The Minecraft 1.18 release date is nearly upon us, though the devs at Mojang are still keeping a bit of wiggle room for the precise date. Still, they’re narrowing down the Caves and Cliffs launch to within the next “month or two”, because the update is “almost done”, according to a presentation at Minecraft Live.
The plan is to launch the update simultaneously across both Bedrock and Java editions (which are, incidentally, both coming to Xbox Game Pass for PC). The two versions will now have seed parity, as well, meaning that you’ll be able to see your favourite Minecraft seeds rendered almost identically in both versions of the game, aside from some minor details.
You also don’t have to worry about your old worlds, even with all the changes the new world generation will bring. Your 1.17 worlds will carry forward into 1.18 without issue. Terrain blending will ensure that old and new content transitions naturally, and you’ll find the deeper cave systems automatically generated underneath all your previously-explored areas, too.
You can see the presentation for yourself below, starting at the 51:53 mark.
Part of the reason why this update is actually launching on time is because, once again, a piece of it has been delayed. Next year’s update, The Wild, will host features like the Deep Dark and the Minecraft Warden.