Everything new in Minecraft snapshot 25w20a

The latest Minecraft snapshot 25w20a will bring joy to the players who have been asking the developers to make the saddle craftable. Mojang Studios recently released the snapshot with many changes that make the blocky world even better. Most of these are small and subtle adjustments, but they do impact the overall gameplay experience for the better.

From saddles finally becoming craftable in Minecraft to a new music disc by composer Amos Roddy, here are all the changes that come with snapshot 25w20a and what makes it so good.

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Saddle can now be crafted in Minecraft

Saddles can now be crafted in Minecraft (Image via Mojang Studios)

The ability to craft saddles is a significant quality-of-life improvement that was long overdue, but it is better late than never. Players can now use 3 Leather and 1 Iron Ingot to craft saddles. This is a wonderful change, as players need to explore the world during early gameplay, and the lack of a saddle meant that most of the exploration had to be done on foot.

Saddles and other equipment like horse armor, harnesses, and carpets can now be removed from animals using shears. However, there are certain limitations: equipment cannot be removed if the mob has a rider or if the player is crouching. Dispensers also cannot remove equipment with shears, and no, ravager’s saddle cannot be removed using the shears.

Apart from that, several chests across different structures have been updated. Specifically, saddles have been removed from the loot tables of structures such as monster rooms, ancient cities, desert pyramids, jungle pyramids, and strongholds. These have been replaced with 1 to 5 units of leather, which complements the new saddle crafting recipe.

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Gameplay and visual changes

The update makes the game more immersive with some visual and gameplay changes (Image via Mojang Studios)

Visual immersion has also been improved. Fog effects now apply to 3D HUD elements, including player hands and items held in first-person view. This small change adds a layer of immersion to make the blocky world feel more real.

The ghast mob has also received a unique interaction: it now drops the new Tears music disc when killed by a fireball deflected by the player. This is great, as players now have an incentive to improve in combat.

Other environmental changes include reduced fog density during rain and thunder, making these weather events more visually clear. Also, rain fog now has less impact on interiors, improving visibility in enclosed areas during storms.

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Music updates

A new music disc and five tracks have been added with the update (Image via Mojang Studios)

One of the standout highlights of this snapshot is the introduction of a new music disc titled Tears by composer Amos Roddy. This adds another collectible item for players interested in the musical aspects of Minecraft.

Apart from that, five new ambient tracks have been added to biomes such as cherry groves, forests, deserts, groves, and lush caves. These tracks — Below and Above, Broken Clocks, Fireflies, Lilypad, and O's Piano — are the ones players can listen to while exploring the biomes.

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Realms improvements

Realms have been improved as well in Minecraft (Image via Mojang Studios)

Players using Minecraft Realms will notice new region indicators on the loading screen, along with a Realms logo. These small enhancements improve the user interface and provide better connection information for the players.

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Those were all the changes and improvements that came with the snapshot 25w20a. Players can download this version, but it should be noted that these are experimental features and could lead to issues with gameplay.