Minecraft’s First New Dimension in Over 15 Years Debuts in Dungeons 2 Before 2027 Release
Mojang has named two biomes, while the dimension’s survival mechanics remain undisclosed.
The Sift, the first new dimension planned for the main Minecraft game in more than 15 years, will debut in Minecraft Dungeons 2 on Sept. 29 before reaching Minecraft: Java Edition and Minecraft: Bedrock Edition in 2027. Mojang Studios and Xbox announced the staggered release during the Minecraft Live broadcast.
Mojang has identified two of the dimension’s biomes, the Meadows and the Carapace, but has not detailed the new rules players will need to navigate or survive there. In a public preview on X, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma shared footage of The Sift’s terrain and an unannounced mob native to the realm. Xbox said its creatures can be hostile threats or player companions.
The Sept. 29 debut will take place in Minecraft Dungeons 2, the direct sequel to Mojang’s 2020 action-adventure spin-off. Separately, the main Minecraft game will launch natively on Nintendo’s upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 hardware on Oct. 27, ahead of The Sift’s arrival in both main-game editions in 2027.
Minecraft’s last entirely new dimension was The End, introduced during late 2011 beta testing and officially incorporated into the full Minecraft 1.0 release that November. Its dark, void-based biome contains end stone landmasses, Endermen and the Ender Dragon boss encounter. Players reach the game’s three established realms through specific craftable or generated portals.
The default realm, the Overworld, has standard geographical biomes, day-night cycles, weather systems and the game’s primary resource generation. The lava-filled, subterranean Nether arrived on Oct. 31, 2010, in the Alpha 1.2.0 “Halloween Update”; players enter it by constructing and igniting a frame of obsidian blocks. Subsequent overhauls changed existing dimensions, including the 2020 Nether Update, version 1.16, and the multi-part Caves & Cliffs updates, versions 1.17 and 1.18, but did not add another realm to the main game.
Bringing The Sift first to Dungeons 2 continues Microsoft’s use of spin-offs to expand Minecraft’s lore and asset ecosystem across genres. Those titles include the original Minecraft Dungeons, released in 2020, and the 2023 action-strategy game Minecraft Legends. Minecraft was originally developed in 2009 by Markus “Notch” Persson; Microsoft acquired Mojang Studios for $2.5 billion in September 2014, and the studio operates under Xbox Game Studios.
The main game is maintained on two codebase architectures: Java Edition is designed for PC, Mac and Linux, while Bedrock Edition uses a C++ codebase to enable cross-platform play across consoles, mobile operating systems and Windows PCs.
