Minecraft Trails & Tales update brings new life to old blocks, mobs, and places

The Minecraft's Trails & Tales update arrived on June 7, 2023, and there's little doubt that fans have long been ready to dive into the long-awaited version 1.20 release. Plenty of new content has been introduced, from cherry grove biomes and the sniffer and camel mobs to bringing archeology to the fore after its initial delay.

However, one of the spotlights of the update deserves a little more credit. Specifically, Trails & Tales breathes new appeal into existing blocks, items, and locations that have sat on the sidelines in Minecraft for quite some time. New arrivals are certainly one thing, but revitalizing existing content is a great move as well.

For Minecraft fans checking out the 1.20 Trails & Tales update, it doesn't hurt to analyze just how significant the release was for existing in-game material.

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Minecraft's Trails & Tales Update shines a light on oft-forgotten arrivals from previous releases

Mojang made it clear to Minecraft fans around the time that Trails & Tales' name was finally coined that the central theme of the update would be exploration and self-expression. Although much of this came in the form of new locations, structures, and customization items/blocks, existing work from previous updates also got a facelift.

Thanks in no small part to the arrival of archeology gameplay, many of the game's generated structures have new reasons to be explored. Ocean ruins, desert pyramids, and even the oft-forgotten desert wells have had suspicious sand/gravel blocks added to their compositions, allowing players to brush them for new items like pottery sherds and sniffer eggs.

Elsewhere, Minecraft's addition of smithing templates to trim armor and upgrade diamond gear into netherite quality has added extra incentive to explore every nook and cranny of generated structures. These new templates exist in the loot tables in many of the locations introduced in prior updates.

Regardless of whether a Minecraft player is plumbing the depths of an ancient city, solving the puzzle of a jungle temple, or evading hostile piglins in their bastion remnants, smithing templates add even more reason to turn a structure's loot chests upside down to allow for armor trimming and upgrading.

Meanwhile, although older Minecraft biomes have remained largely unchanged in the 1.20 update, some got a few extra perks. Jungle, old birch forest, and taiga biomes gained the ability to generate the new trail ruins structure. Players can excavate this structure with a brush for a plethora of archeology-centered items.

Even deserts, one of the most long-lived biomes, got one new addition. Camel mobs will now spawn in desert villages during world generation, giving fans more reasons to visit these locations to meet their new animal companions and mounts.

If trail ruins weren't enough reason to visit jungle biomes, the addition of the in-game bamboo wood set should provide a new rationale as well. Though bamboo had applications before the 1.20 update, the addition of a tried-and-true wood set for the block offers players an opportunity to farm it in its native environment.

Not to be forgotten, Minecraft mobs like piglins and elder guardians have also been injected with new life in a certain sense. Piglins can now have their heads obtained from being killed by Charged Creeper explosions, and mob heads can also be placed on note blocks to replicate the sounds of the creatures.

While elder guardians didn't get a huge overhaul, they did receive the ability to drop a smithing template upon death. Although Minecraft players have long visited ocean monument structures for other reasons, the ability to get a little more loot from their excursion by killing elder guardians certainly sweetens the deal.

As fans plunge into the Trails & Tales update, it's certainly alluring to check out all the new content first. However, players should keep their eyes peeled in familiar locales as well, as Mojang has left more than a few goodies in the places that have been well-traveled in the past.