Minecraft update 1.21 focuses on "combat and tinkering" with maze-like Trial Chambers and automatic crafting

rockpapershotgun.com:

Minecraft update 1.21 has been revealed, and well, looks like Mojang have been reading my posts demanding the addition of a proper maze generator, those sneaky devils. As explained by Minecraft game director Agnes Larsson, the forthcoming Minecraft update – which has yet to be given a release date – is designed to “focus more on combat adventures and on tinkering” than last year's Cave & Cliffs update.

The headline addition is an underground structure called the Trial Chamber, a procedurally generated cluster of traps and treasure rooms, fashioned from copper and tuff blocks and arranged around a central hallway. From the Minecraft Live footage this weekend, Trial Chambers look like an evolution of the game's old buried fortresses, with some nifty new flourishes in the shape of copper bulb blocks that slowly give off less and less light, and new Trial Spawners, which generate a certain number of hostile mobs based on things like the number of players in your party.

The Trial Chamber isn't explicitly described as a maze generator, in fairness, but it sure looks mazey, with scattered traps and multiple elevations linked by spiral stairs and see-through floor grills. From what I've glimpsed of Minecraft update 1.21 gameplay, the tuff-and-copper aesthetic is appealing but also regular to the point of being purposefully confusing. Player navigation is at once helped and hindered by the new copper bulbs, which save you having to bring a torch, but also slowly dim as they oxidise. You'll need to scrape off the oxidised layer periodically to restore them to full brightness.

You'll also have to worry about a new mob, the Breeze, which hovers about like a Ghast, but shoots wind bullets instead of exploding fireballs. These