To craft them, add water to blue ice blocks. But if you find them in the wild, chances are that they’re covering a crevasse. These frosty ravines wind down into the ice caves, so hopefully you were looking for a freezing adventure! Come on. The ice should have been a clue.  

Minecraft character crosses a frozen cave lake toward a warmly lit shelter containing a bed, chest, and jukebox.

Don't resist the pull of the playlist!

Minecraft character relaxes beside a jukebox, bookshelves, candles, and a sunset view inside a cozy ice home.

Feel the vibes. And the cold, but mainly the vibes!

Jagged crevasse breaks through the brittle ice floor of a blue cavern surrounded by hanging icicles.

I wonder if someone's fallen down that crevasse. *Crack* Wai-AAAAAaaaaaaah *'thud*

Read the full snapshot changelog here.

Ambient sounds and decorative blocks!

Build with ice, then listen to it!

Iiiiiiiiiiiiieeee! OOooooooeee! Aaaaaah! Oh, excuse me. I was just harmonizing with the ice blocks. They have a new, ambient sound that matches my old, ambient vibe. Have you heard it yet? No? And you call yourself a music snob. Wait, maybe that was me. Well, to get on my level, you should head to a frozen ocean or river and find a block of ice that’s surrounded by other ice blocks. And it has to be over water. And under air. Once those parameters are fulfilled, you can groove to that nice ice sound. 

Chances are, it’ll inspire you to bring the frosty vibes back to your base. Which you can thanks to the packed ice blocks! There’s a full set of them! packed ice bricks, slabs, stairs, walls, even chiselled blocks. They come in a beautiful blue hue so you don’t confuse them with bricks of a non-frozen variety. Brrrr! I’m going to grab another sweater before I start building. Be right back! 

Ornate blue ice castle rises from a snowy hill beneath a softly glowing, snow-filled sky.

I bet there's a cool party going on in that castle. Maybe my invite was lost in the mail?

Two Minecraft players have a snowball fight around an icy fort, watched by pumpkin-headed snow golems.

Watch out for flying ice balls!

Lone Minecraft player crosses a vast frozen lake surrounded by towering icebergs in falling snow.

*Insert ice sounds here*

Freeze water and build with snow bricks!

We all know how to freeze water, right? Bring the temperature down far enough and it goes from liquid to solid. Yes, contrary to popular belief and the opinions of my science teachers, I do know a thing or two about thermodynamics. And now I know even more, because I just found a new way to freeze water. You just have to feed some blue ice to sulfur cubes. Yeah. That’s it! No more waiting around for temperature to change, those sulfur cubes will instantly freeze any water they get into contact with. Will this make boats obsolete? Only time, and my willingness to walk across an ocean, will tell. 

Thanks to the lovely ambient sounds that the ice crystals now make, I’ve been inspired to continue on this snowy scientific quest! Let’s examine another instantly cold element: snow. Sadly, it’s always been relegated to the outdoors, but now we can finally bring in the cold with the full set of snow bricks! Where will your arctic architecture take you? To the coldest castle the Overworld has ever seen? A freezing fortress, filled with fancy furniture? Snow shacks, winter wonderlands, or polar pads?  It doesn’t have to require alliteration, allegedly.

 
Snow-covered house built from white and blue ice blocks beside a frozen lake, with lanterns, spruce trees, a pig, and a snow golem.

A certified winter wonderland!

Players gather among towering ice sculptures on a lantern-lit frozen platform, while boats and cube-shaped ice creatures float nearby.

All this nice ice gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling! 

Glowing white and turquoise ice crystals illuminate the rocky ledges of a vast, dark frozen cavern.

Can you hear the ice crystals? 

How to test the new features

Get the Snapshot

Snapshots are available for Minecraft: Java Edition. To install the Snapshot, open up the Minecraft Launcher and enable snapshots in the "Installations" tab.

Testing versions can corrupt your world, so please backup and/or run them in a different folder from your main worlds.

Report bugs here:

Want to give feedback?

 

Get the beta/preview

You can test these features by enabling previews/beta for Minecraft: Bedrock Edition. To enable preview/beta for Minecraft: Bedrock Edition, follow these instructions.

*Preview is available for Minecraft: Bedrock Edition Realms on Xbox, Windows 10/11, and iOS. Betas are available on Android (Google Play). 

You can also try out testing these features on your Realm! Any player who has an active Realms subscription is eligible to create a free testing Realm, so you can try out the new features with friends. Find more information how to enable betas/previews on Bedrock Edition Realms*! Testing versions can corrupt your world, so please backup and/or run them in a different save folder from your main worlds.

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