Developer Mojang has announced that its latest major update — The Boss Update — is available today in beta form for Minecraft: Pocket Edition, before rolling out at a later date on Windows 10 Edition Beta and Gear VR Edition as well.
The update brings a number of new Minecraft features to these versions of the game, which Mojang believe will benefit all types of players. This is part of Mojang’s goal for every version of the game to have “full feature parity with one another”.
Rare underwater Ocean Monuments will now be available to explore, along with their laser-shooting Guardian inhabitants. These new Monuments will allow for the looting of treasures and let players collect items such as Prismarine, Sea Lanterns and Sponges; all of which are useful in player creations and building.
The update includes two bosses: the Elder Guardian and the Wither. Whilst the Elder Guardian can be found in the Ocean Monuments, the three-headed Wither can be summoned and defeated by players in order to collect its ultra-rare Nether Star item drops.
Nether Stars are important items for crafting beacons which, as their name suggests, emit a beam of light into the sky and can aid players with beneficial status effects.
Last but not least, over twenty slash commands will now be available for people to play around with. Acting somewhat like cheats, they allow players to do cool things like summoning mobs of creatures, changing the weather or time of day and swapping between game modes much more quickly and easily.
The full update will be released for free on Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition, Pocket Edition and Gear VR Edition this fall, but in the meantime, Pocket Edition players can access the beta version today!
