Mojang Studios has revealed "Chase the Skies" as Minecraft's next major update, bringing a revolutionary flying mount system to the beloved sandbox game. Players will soon be able to tame and ride "happy ghasts" capable of carrying up to five players simultaneously, opening new possibilities for aerial exploration and transportation.
Tame and Fly Happy Ghasts in the Sky
The centerpiece of the Chase the Skies update is the introduction of happy ghasts - friendly versions of the Nether's iconic floating mobs that players can tame and ride. Unlike their hostile counterparts, these creatures serve as flying mounts that can transport up to five players at once.
To obtain a happy ghast, players must first find or craft a "dried ghast" block. These can be discovered in Nether fossil structures, obtained through piglin bartering, or crafted using ghast tears and soul sand. Once back in the Overworld, placing the dried ghast in water transforms it into a "ghastling." Feed the ghastling snowballs until it evolves into a fully-grown happy ghast ready for flight.
Find Your Friends with the Player Locator Bar
Multiplayer adventures get a significant quality-of-life improvement with the new Player Locator bar. This feature displays colored dots representing other players' positions, with additional indicators showing elevation differences. The bar appears in the same location as the XP bar when other players are in your world. Privacy-conscious players can hide from detection by crouching.
What improvements are coming to leads and saddles?
The update introduces substantial improvements to Minecraft's leashing system. The crafting recipe for leads has been simplified to require only string, and players can now connect multiple mobs together in a chain or caravan formation. Even entities like boats can be leashed, allowing for creative transportation solutions.
Saddles, previously only obtainable as loot, will become craftable using three leather and one iron ingot. Additionally, shears gain new functionality, allowing players to remove saddles from mobs and selectively release specific leads from a knot while keeping others intact.
New Audio and Visual Upgrades
Chase the Skies brings fresh audio content with a new music disc lootable from ghasts (the hostile variety) and five new ambient tracks by composer Amos Roddy. These tracks - Lilypad, Below and Above, O's Piano, Broken Clocks, Fireflies, and Tears - will play in various Overworld biomes, enhancing the atmospheric experience.
Compatible Bedrock Edition devices will receive "Vibrant Visuals," Minecraft's biggest official visual refresh to date. This optional graphics enhancement dramatically improves lighting, shadows, water reflections, and environmental effects without changing gameplay mechanics. Players with and without Vibrant Visuals can still play together, maintaining cross-play compatibility.
Vibrant Visuals will initially launch for compatible Bedrock Edition devices including Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, high-end mobile devices, and PCs running DirectX 12. Mojang plans to bring the visual enhancement to Java Edition in the future. While Marketplace Add-Ons, Skins, and Persona items will be compatible with Vibrant Visuals at launch, Worlds and Texture Packs will not initially support the new rendering mode.
The Chase the Skies update is coming soon to both Bedrock and Java Editions of Minecraft, promising to elevate the game's exploration and transportation systems to new heights.