Mojang has announced a new update to Minecraft that will add a number of new features to the sandbox's gloomy caves. The cave and cliff updates were announced at Minecraft Live, an annual event where Mojang reveals what it has been working on throughout the year.

Exploring caves in Minecraft can be dangerous and a bit boring, but the Caves and Cliffs update breathes new life into the damp caves.Mojang has not yet set a specific date, but the update to make the caves shine will be available next summer, 2021. It will be released, Mojang says, with more variety in the way caves are generated, so instead of boring open caves, there will be lots of narrow tunnels, huge caves, cavern lakes, and even waterfall caves. If you've ever wanted to raft down a huge underground waterfall into a dark abyss, this update will make that possible.

Archaeology SystemThis sounds like a lot of fun. The new update introduces an archaeological system that will allow players to find artifacts in buried ruins. In addition, there is a new way to mine, using brush items to carefully dig out artifacts and avoid damaging them. First up is a new block, the Sculk Sensor block, which emits a redstone signal in response to movement. There are also stalactite and stalagmite blocks that make up the rock inside the cave, as well as new copper ore that can be used to make lightning rod blocks Mojang also hinted that if players are lucky enough to find a lot of crystal geodes, they can build telescopes.

New Mobs A number of new mobs were introduced, and Mojang revealed two of them, the Warden and the Axolotl. The Warden is a hostile mob, reacting based on movement rather than sight. Thankfully, the second mob is much better. Axolotl is a creature that lives in puddles and can help you in battle. Cliff Update Minecraft's list of new features for cliffs is much smaller, which Mojang summarizes as including more epic mountain generation, snow traps, and a cheeky mountain goat.

Other Minecraft Live news was Mojang's Minecraft: Education Edition's introduction of a new lesson category, Equality and Inclusion, which includes a map of the historic civil rights movement. Also announced was cross-play for Minecraft Dungeons, a free game update called Apocalypse plus, and new Howling Peaks DLC.