You can put Minecraft's gorgeous new biome and building blocks to the test right now

It's hard to beat the joy of discovering a new biome in Minecraft, so the news that Mojang has opened the metaphorical doors to its Dappled Forest region is very welcome. We were teased with its gorgeous fall hues during May's Minecraft live, promising all manner of must-have building materials from Poplar Wood to the addition of Wool Stairs and Slabs. The wait is finally over, as Game Drop Three is now available to test in both the latest Bedrock preview and Java snapshot builds.

We don't have a name for the next Minecraft Game Drop yet, but it's looking set to arrive perfectly in fall, bringing orange-tinged leaves and bright red shrubs into the sandbox game. The main addition is the Dappled Forest, a new biome that can be found near to cold regions. There you'll find Poplar Trees, which introduce a rather fetching new off-gray shade of wood for all your construction needs. I'm already envisioning some rather modern designs making ample use of it.

The leaves of the Poplar Trees come in red, orange, and yellow varieties, offering some excellent decoration potential - the variant you'll get is chosen at random when planting a fresh sapling. Also new to the region are Shelf Mushrooms, which naturally grow on Poplar Trees - both living and fallen ones. These can be used for standard mushroom meal recipes, and they're also slightly bouncy, reducing fall damage if you land on them.

The decoration potential doesn't stop there. Also found in the new biome are Red Shrubs, which you can gather and place anywhere else. They'll keep their color no matter where you choose to grow them, and you can use Bone Meal on them to generate another shrub in an adjacent space. The other big additions are Wool Stairs and Wool Slabs, which you can craft in any of the sixteen colors the standard material supports.

Those Wool pieces are used in a new structure type that can be encountered in many different regions across Minecraft - the abandoned camp. Mojang asks the obvious question: "If nobody's been to the Dappled Forest before, who built the abandoned camp? And what loot did they leave?" The camp's design varies based on the biome it spawns in, and you'll find various chests and barrels stuffed with goodies in the vicinity.

The Dappled Forest is also home to a standard set of wildlife - sheep, chickens, cows, pigs, rabbits, and foxes - although they will use their cold-weather variants where relevant. While the new update isn't as gameplay-focused as the recent Chaos Cubed drop, I'm already eager to see how people make use of the new cosmetic options at our disposal.

Minecraft's third Game Drop of 2026 is live now for testing in both Minecraft Bedrock preview 26.40.27 and Minecraft Java snapshot 26.3. Be sure to switch over to the appropriate test build in the launcher before you start playing.