Mojang will release its next planned 'drop' of content next week instead of Minecraft 1.22. It is the new Pale Garden Biome.

Mojang has announced that Minecraft will have one last update before the end of the year. The next Minecraft update is called The Garden Awakens and will be released on Tuesday, December 3.

The main feature of the update is the new Pale Garden Biome, where the creepy "creaking enemy" lives amongst the spooky grayish trees.

"Venture to the pale garden in the daytime and you'll be surprised at how quiet it is." Mobs do not spawn in this area, so you can mine for pale oak trees, pale hanging moss and pale moss mats in peace," Mojang said in its announcement. The creaking is a creepy mob that will freeze when you look at them and then follow you at frightening speed when you turn your back.

This is what Mojang calls a "drop", as opposed to an update of a major version. Instead of a 1.22 version update in summer 2025, we now have the smaller Bundles Of Bravery update from last October and the Garden Awakens Update that has been announced. According to the snapshot builds that are currently available, The Garden Awakens is Minecraft version 1.21.4.

Mojang has done this before, adding the armadillo horde earlier than expected and expanding on how wolves function in a small update. This is the first year we've had a "drop", without a larger title update.

We'll watch how the community reacts to these smaller updates. Updates could be a little quieter without a big version release to rally around. They could also put more pressure to the creators of our favorite Minecraft texture pack and the best Minecraft mods as they try to keep pace with the increased release schedule.

Hey, we're going to get a set made entirely of white wood. It's a reason to celebrate. I'm anticipating a massive influx of "Minecraft Modern House" build videos over the holidays.

Correction to the first version of this article: The Garden Awakens was referred to as Minecraft's very first content release, but Bundles Of Bravery was released in October.