Minecraft Dungeons developer Mojang Studios has announced that Flames of the Nether, the latest DLC for its dungeon crawler Minecraft spin-off, will be released this month alongside a free update. Things have been quiet on the Minecraft Dungeons front ever since its latest seasonal event, Chills and Thrills, concluded last December 30. The seasonal event introduced six new trials as well as three unique items for players to complete and collect, respectively.
Minecraft Dungeons has seen three major DLC releases since it launched last May 2020, including last December’s Howling Peaks DLC which was the first piece of the game’s new season pass. While the original Hero Pass included the Jungle Awakens and Creeping Winter DLCs, the game’s new season pass will give players access to four expansions including the aforementioned Howling Peaks DLC as well as one set in the Nether realm, another in the Ocean biome, and the last in the mysterious The End dimension.
Mojang announced the February 24 release date of the Flames of the Nether DLC and its accompanying free update in a blog post on the Minecraft website. The Flames of the Nether DLC brings players to the realm of the Nether and will feature a new story and six new missions for players to tackle. The DLC will also introduce two new skins and a Baby Ghast pet as well as new artifacts, weapons, and gear for players to collect. As for the free update, it will add a new major feature into the game called Ancient Hunts.
Ancient Hunts are new end-game missions that feature procedurally-generated maps and Ancient enemies that will reward players with high-end Gilded equipment. Players will also get a chance to earn the new Gold currency during Ancient Hunts that can be used at the new Piglin merchant at the player’s camp. Mojang has yet to announce what the Piglin merchant will offer in exchange for Gold though. Lastly, the free update will also introduce changes to the game’s Apocalypse Plus difficulty level that was introduced in last year’s Spooky Fall event.
It’s pretty surprising to see Minecraft Dungeon’s new Flames of the Nether DLC releasing so soon after its Howling Peaks update, especially considering how big the previous DLC was and how large the gaps were between the previous expansions’ releases. With only a few weeks until the release of the Flames of the Nether DLC, fans of Minecraft Dungeons can expect more announcements about both the new expansion as well as the free update that will release alongside it soon.
Source: Minecraft