Minecraft: Bedrock Edition finally has Hardcore Mode, and PlayStation 5 finally has Minecraft

Minecraft: Bundles of Bravery is the world’s smallest content update, but it’ll still be exciting for many.

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What you need to know

It’s a big day forMinecraftplayers! At least, that’s what I’d like to say, but this will only be exciting to certain players.Mojang StudiosandXbox Game Studioshave officially released the “Bundles of Bravery” update to Minecraft across all platforms, bringing with it one or two new features (depending on your perspective) and a better playing experience for one platform.

Yeah, it’s not much, but today’s update is setting the stage for larger (and more frequent updates) coming to Minecraft in the future, withone being unveiled during the recent Minecraft Live show. Today, players will have to content themselves with the long-awaited (and overdue) arrival of Hardcore Mode on Minecraft: Bedrock Edition, the long-awaited (and overdue) arrival of bundles on all versions of Minecraft, and the long-awaited (and overdue) arrival of Minecraft on PlayStation 5. There may be a trend here.

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Better late than never

Minecraft: Bundles of Bravery is officially releasing as oftoday, Oct. 22, 2024, across Xbox, PlayStation, Windows PC (Bedrock and Java), Switch, Android, and iOS platforms. Apart from the short trailer above and some social media engagement, there has been little fanfare for this update, and for understandable reason. There are exactly three additions in the Bundles of Bravery update, and each addition matters to a smaller group of players than the last.

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First, all versions of Minecraft across all platforms finally have bundles! This feature was unveiled as a part of theMinecraft “Caves & Cliffs” Update, but was repeatedly delayed into oblivion, until no one was sure if we’d ever really see it. Bundles finally showed themselves in Minecraft snapshots and preview builds a while back, and now they’re here for all players. Basically, players can craft bundles and use them as miniature, portable chests. Players can move items in and out of bundles from their inventories, and can gift bundles (and everything inside them) to other players. Bundles can also be dyed all 16 different colors for some added customization.

Minecraft: Bedrock Edition players are also finally getting Hardcore Mode, which as been a fan-favorite staple in the legacy Java Edition for years. Hardcore Mode sets the game to its hardest difficulty and gives you exactly one life — if you die, the game is over and you permanently lose access to that world. That does mean that Java Edition players only have bundles to look forward to in this update, though.

The final addition in the Bundles of Bravery update is less of an addition and more of a change.Minecraft is now natively available on PlayStation 5. Previously, the PS4 version of Minecraft was running in emulation on PS5 consoles, but no more. What does this change? Not much, but PS5 players can expect improved performance, higher resolutions, and greater render distances than before.

And… That’s it! Now, Mojang Studios is setting its sights on thenext Minecraft content update, which will be larger and isn’t too far away. You’ll really have to be brave in that update, with The Pale Garden dropping in Minecraft as the spookiest biome yet.

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Zachary Boddy (They / Them) is a Staff Writer for Windows Central, primarily focused on covering the latest news in tech and gaming, the best Xbox and PC games, and the most interesting Windows and Xbox hardware. They have been gaming and writing for most of their life starting with the original Xbox, and started out as a freelancer for Windows Central and its sister sites in 2019. Now a full-fledged Staff Writer, Zachary has expanded from only writing about all things Minecraft to covering practically everything on which Windows Central is an expert, especially when it comes to Microsoft. You can find Zachary on Twitter@BoddyZachary.