This past June, Mojang released the first part of its Caves & Cliffs update, bringing with it new mobs, blocks, and in-game characters. But seeing that this update was splint in two, we only knew that the second half would land sometime in winter. Well, winter might not officially start until December 21st, but I see no reason to complain about an early launch from Mojang. As expected, the release of the second half of the Caves & Cliffs update brings new cave generation along with new cave and mountain biomes. Even the generation of these biomes has been improved upon, the same with the generation of caves and ore. New music has also made the cut, and there are over 70 bug fixes, making the early arrival of The Caves & Cliffs: Part II that much more enticing.

Above, you can watch the fresh new trailer for The Caves & Cliffs: Part II update. It's a cinematic that illustrates the game now offers updated caves and cliffs, fairly self-explanatory. This means the game now offers extra height and depth in its auto-generated worlds, providing players with more to explore. Of course, there has to be something to explore, so 3D biomes are now a thing where the game can finally generate biomes underneath other biomes (you know, like a deep cave underneath a mountain). There's new cave generation, too, with Noise caves generating as three separate options, Cheese Caves (wide), Spaghetti Caves (long tunnel-filled), and Noodle Caves (narrow and winding). Best of all, the terrain is no longer tied to its biomes, which means you may just find a desert on top of a hilltop. Of course, if you'd like to read though all of the new features, the changelog is below.

Increased World Height and Depth

• Overworld height and depth for new and existing worlds has been extended to y320 and y-64, opening up more space to explore and build in

World Blending

• Players can now update existing worlds to include the new overworld height dimensions and world generation features. See our World Upgrading FAQ for more details
• The bedrock layer at y0 below saved chunks will be replaced with Deepslate and feature new cave generation underneath
• Biomes and terrain generating across new and existing chunk borders will blend seamlessly, creating natural-looking environmental transitions

New Terrain and Mountain Generation

• Terrain shape and elevation is no longer always determined by biome, resulting in new biome placements such as deserts on top of hills
• Mountains are taller than ever and can now generate up to a maximum height of 256 blocks

New Biomes, 3D Biome Generation, and Biome Distribution

• Added 3D biomes - cave biomes can now generate directly below surface biomes
• New cave and mountain biomes added, including Jagged Peaks, Meadows, Lush Caves and Dripstone Caves

New Cave Generation

• Added noise caves - the three primary types of noise caves are large, open Cheese Caves, wide, tunnelling Spaghetti Caves and the narrow, winding Noodle Caves
• Added aquifers - these create local level bodies of water such as flooded caves or underground lakes

Ore Distribution and Large Ore Veins

• Added large ore veins - these long formations stretch through cave systems and contain larger deposits of ore than the clusters usually found underground
• Ore distribution has been adjusted to compensate for the new world height

Mob Spawning

• Monsters will now only spawn in complete darkness. Players can spawn-proof dark areas such as caves using light sources

New Music

• Added new music by Lena Raine and Kumi Tanioka
• Added a new music disc from Lena Raine titled "otherside". This can be found rarely in Stronghold corridor chests or much more rarely in Dungeon chests
• Mobile players: To hear the new music, you will need to download the updated Minecraft Original Music Pack, available FREE from Marketplace

New Achievements/Trophies

• Caves & Cliffs - Free fall from the top of the world (build limit) to the bottom of the world and survive
• Feels Like Home - Take a Strider for a loooong ride on a lava lake in the Overworld
• Sound of Music - Make the Meadows come alive with the sound of music from a jukebox
• Star trader - Trade with a villager at the build height limit

These are only the new features. There are also new changes and fixes. The standout changes are centered around new Vanilla Experiments, but there's also been a change to how external storage is handled on Android, thanks to an API change from Google. While you can migrate your save to the new storage area, you'll lose your save if you delete the game before you do so. So make sure to keep that in mind if you use external storage for Minecraft on your Android device. Of course, if you'd like to read the full changelog for these changes, you can read through it below.

Vanilla Experiments

• Added new "Vanilla Experiments" experimental toggle containing some blocks and items from The Wild Update, coming in 2022
• Goat Horn
• Sculk
• Sculk Vein
• Sculk Catalyst
• Sculk Shrieker
• Sculk Sensor
• Be sure to backup your worlds before enabling experimental toggles and see our updated FAQ on how to enable Experiments

"Old" World Type

• Removed "Old" world type from the world creation screen
• Locked Old worlds to BaseGameVersion 1.17.40
• Existing Old worlds are still playable but will not be updated with 1.18 features
• For more information on Old world changes, please see the FAQ article

Menu Panorama

• Added a new main menu panorama showing the beautiful cliffs of the Overworld

Android External Storage

• Players with external storage will be migrated to new location at start up, due to storage changes required by Google. You can still play if migration fails by closing the results window
• With external storage being migrated to its new location in preparation for Google's new API requirements, you will now lose your data if you uninstall Minecraft, unless you check the box indicating you want to keep your data. We recommend checking this box if you wish to keep your worlds in the event you choose to reinstall Minecraft
• For more information on storage changes, please see the FAQ article

Known Issues:

• New world generation in this release is currently incompatible with the 'Creation of Custom Biomes' experimental toggle. Expect worlds with custom biome generation to be potentially unstable and for custom biomes to only exist in currently saved out areas of the world.
• World generation for the Minecraft Overworld has changed entirely with this release. This means old seeds will no longer spawn players in the same positions when playing 1.18. If creators are version locked to an old version of the game, their seeds will generate worlds as they were prior to 1.18.

All in all, Mojang's The Caves & Cliffs: Part II update is a beefy one, explaining why the studio chose to break it up into two releases. Better yet, the second release has arrived early, so if you've been curious to see exactly what The Caves & Cliffs: Part II has to offer, you can purchase Minecraft from the Play Store widget below, and if you already own the game, simply update it, and you're good to go.