Before the last update drop of 2025, copper was kind of useless in Minecraft. We all used to toss away this material since it had so few uses, but now there are some very compelling reasons to hang onto it. The first is to make Copper Golems, a new creature that can help out around your base. But, to give them more value besides their company, you will need to make some copper chests as well. Note that you need to make a Copper Golem before you can get the recipe for a copper chest, which I will explain in detail below.
Difficulty
Easy
Duration
10 minutes
What You Need
A chest
8 copper ingots
A crafting table
A Copper Golem
Mojang
How to make a copper chest
Once you make a Copper Golem, they will automatically spawn a copper chest. That’s just one, though, and one chest is never enough, right? To make more, you will need copper ingots, a chest, and crafting table.
Step 1: Craft any wooden chest.
Step 2: Place the chest on a crafting table and surround it with copper ingots as shown in the image above.
Step 3: Remove and place your copper chest.
The Copper Golem is special because it can take any items you put into a copper chest and sort them into your regular chests for you.
Copper can now also be made into tools, weapons, and armor with this update so there’s plenty to do with this material.
If you’ve been a big Minecraft fan, you might recall an old mob that was nominated to come to the game years ago, but didn’t quite make it. As of Fall 2025, that Copper Golem finally gets its chance to shine in the game. This is a very different creature from the Iron Golem, both in function and how you make it. These cute little helpers are the most exciting new way to use copper, but you need to know how to make them. This isn’t a recipe you will be making on your Crafting Table, so I will show you all the steps necessary to make your own Copper Golem in Minecraft.
Difficulty
Easy
Duration
10 minutes
What You Need
Copper Block
Carved Pumpkin
Mojang
How to make a Copper Golem
Making a Copper Golem is perhaps the easiest of all the golems in Minecraft. Based on the name, you probably already know you will need copper — a block to be specific — plus one carved pumpkin. Here’s how to bring one to life.
Step 1: Place any copper block on the ground.
Step 2: Take a carved pumpkin or Jack o’lantern and place it on top for its head.
Step 3: The Copper Golem will spring to life.
Copper Golems won’t fight for you, but they do serve a purpose to keep around your base. They can help you sort your items by collecting items you leave in copper chests and moving them to regular ones. A cool little touch is that they also oxidize over time, turning from a pure copper color into a more blue-ish hue. That is a purely cosmetic change, however, and they won’t work any different as time goes on.
Copper Golems aren’t the only new use for copper. I mentioned copper chests, which Copper Golems can interact with, plus copper weapons, tools, and armor to craft as a new equipment tier that is just above stone-quality.
Minecraft gets its next update on June 17, bringing the Chase the Skies update and the Vibrant Visuals overhaul to all Bedrock players. Minecraft fans have requested a visual update for years, and while some rumors suggested one might arrive on the Xbox One, it never came to fruition.
Vibrant Visuals is more than just a graphical update. It overhauls lighting, allowing sunlight to stream through the leaves of trees and reflect off the water’s surface. The update gives each biome a distinct atmosphere, and it also makes enemies that much more intimidating. Spiders were creepy enough without their eyes glowing in the dark. It’s important to note that Vibrant Visuals doesn’t change how the game functions, however; it’s strictly cosmetic, even if it does create a more tense atmosphere in certain areas.
Unfortunately, Vibrant Visuals only applies to Bedrock players. Anyone playing Minecraft Java will have to wait, but at least you’ll still get access to the Chase the Skies update. Chase the Skies introduces craftable saddles, something that has been sorely missing from the game. Until now, the only way to obtain saddles was through loot chests in temples and mineshafts. That made faster travel options limited until players stumbled across one.
That said, the most exciting part of the update is the Happy Ghast. Ghasts are mobs that inhabit the Nether and fling fireballs at you, often when you least expect it. With Chase the Skies, players can find dehydrated ghasts that can then be rehydrated in the overworld, saddled, and used as flying transport.
Chase the Skies brings loads of new features and gameplay changes that make Minecraft even more approachable, like easier-to-craft leads and the ability to lease multiple entities together at once. You’ll now be able to create your own caravan of llamas, just like the wandering traders.
Minecraft’s upcoming update adds long-missing features, including the ability to craft saddles, and more importantly, unequip them from your pig mounts without turning them into bacon. The features will come as part of the second major update later this year, but you can test them out yourself in Java snapshot or Bedrock beta and preview.
Rather than spending all your time fishing or exploring dungeons in search of a single saddle, you can now craft your own. It only requires three pieces of leather and one iron ingot, and voila — you can ride off into the sunset. Players have been able to craft leather horse armor for a while now, so saddles feel like the logical next step (and one that has been absent for nearly 16 years). It’s much less of a chore to craft your own saddle than find one in the wild, so this is a welcome addition.
The update holds another, underrated feature: you can shear a saddled pig to remove the saddle. No longer will you be forced to kill innocent, cute pigs just because Minecraft’s loot distribution system dislikes you. You can always put the saddle back on the pig afterwards with no harm done.
Mojang
In addition to the more merciful features, this next update also brings with it five new ambient music tracks, all inspired by features coming in the update. The update also adds the ability to obtain the Tears music disc from hostile ghasts in the Nether, and the update post hints that there’s a specific way you’ll need to slay the ghast in order to get the disc.
There is no set release date, but most projections estimate sometime in June 2025. It’s set to add the above features, as well as other perks like the ability to find dried-out Ghasts and rehydrate them into a pet and potential flying mount.
You tamed a horse in Minecraft, but the beast still has a mind of its own — it absolutely will not follow your lead. You can corral it inside a fence, but trying to ride it isn’t working like you hoped. Aside from flying, horses are one of the fastest ways to travel, but to take control of your mount, you need a saddle. Previously, you weren’t able to craft a saddle and would have to get one in other ways, including trades at villages, exploration, and fishing. However, after many years, we are finally able to make a saddle for ourselves and we will show you exactly how to do it.
Difficulty
Easy
Duration
10 minutes
What You Need
3 Leather
1 Iron
Mojang
How to craft a saddle
As of May 2025, crafting a saddle in Minecraft is only an option in the snapshot test version of the game. However, it is expected to be included into the full game this summer. Either way, this is how making a saddle will work.
Step 1: Collect three leather.
Step 2: Collect one iron ingot.
Step 3: At a crafting table, place the iron ingot in the bottom middle square and the three leather pieces above and beside it as shown in the picture above.
Step 4: Take the saddle from the output.
Step 5: You can now put your saddle on any compatible animal you wish, but there’s also a new feature where you can remove it from a pig without resorting to killing it. If you have some sheers, you can safely remove it from a pig by using them on the pig to collect the saddle and use it on another mount.
Mojang
How to trade for a saddle
While crafting a saddle is still the easiest way to get them, you can still obtain one via trading.
Step 1: Find a village and look for the leatherworker.
Step 2: You’ll need to level up the villager, however, as it won’t offer a saddle until it reaches Level 3. This is accomplished by trading emeralds, leather, rabbit hide, flint, and whatever else the villager wants.
Mojang
Step 3: Once you get the leatherworker to Level 5 (Master), your chance of acquiring a saddle jumps up to 50%.
Mojang
How to find saddles in chests
If you don’t want to craft or spend the time to level up a Leatherworker, your next best bet is to head out and find a saddle packed into a chest. Luckily for you, there are plenty of places to look. Unfortunately, you’re not guaranteed a saddle each time you crack open a chest. Below we provide the locations and your chances of finding a saddle in percentages.
Abandoned mineshafts (percentage unknown)
Desert temples (23.5%)
Dungeons (27.9%)
End City (13.3%)
Jungle temples (12.9%)
Nether Fortress (35.3%)
Strongholds (2.5%)
Mojang
How to get a saddle from fishing
This is the least likely method to produce a saddle, with a 0.8% chance. Simply fish like you would for a normal fish and just hope that you end up pulling a saddle out of the water.
Mojang
How to use a saddle
You didn’t go through all this trouble just for a conversation piece. Slap that saddle on a horse and giddy-up!
Step 1: Make sure you are empty-handed and interact with the horse.
Step 2: The horse may or may not try to buck you off. If it does, repeat step 1 until the horse gives up.
Step 3: While still sitting on the horse, open your inventory. You should see the horse’s inventory combined with yours. Drag the saddle from your inventory up into the top square with a gray saddle icon. Once it’s applied, the horse icon will change.
Now that you have a saddle on the horse, you can steer it wherever you like.
The cultural impact of Roblox cannot be understated. This isn’t just a game, but a social space, creation platform, and so much more for millions of players. Even if you only wanted to play the best Roblox games, you could probably play a new experience every day for years. Combine that with all the Roblox music codes and Roblox image IDs and it is easy to see why it is the only game some people play. But this game does have its limits, and you might find yourself interested in playing some other games that offer a similar experience but in a unique way. In our experience, these are the games that appeal to all the best aspects of Roblox that we are sure you will love just as much, if not more.
Minecraft
Metacritic:
80%
Platforms:
Amazon Fire TV, PlayStation 4, Windows Phone, Android, PC (Microsoft Windows), iOS, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
If you know Roblox then no doubt you’ve at least heard of Minecraft, if not already played it. This sandbox game is one of the few games out there that can offer just as much variety and freedom as Roblox. The core game is all about survival, although you can set goals like slaying the Ender Dragon, but what you do or what you build is totally up to you. As much as there is to do and see in the vanilla game, mods and community-made games can turn Minecraft into just as many genres as you would find in Roblox. With a community just as passionate and talented constantly releasing new experiences, there’s little chance you won’t love Minecraft.
Trove
Metacritic:
59%
Platforms:
PlayStation 4, PC (Microsoft Windows), Mac, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
Genre:
Platform, Role-playing (RPG), Hack and slash/Beat ’em up, Adventure
Trove might look like a Minecraft ripoff, but it is doing a lot of things you won’t find in other sandbox games. For one, Trovehas a very deep and complex story to learn and discuss with fellow players. If you’re not that interested in the story, the gameplay focuses on you picking a character from one of several classes that determine your playstyle. There isn’t one unified world in Trove, but instead, you travel to different worlds as you progress and get more powerful. That core MMO experience is only part of the equation, of course, as anyone can build whatever world they want from scratch to share with the world.
This pick isn’t so much a game like the other picks we have on this list but more of a pure creation tool. Garry’s Mod has always been relevant and popular as a modding tool for the Source engine on Steam, but most recently rocketed back into the spotlight with Skibidi Toilet. While you will need to put in a bit more work and time learning the more intricate mechanics of Garry’s Mod to make something as complex as that, it is very easy to get started with basic building and filmmaking if that’s a passion for you. That doesn’t mean there’s nothing to do but build, of course, as you can easily browse and play tons of other user-created content.
Rec Room
Metacritic:
81%
Platforms:
Meta Quest 2, PlayStation 4, PlayStation VR, Android, PC (Microsoft Windows), iOS, SteamVR, PlayStation 5, Meta Rift, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Meta Quest
We understand not everyone out there has access to a VR headset, but those who do must play Rec Room. If you don’t, you can still play it on a regular screen but it won’t be quite as impressive. This immersive multiplayer game has everything you love about Roblox, but puts you into the action directly. Players create their own “rooms” for anything they want, from social spaces, games, and anything you or other people can dream up. If you do have VR, building a room from that perspective, and with the freedom of motion controls, will win you over for sure.
Fortnite
Metacritic:
71%
Platforms:
Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch 2, Android, PC (Microsoft Windows), iOS, PlayStation 5, Mac, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
If you haven’t played Fortnite in a few years, you might be confused as to why it is on this list. While it started out as one of the best battle royale games, and still is, Fortnite is so much more than that now. Besides the traditional BR mode, there’s also FortniteCreative that gives players access to all the tools and assets to make their own games and modes from the ground up. Just like Roblox, Fortnite Creative also allows users who make great content to monetize their creations. You can find shooters, horror games, racers, and more all inside this creative space. And if you don’t find what you want, you can always make it yourself.
The Minecraft movie trailer was met with what can only be described as a mixed reception. Long-time fans of the game recognized the silliness, as did those familiar with director Jared Hess’ previous work (“Napoleon Dynamine” and “Nacho Libre,” anyone?) Newcomers unfamiliar with the style and tone found the trailer to be much less appealing, and in some cases, unsettling.
That’s understandable enough. Even diehard fans can admit the uncanny-valley-esque nature of the animals and the Villagers could be somewhat creepy — but the public reception left the stars rattled. In an interview with GamesRadar+, Jack Black said he didn’t expect the negative response. “I mean, I was surprised, because I loved the trailer. I was like, “Oh, this is going to go over great. And you know, there’s always so many people that are sensitive to everything you put out there.”
Black continued to say, “I love the movie, but now I’m like, I don’t know. Let’s see what everyone else thinks.” Director Jared Hess said he believes the negative reception “came from a lack of context.” He said too many of the details of the trailer were taken out of context in the film, and that without the surrounding plot it didn’t make much sense.
The team released more trailers — including the one above — to help try and set the record straight.
“A Minecraft Movie” releases in just a few days on April 4 and stars Jack Black, Jason Momoa, Danielle Brooks, Sebastian Hansen, Emma Myers, and Jennifer Coolidge as they navigate the straight, odd world of Minecraft and craft their way out of trouble.
Minecraft first added RTX support around five years ago, and now it is finally getting an official update that takes advantage of the feature. The new Vibrant Visuals update is not out just yet, but it will be soon for both the Java and Bedrock versions, although it will most likely come to Bedrock first.
The update brings quite a few changes to the way lighting works in-game. Not only will certain enemy’s eyes glow (like Spiders and Enderman), but you’ll also get light shining through the windows of your base. Water will have reflective properties, and light will filter down through the water and give the world beneath the waves a more murky, ethereal look.
Another big change is the addition of proper shadows. They’re now pixellated and line up with existing blocks in a way that makes sense for the aesthetic of the game world.
Ray tracing alone makes a huge difference in Minecraft.Matthew Smith / Digital Trends
The update is backward compatible with all existing worlds, too — all you have to do is enable it in settings. If you have a favorite world (and at this point, who doesn’t?) just log in, pick the right time of day, and flip on Vibrant Visuals to see how the light makes your builds look. The update runs locally, so you can enable it on multiplayer servers even if your friends’ rigs can’t handle the graphical demand. They won’t see it, but you will.
Mojang was quick to point out that despite the upgrade, the game still looks and feels like Minecraft. This won’t affect how it plays, and it won’t take away from the familiar comfort of the game. Vibrant Visuals is an upgrade, but not a total overhaul. The team says there are plenty of fan-made mods out there that completely transform how Minecraft looks, and that players are more than welcome to utilize those if they want to take the graphics a step further.
