Dear reader, I am writing to you from the safe shelter that my bed provides. No, I am not snuggly nestled under my covers with a piping hot cup of tea in hand. I am cowering beneath the springs in a space usually reserved for monsters and dust bunnies, two fiends who pale in comparison to the character I just came face to face with.  

I can only be referring to the warden, who has been released into Minecraft in what could be the most terrifying experimental Java snapshot to date. Do you want to mirror my foolishness unquestionable bravery? Of course you do, I am nothing if not a role model. Emphasis on model, I still believe that the strider was based on me. Don’t listen to what anyone else tells you.  

There are a few things you need to know before you cannonball into this snapshot. First of all, let’s look at what you can expect to find. Or rather, what will find you. The creature that lurks in the deep dark is the warden. It cannot see, but it sure can hear (and smell!) so don’t make any comments that you don’t want to be held accountable for. Or any noise at all, because that will probably be the last thing that you do.  

The only way to avoid the warden is to stay stealthy, or you might set off a skulk shrieker. These blocks are also arriving in the snapshot, and if you make any noise near them they will write a very stern letter that you can expect in five business days. I’m lying – if you so much as cause a vibration near them they will shriek really loudly and, obviously, terrifyingly which in turn summons the warden. So, in the words of my neighbors, keep it down! Another block to be careful around is the sculk sensor. It also detects vibrations, but instead of screaming it emits a redstone signal. Stay stealthy and bring some wool with you to help muffle your vibrations, but whatever you do, do not step on the sculk sensor. Use silk touch to grab it while staying silent, and hug that wool really close if you get scared.  

The rest of the blocks in this snapshot aren’t sound sensitive, but you will have to be careful in another way – the only way to get them is by using silk touch. Take a deep breath and carefully, carefully bring the atmospheric beauty that is the sculk block back with you to your base as proof of your heroic antics, or just for decoration. For the rest of your sculk décor, take a look at the sculk catalyst. It not only glows in the dark but also spreads sculk nearby. Handy and also horrifying. The sculk vein block generates around the patches of sculk that the catalyst spreads, it’s similar to the glow lichen but with a deep dark twist.  

Is your body still in place within your skin? Not for long, because we’re just one step away from jumping right out of it. Take a look at the changelog and find out how to dive into the deep dark! Keep in mind, this is an experimental snapshot. 

It is still a work in progress, and nothing – including the structures and the warden – are in their final form.

CHANGELOG

• Added Deep Dark biome to the Overworld

• Added Ancient City structures to the Deep Dark

• Added Darkness mob effect

• Added Sculk, Sculk Veins, Sculk Catalyst and Sculk Shrieker blocks

• Re-added Sculk Sensor to the Creative Mode menu

• Sculk Sensors now always activate when stepped on, even when sneaking

• Sculk Sensors can now only be obtained with Silk Touch, otherwise they drop XP

• Added the Swift Sneak enchantment

• Added Warden mob

Ancient City

Wander the halls of these long-abandoned structures in the Deep Dark depths to uncover some relics long forgotten.

• Ancient City structures spawn in the Deep Dark biome

• In chests, guarded by sculk sensors and shriekers, you can find the new Swift Sneaking enchantment

• You can also find a new mysterious block called Reinforced Deepslate here, which cannot be obtained in Survival

• Mobs cannot spawn in Ancient Cities

Known Issues

• Ancient City structures extend far beyond the Deep Dark biome, even though they start there

• Aquifers can sometimes intersect with Ancient City structures and submerge/destroy big chunks of the structure

Darkness

• A new mob effect unique to the Warden and Sculk Shrieker, which will afflict you with it when nearby.

• Lowers the gamma down at an equivalent of “Moody” while having this effect.

• In periodic pulses, will lower the overall brightness of the world so that the darkness creeps up against light sources.

• When the Warden is around, torches will be more important than ever!

• A new Accessibility slider has been added in your Options menu called “Darkness Effect”

• Controls how dark the Darkness effect gets when a Warden or Sculk Shrieker gives it to you, but will not affect the fog distance

Deep Dark

Dig into the depths far underground to uncover the darkest biome in Minecraft - the Deep Dark.

• Dimly lit and eerie, the Deep Dark is sure to strike fear into the hearts of even the most brave player

• The floor of the Deep Dark is covered in sculk

• The only mob that calls the Deep Dark home is the Warden

Sculk

The rattling tendrils of the Sculk Sensors had to come from somewhere, right? Introducing Sculk, a new family of blocks that dwells in the Deep Dark.

• Added Sculk block

  • When Wool blocks are placed on a Sculk block, it will let nearby Sculk Sensors know, preventing that vibration from being occluded

• Added Sculk Vein block

  • These veins are found on the edge of Sculk patches

  • Similar to Glow Lichen, they can be placed in any orientation

  • Sculk Vein can be waterlogged

• Added Sculk Shrieker block

  • Notable for its boney appendages, this block responds to Sculk Sensors detecting vibrations by sending out a warning call to distant Wardens.

    • Watch out when stepping on them, as they will feel that too and send out a call!

  • Initially it may take some time for a Warden to arrive, but you’ll hear it responding in the distance…

  • Once it’s close enough, a call from the Sculk Shrieker will summon the Warden nearby - be prepared!

  • Sculk Shriekers can be found generating in the Deep Dark or growing from Sculk Catalysts.

• Added Sculk Catalyst block

  • A mysteriously soul-emitting block that blooms when mobs die within an 8 block radius

  • Mobs that perish in the presence of the catalyst will not drop their experience

  • Instead, a bubbling charge will be created at the place the mob perished

  • This charge from mobs will spread through Sculk Veins and Sculk blocks in random directions until they find a valid substrate they can convert into Sculk

    • The value of the charge is directly proportional to the amount of XP the perished mob would have dropped, and each time a block is converted into Sculk it will remove 1 value from that charge

    • This charge in the Sculk blocks and Sculk Veins will eventually decay, but it will decay much, much slower in the close vicinity of the Sculk Catalyst, and much faster away from its host

    • If the charge decays 4 blocks away from the catalyst, it has a chance of growing a Sculk Sensor or a Sculk Shrieker

    • Charges and their values also merge when they move to the same position

• All Sculk family blocks require Silk Touch to acquire. Otherwise, they drop experience when mined

• The efficient tool for all Sculk family blocks is the Hoe

• Made Sculk Sensor available in creative mode

Swift Sneak

Imbue your boots with this shiny new enchantment to move as fast while crouching as you would normally walk!

• This enchantment can be found exclusively in chests in Ancient Cities, and has 3 levels

• When applied, it will increase your movement speed while crouching

• Can only be applied to boots, and cannot be combined with Soul Speed, Frost Walker, or Depth Strider

Warden

The horror of the Deep Dark! A creature with no eyes, roughly resembling the Sculk that can be found throughout the Deep Dark, the Warden is an unstoppable force of nature that inhabits this biome

• Just like Sculk Sensors, these terrifying creatures use vibrations as a means to navigate their environment

• When vibrations aren’t enough, they will also use a sense of smell to track down their prey - you can observe them sniffing their surroundings to get closer to unsuspecting players and mobs

• To add to their myriad of ways to detect you, try not to get too close! If you collide with a Warden, it will notice you

• In the Deep Dark, Wardens are everywhere - you just can’t see them. They slumber beneath your feet, and only dig out when enough Sculk Shriekers have alerted them of your presence

• Watch your step: the more vibrations a Warden detects, the angrier it will get. You can hear and see this from how fast the souls in its chest are beating

• Once a mob has pushed beyond the Warden’s anger threshold, it will face its prey and roar before charging

• If, however, you keep the Warden from noticing you or getting angry for 60 seconds, it will dig back underground and despawn

• They have a special interaction with thrown projectiles

  • If the Warden receives two projectile vibrations within 5 seconds of one another, it will grow angrier at the shooter

  • If the Warden receives a projectile vibration more than 5 seconds from the last projectile, it will not grow angrier at the shooter

  • This allows you to strategically distract the Warden without it getting angry while you take loot from nearby chests

• Unfortunately for all players, Wardens will also disable shields when they hit them with their fists

• They do not drop any loot

• Wardens are powerful creatures, and it is often better to sneak around one that has emerged instead of taking it head on - you’ve been warned

HOW DO I GET THE EXPERIMENTAL SNAPSHOT?

NOTE: These snapshots are experimental! Some features may be significantly changed or even removed.

INSTALLATION

For a visual guide how to install the experimental snapshot, check out this nifty link with pretty pictures! Otherwise, just follow the steps below:

Download this zip file

Unpack the folder into your "versions" folder of your local Minecraft application data folder (see below if you are confused)

Create a new launch installation in the launcher and select the "pending 1.19_deep_dark_experimental_snapshot-1" version

Start the game and the remaining files will be downloaded

Play in a new world! This version is not compatible with other snapshots!

FINDING THE MINECRAFT APPLICATION DATA FOLDER

Windows: Press Win+R and type %appdata%\.minecraft and press Ok

Mac OS X: In Finder, in the Go menu, select "Go to Folder" and enter ~/Library/Application Support/minecraft

Linux: ~/.minecraft or /home/<your username>/.minecraft/

CAN I OPEN OLD WORLDS IN THIS EXPERIMENTAL SNAPSHOT?

No, experimental snapshots can only open worlds that were created in the same version. Later on in the actual 1.19 release you will be able to open 1.18 worlds.

Cross-platform server jar:

• Minecraft server jar

NOTE: This experimental snapshot does not include all of the latest 1.18 features you may have seen in recent snapshots.

Now go forth, brave one. There is a lot to explore in this snapshot! We would love to hear all of your feedback, so please don’t hesitate to send it here.