Revealed yesterday during Minecraft Live, the Sift is the first new dimension coming to Minecraft since the introduction of the End in November 2011. That means we haven’t had a new dimension in about a decade and a half, but we’ll first see it in Minecraft Dungeons 2 before it’s introduced to the vanilla experience.
From what we saw in the teaser, the Sift seems to be very different from what we’ve seen so far with the Nether and the End. Both of those dimensions have some kind of hellish vibe, one is basically actual hell, and the other is a sort of cosmic void where only Endermen exist (and the dragon, of course). But the Sift is oppressively colorful, and both the teaser’s audio and that stark combination of pink and cyan seem to draw heavily from retro aesthetics of the 1980s. How that’ll tie into the overall dimension, I don’t know, but it seems to be at least inspired by it.
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As XBOX’s own news portal explains, the Sift is a “new reality” that “brings an entirely different, colorful new look, new mobs (both companions and threats, all unique), and, once you enter, new rules to learn.” From the looks of it, the dimension will have ways to directly impact the player character(s) and the environment, forcing you to adapt to its whims.
“Shifting tides within the Sift can affect your character and those around you; hazardous new blocks will alter how you approach exploration; new environments will put your skills to the test,” the portal writes.
The Sift will contain new biomes, but not all of them have been revealed yet. We know of two: Meadows and Carapace, but how exactly they’ll look or play is still rather unclear.
The Sift will first be introduced and playable in the upcoming Minecraft Dungeons 2, which comes out on Sept. 29. After players familiarize themselves with this version of the dimension, it’ll move on to the vanilla Minecraft experience sometime next year.
Whenever it does drop, though, I sincerely hope the meme of a portal made out of glowstones and water comes to life. It seems the perfect fit for a dimension of this kind and vibe, and I’m positive the developers are well aware of that.
