Minecraft 1.8 Adventure Update officially out now

Minecraft 1.8 has actually been available in Java format – in other words, for power users – for several days now, but Mojang has officially released it out into the wild for all to take part in.

So what do you get out of the update? A lot, actually – the Adventure Update is by and far Minecraft’s most substantial, game-changing update yet. For starters, the update adds a new ‘roguelike’ leveling system which, for the uninitiated, essentially means that when you die, you lose all of your experience.

If that alone isn’t enough for you, Minecraft 1.8 adds new dungeons, abandoned mines, NPC towns, new biomes, enhanced terrain generation and improved combat mechanics. Some of the features aren’t fully implemented yet, particularly with NPC towns and the leveling system, but it’s still an update that packs quite a large amount of new content.

Minecraft is expected to go out of beta on November 11. With the title going live means an increase in price, so if you haven’t gotten around to picking up Minecraft yet, you may want to do so early, unless you don’t mind paying a little bit extra.

To get an idea of what you can expect out of the Adventure update, check out the Minecraft 1.8 trailer below.