Minecraft Gets Its Long-Awaited Visual Overhaul

Minecraft's appeal was never solely about its visuals. Mojang's signature blocky, pixelated art style has always taken a backseat to the game's boundless sandbox world and limitless creative potential.

That changes today with the PC and cross-platform launch of the long-awaited Vibrant Visuals update. However, the upgrade isn't available for all versions. Notably, the classic Minecraft: Java Edition will not receive these graphical enhancements.

If you play the primary Minecraft: Bedrock Edition on PC, PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, or supported Android and iOS devices, Vibrant Visuals is live now as part of the broader Chase the Skies update.

Chase the Skies introduces ridable Happy Ghasts to the overworld, offering a friendlier alternative to their fiery Nether counterparts. New features also include chaining camels into resource-hauling caravans and a Player Locator HUD for finding friends more easily.

Players on older hardware like the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, or older Android phones must manually enable Vibrant Visuals in the video settings menu. Mojang cautions that this may impact performance on these devices.

The required technical specifications for PC and mobile are:

• Android: Adreno 640, Mali-G68, Mali-G77, or Xclipse 530 GPU or higher

• iOS: A12 Bionic, M1 chip, or later

• PC: Minecraft must be running on DirectX 12

Vibrant Visuals does not currently support splitscreen multiplayer, custom Worlds, or Texture Packs.

Notably absent from the launch announcement is any mention of Nintendo Switch or the rumored Switch 2, leaving compatibility for Nintendo platforms uncertain.

On a positive note, Minecraft is now officially optimized for Xbox Series X/S, a milestone coming five years into the current console generation.

This update fulfills Microsoft's longstanding promise of a major graphical overhaul for Minecraft, a vision first showcased in 2017 with the since-canceled Super Duper Graphics Pack. Initially planned for Xbox One and "Project Scorpio" (the Xbox One X), a comparable visual upgrade has finally arrived.