A few days after Mojang released the first features of its next major update over the weekend, beta builds of Minecraft 1.20 (opens in new tab) began arriving.

Technically, though.

Mojang released a snapshot build for Minecraft Java and a beta build for Minecraft Preview. Both include a toggle setting to turn on experimental features, which include a new camel mob (opens in a new tab), bamboo wood, hanging signs, and most of the other Minecraft 1.20 features announced so far.

According to the patch notes, camels spawn naturally in desert villages, can be saddled and ridden, dash across the ground, and even sit on a second rider; the Java Edition patch notes (opens in new tab) offer more surprising experimental features. This little backpack-like carry item was originally announced in 2020 and then appeared and disappeared in various experimental builds for some time. It is now back again, and perhaps it will finally appear in an official update next year.

I personally sought out the camels and found a desert village with camels already roaming around. Naturally, they were as lame as the mobs in Minecraft, and the first one I found decided to bathe in the village well. Well done.

As Mojang explained at Minecraft Live last weekend, only a fraction of the features planned for the 1.20 update have been released so far. What we are being informed of are features that are already nearing completion, which is why we are already able to play around with them in the beta builds.

It looks like we'll see a similar pattern of new features in the winter and spring, with Mojang announcing new features in the 1.20 update and us getting to play with them shortly thereafter, although Mojang has not yet stated a launch date for 1.20, it is expected sometime in 2023.

Open the Minecraft launcher and go to the Preview tab in Minecraft for Windows or use the Installations tab in Minecraft Java to add Latest snapshot 22w42a and the beta The download will begin.

Now you need to enable experimental features, in Java you do this when creating a new world in the "Data Packs" menu, in Minecraft Preview when creating a new world, under the "Experiments" section In Minecraft Preview, when creating a new world, under the "Experiments" section, there is a toggle for experimental features.

With the new feature turned on, you can browse the Minecraft command list (opens in a new tab) to find the nearest desert village or bamboo forest and teleport there. Children, be kind to your camels.