Minecraft's Tricky Trials update is out, adding new challenge chambers, mobs and an auto-crafter
Ominous
When I play Minecraft, I mostly just want to build things, or maybe go exploring across its landscapes, which still have the power to surprise and delight me. My son, meanwhile, mostly wants to murder me - and in the game.
The Tricky Trials update, out now, might help redirect his bloodlust. It adds trial chambers full of traps and treasure, including waves of hostile mobs to battle against.
Trial chambers are large copper structures, in which you'll find trial spawner blocks that bump out enemies - including two new mobs. The Breeze looks like an angry whirlwind and can toss players around, while The Bogged is a moss-covered poison skeleton that you'll find not only in trial chambers but in overworld swamps.
These trial chambers will apparently scale in difficulty depending on how many players to bring along, but all players will benefit from items found in the Vault. The Vault is a new block that can be found in trial chambers and which unlocks with a special key gained by defeating all the mob waves. If it proves too easy, you can also opt-in to an additional "Ominous" difficulty trials, by finding an in-game "ominous bottle" and drinking from it. Doing so also prompts village raids in the overworld.
Since this update is clearly all about smashing enemies to bits, it also adds new ways of doing it: the mace, which is a new weapon which delivers more damage if you use it while falling. It's also got three unique enchantments, including Density, which increases its damage output. I am very dense already but my damage output is also extremely low.
My son is going to murder me with a mace for sure. Once he's asleep, the update does add a couple of elements that are more appealing to me, including a new auto-crafting block, that lets you pick a recipe, add ingredients, and apply redstone power to have it craft an item for you. That seems like the kind of item less dense players than I will use to make incredible devices.
You can find more details about other elements of the Tricky Trials update over on the Minecraft blog.