It’s been years since I’ve played Minecraft periodically, but I still really enjoy it when new features and creatures start to appear in the game. It certainly means that the always creative Minecraft players will come up with unexpected ways to use them. The new Minecraft snapshot adds some more parts to the upcoming Caves & Cliffs update, including the beautiful shiny squid and its bright ink.
Mojang’s update notes for Snapshot 21w03A explain what’s possible with the new bright squid and their ink. They are destined to live in deep dark caves, but Mojang says they will not generate naturally in this snapshot. For now, you’ll need to create a creative world and use laying eggs to spawn them.
Naturally, I found a small dark pond and took a good look at them and they are quite beautiful. They even make a small noise as they float around.
The new bright squid aren’t as bright in the new update. Bright lichen has also been added, a source of plant light that can be found and harvested with shears in caves.
If you kill a bright squid, they will drop bright ink bags that can be used to make the text of the signs visible from afar. Apparently, it can even be colored to get an extra touch. I’m already interested in seeing what bright screens can reach players.
As always, Mojang is taking to updating Caves & Cliffs by putting new additions in snapshots so players can try them out in time. In other snapshots, copper and amethyst blocks have been added so far, as well as those axolotls that everyone is so excited about. Be careful, axolotls will attack the bright squid, so be sure not to let them pass.
If you want to get to know the squid yourself, you’ll want to load the Minecraft launcher and choose “most recent snapshot” in the facilities tab. Must be labeled 21w03A.