My FAVOURITE Aspects of Every Minecraft Update!

I ranted about things that bothered me from each Minecraft update, now it's time for me to do a positive counterpart to that rant. In this "rant", I will be listing my FAVOURITE aspect(s) of each update I have seen, going from 1.4 to the last complete update, 1.16. I won't be covering Caves & Cliffs as it's not complete yet.

Some of these updates are REALLY great, so some of these have been some really tough choices!!

1.4 - Witches

It was a tough choice between this and the Command Block. Whereas the latter has certainly been revolutionary in mapmaking, the Witch is SUCH a cool mob. Its attacks of weaponising potions whilst drinking helpful potions itself really makes the Witch almost feel like a bit of a mini-boss. It's one of the most unique mobs out there with one of the most unique combat strategies to beat.

Honourable mention: Command blocks.

1.5 - Nether Quartz

I'm a survival player, so nothing makes me happier than hearing of a new ore! Especially, the first ore EVER added to the Nether! This was one of the first updates I saw when I was still very new to the game. I couldn't believe there were no ores in the Nether, so I was very happy to see this be added. And yes, the ore is mostly used for redstone components (or the way I use it nowadays, a GREAT source of XP!) but it is also a really nice building block.

1.6 - Regional and Dynamic Difficulty

A VERY, almost CRIMINALLY overlooked feature of 1.6 is that it introduced dynamic and regional difficulty. The longer you stay in an area, the game very slowly gets more difficult. This is why hostile night-time mobs around your established base always seem to have lots of enchanted armour and even enchanted tools. This is such a great way to ensure the game doesn't get too easy as you progress, and the fact Minecraft even has a dynamic difficulty scale definitely makes the game far more immersive. I'm a sucker for these dynamic scales in games, so it's incredible to see it here in Minecraft.

1.7 - Ice Spikes Biome

I tried so hard to think of a best feature here, and eventually settled on the Ice Spikes Biome, which I think is the best of the new biomes added in 1.7. But. Let me just say that just about ANY feature in 1.7 (minus the music bug) comes INCREDIBLY close to this because 1.7 was JUST THAT DAMNED GOOD!!! My list of honourable mentions for 1.7 includes: Stained Glass; Sunflower Plains; Flower Forests; All the new flowers; The removal of 100,000-block oceans; No more snowy biomes next to desert biomes; New Fish types; Fishing update; Acacia wood; basically ALL the new biomes; BASICALLY THIS ENTIRE BLEEDIN' UPDATE!!!!!!!!! But the Ice Spikes biome is so rare and so beautiful I HAD to give it the top spot. But there are seriously 50 other features that could steal that depending on what day I'm reviewing this!

Honourable mention: EVERYTHING ELSE IN 1.7!!! (minus the music bug)

1.8 - Ocean Monuments

Really, could it be anything else? 1.8 was notorious for adding a lot of "fluff" that was half-baked and not necessary, but this felt like easily the most fleshed-out feature of the update. Adding some REALLY awesome new building blocks, one of the coolest-looking light sources, and what is perhaps the most ORIGINAL, INTERESTING, unique and fun mob to fight - the Guardian. The Ocean Monument is still what I consider to be the most unique and interesting structure in Minecraft. Not to mention one of the oldest blocks in Minecraft, the Sponge, FINALLY became functional. And yes, there is the problem with the loot. But in its day, the loot was actually justified. As gold couldn't be found in abundance in the Nether, gold was a LOT rarer then. But mainly, God Apples used to be craftable using 8 gold blocks back then. So essentially, the reward for beating the Monument was a God Apple.

Honourable mention: Slime Blocks.

1.9 - End Cities

In my rant where I ranked all the mobs from worst to best, Shulker was actually my #1 best pick. And it's that way for a reason: Shulkers are perhaps the most interesting and unique enemies in Minecraft. This entire structure is something else. But not only that, the End City is home to what I consider Minecraft's BEST item: The Elytra! The item that literally allows you to fly in survival!! The End City and the journey to it, to a survival player at the time, felt like the ULTIMATE quest, and is still to this day one of the best in all of Minecraft.

Honourable mention: Improved Ender Dragon fight.

1.10 - Magma Blocks

1.10 is one of the smallest updates ever, really adding only a handful of new blocks and features. As such, I don't really have much choice here. But I will go with the Magma Block. It was the first addition to the Nether in years, and it also crept its way into future uses such as being able to generate bubble columns in the ocean.

1.11 - The Concept of Illagers

One of my favourite modern concepts in Minecraft is the Illager. The exiled villager kicked out of the village for "unspeakable crimes". I am a huge sucker for lore in Minecraft, and this was such a rich layer of lore for the game to add. Not only did this idea inspire an ENTIRE SPIN-OFF game, Minecraft Dungeons, but it opened the door to a very interesting new type of enemy in Minecraft. With the Illagers, the team is allowed to go a bit more out there. Magic is allowed, which can path the way for more interesting enemies. Assuming some big YouTuber doesn't come along an- ahem. The mysteries surrounding these mobs are actually worthy of their own analysis.

Honourable mention: Shulker Boxes.

1.12 - Recipe Book

I've said a few times that to me, 1.12 is not the colour update. It's the accessibility update. Huge strides were made towards making the game more accessible, including a chat narrator and some tutorial hints. Before 1.12 I always said Minecraft shouldn't hold your hand... but the game should at least tell you the crafting recipes! I always found it very strange the game literally didn't tell you ANYTHING about how to craft, and basically made the player have to look up every crafting recipe online. Maybe this was okay when there were only a handful, but seriously, it took EIGHT YEARS for this to be a thing in Minecraft!?! Oh well, better late than never.

1.13 - The Hype!!!

This is a bit of a cop-out answer, I know. But really, the best thing about being a Minecraft fan during the 1.13 development was the hype surrounding it. EVERY WEEK we were getting some really cool and AMAZING new feature in the snapshots. It was one of Bedrock's first updates too. And as this update was such a MASSIVE step-up in quality on some of the previous updates, and it was FINALLY adding SO much new content to one of the most heavily-complained-about areas, it seemed this update brought an all-time high morale in Minecraft. I love this update for more than just what it added - which was an INSANE amount of really great things - but also because it was the turning point. The point at which Minecraft updates became great again. And I have always wondered if this update is what helped start the second coming of Minecraft.

1.14 - Raids

Despite my MANY gripes with the raids making Totems too accessible, I do love the idea of a raid IN THEORY. It's the closest thing we've ever had since 2012 to another boss fight. Except instead of fighting one single mighty enemy, we're fighting waves and waves of smaller yet fairly strong ones. The raids really are a fun little challenge that test how good you are at strategic play - as you also have to keep villagers alive as well as defeating all the enemies. It also tests your arrow supply, because if you don't have at least a stack and a decently-enchanted bow, you'll probably run out of arrows by the fifth wave. In my first ever raid, I had my arse HANDED to me. Even doing it for the fourth time, I ended up on 1 heart after a Ravager managed to climb up my water stream and onto my perch, pushing me off into a group of Vindicators waiting for me down below.

Honourable mention: Scaffolding

1.15 - Parity Changes

One of the most overlook aspects of 1.15 is that there were several changes and additions that were Bedrock-exclusives that were finally brought to the Java Edition. The most notable being the ability to dry sponges out by placing them in the Nether. I do wish there had been slightly more parity changes though, as there is still a mountain between the two versions.

1.16 - All Those New Biomes!

Of everything 1.16 had to offer, my favourite was definitely the biomes in the Nether. This fresh coat of paint to a very bland dimension was exactly what the Nether needed! Exploring the nether now feels intriguing and much less homogeneous. And they did SUCH a good job with the biomes too! Each one feels SO atmospheric and distinct from one another. Every biome feels so dang DIFFERENT - even the two Netherwart forest biomes feel like a total contrast from one another. The changing fog definitely helps set the mood. My favourite biomes are the Basalt Deltas and the Soulsand Valley. The former is truly menacing and the latter genuinely sends creeps down my spine even more than a year later.

A lot of people complained there were only four new biomes, but honestly each biome was SO WELL IMPLEMENTED and so distinct, I'm perfectly fine with four. Quality, not quantity. If they'd tried to rush 8 new biomes they wouldn't have been nearly at the quality the four we got are at.

Honourable mention: Netherite

Final Words

Damn, this list was hard, because there has just been SO much good stuff added over the years! Let's hope in the coming years they keep on coming!