Minecraft’s Final 2026 Drop Puts Ice Caves and the Frostbite Into Testing

Minecraft’s last game drop of 2026 heads somewhere cold: frozen ice caves. Mojang first showed the features at Minecraft Live on September 26, and they’re already in testing. Bedrock Edition previews and betas got them on September 30 and Java Edition snapshots on October 6, with a second batch for both on October 13.

What’s waiting in the ice caves

• The Ice Cave biome generates beneath the Overworld’s colder biomes and is built mostly from Packed Ice and Calcite.
• Icicles hang from the ceiling, grow up to five blocks long and deal damage when they fall.
• Ice Crystals form on the ground and glow.
• The Frostbite, the caves’ new hostile mob, is a zombie variant whose melee attacks apply the new Freezing effect. It also throws Ice Balls from range.

Zombies and Husks caught inside Powder Snow turn into Frostbites, and Ice Balls can be brewed into Potions of Freezing.

Brittle Ice and jukebox playlists

The October 13 builds added Brittle Ice, which cracks under players and mobs until it breaks. Frostbites, annoyingly, can cross it safely. It covers crevasses, winding ravines that lead down into the ice caves, and you can make it yourself by letting water flow next to Blue Ice.

Jukeboxes gain playlists, too. Place a chest directly above one, and its music discs play in slot order before looping back to the start.

How to try the drop today

1. Back up your worlds first. Mojang warns that test versions can corrupt them.
2. On Java Edition, enable snapshots in the launcher.
3. On Bedrock Edition, join the previews or betas. Realms subscribers can also create a free testing Realm.
4. Tell Mojang what you think. It’s collecting feedback on its official feedback site.