After almost 15 years, Minecraft's massive visual overhaul comes this month with over 3,000 lush new textures: "We didn't want to take away from what makes Minecraft Minecraft"

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The Vibrant Visuals update is gorgeous

Minecraft
(Image credit: Mojang)

Minecraft fully released almost 15 years ago, and in that time, it's more or less looked like the same blocky game we all know and love, but it's now getting a sweeping visual overhaul.

Mojang Studios broke down the 'Vibrant Visuals' update, coming June 17, in a new video that also shows side-by-side comparisons of the game before and after. The main differences are that shadows now move organically and are cast by the sun, fog plays a much bigger role, water looks absolutely lush, and biomes feel a lot more distinct.

MINECRAFT’S VISUAL REFRESH! - YouTube MINECRAFT’S VISUAL REFRESH! - YouTube
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"We didn't want to take away from what makes Minecraft Minecraft, so everything we added needed to feel really natural - a natural evolution of what players were already used to," lead rendering engineer A.J. Fairfield said.

"Even though you have this modern look and feel, it's also very familiar glimpses of the regular Minecraft that you know," Vibrant Visuals lead Dejan Dimic added. It's certainly a sweeping, handsome update, without making the now-iconic game look uncanny. So, mission accomplished?

Minecraft's redone visuals will be available in the Bedrock Edition later this month and will be turned on by default. Don't worry, though! You can toggle it off in the menus, and the update will also be coming to Java Edition at some point in the future.

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Kaan Serin
Freelance contributor

Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.

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