This was a very special Minecraft LIVE for us – not just because we got to share more about the soaring new features from our next Minecraft game drop, but because we got to showcase the first step of something we’ve been working on for some time: Vibrant Visuals.
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- 22.03.25
Vibrant Visuals
Learn more about Minecraft's graphic enhancements revealed at LIVE
What is Vibrant Visuals?
Vibrant Visuals is a visual graphics upgrade that will transform the way players experience Minecraft. Initially releasing for Minecraft: Bedrock Edition, it is our developer’s vision for what Minecraft looks like with improved visual elements such as directional lighting, volumetric fog, and more. The result is dazzling – shadows move as the sun arcs across the sky, water reflects the landscape around it, and clouds appear infinite as they stretch far into the distance.
Vibrant Visuals brings thousands of individually crafted elements while preserving what makes Minecraft unique. Chief Creative Officer Jens Bergensten describes it as “a new look that still stays true to our creative principles”, as biomes and builds come to life with the addition of a range of graphical enhancements. But what you will notice the most is the interplay of light and shadow.
Improvements including volumetric lighting mean you’ll be able to watch the sun’s rays carve across the Overworld, and every block will cast its own shadow. Light will shine through your windows, and you’ll be able to see reflections in water and on the surface of metallic blocks, while subsurface scattering brings a gentle glow to leaves and grass. “Water is one of my favorite improvements,” said Game Art Director Jasper Boerstra. “It looks absolutely amazing.”
Mobs and items will also have more of a glow – spider’s eyes will be even more menacing in the dark, and torches will cast a radiant path back to your build. You can see this in action in the deep dark, too. “The sculk is now more emissive, more immersive, and it creates a really magical scene,” adds Jasper Boerstra.
As a cosmetic update to the game, Vibrant Visuals graphics will not impact gameplay mechanics. This means that existing lighting mechanics such as when hostile mobs may or may not burn, crop growth, daylight detectors, mob farms, and more will all still work exactly as before. This also means that players on a Realm can all play together regardless of whether or not they are using Vibrant Visuals – as the gameplay of Minecraft remains the same. As Jasper Boerstra explained in the broadcast: “Vibrant Visuals is backwards compatible with old worlds, and it runs locally – so you can play together with friends who don’t have it activated.”
If you’d like to hear more from the developers about Vibrant Visuals, you can rewatch the segment from Minecraft LIVE here!
The first step towards a vibrant future
We’re investigating how Vibrant Visuals will run across a range of Bedrock Edition devices, with the hope of bringing this graphics revamp (either fully or partially) to as many devices as possible – and we’ll have more information on which devices will be compatible with Vibrant Visuals soon. We also believe that the graphics additions in Vibrant Visuals will give our creator partners more to build with, and we’ll share more information for creator partners as soon as we can.
The next step – Minecraft: Java Edition
While Vibrant Visuals will initially release on select Minecraft: Bedrock Edition devices, this is just the first step. We will bring Vibrant Visuals to Minecraft: Java Edition in the future for both players and creators on all Java Edition devices.
Preparing Vibrant Visuals for Bedrock Edition involved a lot of research, a lot of time rewriting code, and a lot of iteration – and we're now ready to bring all those learnings to Java Edition. Eagle-eyed community members may have noticed that we started laying the groundwork for rewriting our rendering code last year, paving the way for this project. Now we’re actively working on Vibrant Visuals for Minecraft: Java Edition and our goal is to bring it to the game in a way that serves not only our players, but also our modders and resource pack creators.
It will take time for us to get this right – but it’s time we want to spend. Our goal is to ensure we have a sustainable way of making improvements like Vibrant Visuals on both Bedrock and Java Edition long into the future.
Get ready to test Vibrant Visuals
As mentioned in Minecraft LIVE, players will soon be able to test early versions of Vibrant Visuals on select Minecraft: Bedrock Edition devices via preview and/or beta. We will keep you updated as to when this will be available for testing, and which Bedrock Edition devices will be able to test these graphics.
*Vibrant Visuals coming in the future and will require Minecraft Bedrock Edition (sold separately). As development is ongoing, the features shown in the Minecraft LIVE broadcast and their descriptions are subject to change.
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