Updates
Minecraft updates and snapshots, played on release day in my own world, with real screenshots of what changed and links to the official changelogs on minecraft.net.
Haven't played Minecraft in a while? 2026 brought three drops: new baby mobs and the golden dandelion, the Sulfur Cube and Sulfur Caves, the Dappled Forest, abandoned camps and cushions. The fourth drop is already in snapshots.
A red, orange and yellow forest, one-night straw beds, cushions you can sit on and abandoned camps full of loot. Every change in the fall drop, with real screenshots from my 26.3 world and what it changed for mods.
All five 26.4 snapshots in one place: Vulkan by default, a new F3 screen, ice caves and the Frostbite, Brittle Ice and jukebox playlists, and now Packed Ice Bricks. With release dates, my own tests from the snapshots and what each one means for mods.
Ice that cracks under your feet and jukeboxes that play a whole chest of music discs. I tested Brittle Ice, the new ice crevasses and jukebox playlists in the snapshot.
The first look at the next game drop: a new ice cave biome with icicles and glowing ice crystals, the Frostbite that throws ice balls, and the new Freezing effect. Tested in the snapshot, in a naturally generated ice cave, plus how to try it safely and what it means for mods.
The current release is Java 26.3 Wilderness Bound, out since September 15, 2026, with the Dappled Forest, one-night straw beds, cushions and abandoned camps. Data packs for it use format 121.0, resource packs 97.1. The next drop, 26.4, has been in snapshots since September 22, 2026: ice caves, the Frostbite, Brittle Ice and jukebox playlists so far. Every 26.4 snapshot keeps the full list.
Minecraft now counts by year and drop: 26.1 is the first drop of 2026, 26.3 the third, and 26.1.2 would be the second hotfix of the first drop. Mojang announced the change on December 2, 2025, which is why there never was a 1.22. Snapshots carry their target version in the name, like 26.4 Snapshot 5.
Fabric mods are built for one version at a time. After a new drop, wait until every mod you use has a release for it before you update a modded world, and keep a backup. Snapshots are for trying things out: play them in a new world or a copy, never in your main save, because a world opened in a snapshot may not open in the release again. My mod pages always say which version I tested, and the Fabric install guide shows how to set up a clean 26.3 instance.
I play every release and snapshot on the day it comes out, in my own world or a fresh test world, and every screenshot here is real gameplay from that version. Facts and dates come from Mojang’s official changelogs on minecraft.net, which each page links. When something changes later, for example in a hotfix, I update the page and note the date.