Mojang's sandbox title Minecraft has expanded greatly over the years. On top of adding new building blocks and mobs, the game has overhauled systems like combat and reshaped how worlds generate. Most recently, the two-part Caves and Cliffs update added a number of biomes above and underground, increased vertical height limits, and more. The Wild Update was announced as Minecraft's next expansion at Minecraft Live 2021, and it will further diversify players' experiences in any given world.
Prior to Caves and Cliffs, updates have impacted individual biomes like deserts or oceans, and entire realms like the Nether. Mojang will be similarly updating birch tree forests and swamps in The Wild Update, the latter receiving flora like mangroves and fauna like frogs. Moreover, Minecraft will receive a deep dark biome that was originally planned for Caves and Cliffs, filled with ancient cities and a moss-like substance called sculk. Interacting with sculk can summon a terrifying new mob called the Warden, which could be seen as another kind of "miniboss" that the sandbox game should experiment more with going forward.
Boss Enemies in Minecraft
There are technically two "boss" mobs in Minecraft: The Ender Dragon and Wither. When confronted, these enemies bring up health bars akin to a FromSoftware game like Elden Ring. While neither are required fights given the open-ended nature of Minecraft encouraging the player to create their own itinerary, defeating the Ender Dragon is the way to unlock the game's credits.
The Ender Dragon is also a culmination of many in-game systems that could be considered its main progression. Players have to mine diamonds to gather the obsidian needed for a Nether Portal (though there are creative ways around this), and finding a Nether Fortress leads to Blaze enemies. By gathering blaze rods, players can create eyes of ender capable of sussing out Strongholds where the End Portal waits. Entering the End automatically starts a battle with the Ender Dragon, though its defeat unlocks a larger dimension full of End Cities that some feel could use an overhaul.
The Wither is not crucial in the same way, as players choose to build one using soul sand and three Wither Skeleton skulls (found in Nether Fortresses). They drop Nether Stars, which create a beacon that buffs all players in a nearby radius. Though the Wither is a more difficult fight than most other mobs, it's odd to see it being the only other entity with a dedicated boss health bar when there are multiple targets that seem worthy of the distinction. Some of these so-called minibosses include Elder Guardians, powerful underwater mobs that spawn in Ocean Monuments and inflict "Mining Fatigue" to force players through its maze; or even a mob like the Evoker that summons armies of ghost-like Vex at the end of Woodland Mansions and as part of Illager raids.
How The Wild Update's Warden Could Set the Stage for More
Wardens in The Wild Update promise to be completely unique. These blind behemoths will only spawn if alerted by a sculk shrieker, and attack anything that makes noise around them. Defeated Wardens will drop no loot and are considered the strongest forces in the game, all-but impossible to actually defeat given their huge pool of health and melee attacks powerful enough to defeat players with netherite armor in about two hits. They don't call up health bars akin to the Ender Dragon - and one could argue doing so would remove the tense mystique of this force of nature - but Wardens seem to qualify as a kind of miniboss for deep dark biomes like Elder Guardians in the ocean.
Nearly every other hostile mob could be considered basic enemies, from infamous Creepers to Piglins in the Nether and Shulkers in the End. However, Minecraft's open-ended nature could benefit from more miniboss mobs styled after Wardens; able to show up in unexpected encounters as opposed to more planned Ender Dragon fights. The aforementioned Elden Ring could offer a point of comparison, with roaming world bosses like the Flying Dragon Agheel acting as optional challenges separate from major fights behind fog gates. Since Minecraft's The Wild Update will touch up swamps, that could be a place to start with some kind of mud-caked beast of burden.
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