New Speckled Forest biome announced

Mojang wrapped up its Minecraft Live showcase at Twitchcon Rotterdam today with a little teaser for the third game release in 2026: the Spotted Forest.

This new woodland is a quiet autumnal biome marked by gray poplar trees and red bushes that hide “mysterious abandoned camps” for us to find. With the Chaos Cube still to launch, the update is in its “very early days”, so there isn't much to show yet. All Mojang had to say was that it would focus on “exploration, adventure and playing together with friends” – typical Minecraft fare.

In addition to the new gray wooden blocks, which expand the game's ever-expanding palette, the update will also introduce woolen stairs and slabs, further expanding the construction toolkit. Fittingly, since the focus of this game is the autumnal biome, it will arrive later this year in the fall.

Chaos Cubed launches next month on June 16th

Before we can explore the game's first autumn-themed biome, we have the sulfur caves of Chaos Cubed to look forward to. Mojang confirmed during the stream that the update will launch on June 16, so there's not long to wait. If you've been stuck underground mining for the past few months, the highlight of this update is by far the new Sulfur Cube mob, which can be fed different blocks to give it matching properties. For example, planks make it bouncy, TNT makes it explosive, honeycomb makes it sticky, and ice makes it slide faster.

Meanwhile, while you wait, Mojang is holding a build contest for A Minecraft Movie Squared, and the winning entry “may even be included in the movie or end credits.” To enter, you must download the Build Challenge map from the Minecraft Marketplace and create your submission within a 16x16x32 space, using the preselected blocks and mobs provided. It must fit the theme of either plains, taiga, badlands or frozen sea biomes, but you can only enter one building in the competition and you must be 16 to enter.

“The build submission period runs from May 30, 2026 at 12:00 PM PT to June 8, 2026 at 11:59 PM PT,” Mojang explained. “After this, we will go through two internal judging phases, followed by the final voting phase between July 2nd and July 5th, where the community will have their say on the winner of the build challenge! Stay tuned for updates on how to cast your vote.”

If you need inspiration, TheGamer's list of best house ideas is a good place to start. Otherwise, Pinterest is your friend.