Minecraft 1.18 Caves & Cliffs update part 2: Pre-releases revealed so far and features teased

Lush caves in Minecraft 1.18 pre-release 5 (Image via Minecraft)
Lush caves in Minecraft 1.18 pre-release 5 (Image via Minecraft)

The Minecraft 1.18 Caves & Cliffs update part 2 is closer than ever, and Mojang has announced the release date. It is scheduled to come out on November 30.

After thoroughly testing the new features, the developers released quite a few snapshot versions for the audience. Now that they are done working on the new features, Mojang is releasing pre-release versions.


Minecraft 1.18 pre-release versions

What are pre-releases?

These are the test versions that the developers usually release after working on the update's main features. These test versions can be installed directly from the official Minecraft Java Edition launcher.

Pre-releases can be slightly unstable at times, but they get better as more pre-releases come out for an upcoming Minecraft update. In pre-releases, the developers mainly focus on fixing all the known bugs that the community has reported and they have themselves come across.

So far, five pre-releases have come out, and over 160 bugs have been fixed in those versions. There's still over a week left before the 1.18 update releases. Therefore, fans can expect a few more pre-releases to come out.


Changes made in 1.18 pre-releases so far

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Some 1.18 pre-release versions not only came with bug fixes but also introduced some new changes.

The first 1.18 pre-releases re-added the Amplified and Large Biomes world types removed in the first 1.18 experimental snapshot. Changes have been made to these world types to adapt to the new terrain generation.

Changes were made to the new cave generation in the second pre-release. When upgrading an old Minecraft world, new caves are now generated underneath the entire chunk, in chunks with any bedrock at Y0.

Minecraft 1.18 pre-release 3 and 4 were released on the same day. Neither version made any significant changes to the game's features.

The latest pre-release came with a lot of changes made to the texture of a few blocks. Readers can learn about all the bugs fixed and changes made in pre-release five from here.