Minecraft ore textures are changing for a very good reason, as Mojang has announced that the iconic look of various ores is going to be altered. Most long-term players can recognize the ores in the vanilla game on sight, often as these have been the same for years. Minecraft’s Caves & Cliffs update already changed a bunch, but it’s about to make another big alteration.
Minecraft 1.17, also known as the Minecraft Caves & Cliffs update, put a lot of focus on making the underground worlds in the game much more varied. Players will now find new biomes all around the game, with an expanded depth to the world. More levels can be found underground, more mobs have been added to the game, and so much more.
The reason for the shift in Minecraft ore texture appearance is accessibility. Each of the ore textures will retain its similar color scheme, but with a new layout. Each ore type will now have a more distinctive shape to get used to. The new ore looks will all be unique to each ore to make them easier to distinguish for those players that are colorblind. If you have other visual impairments, this might also help you out.
Now, players can identify ores based on the shapes on the rock, rather than just color. And it’s even better, as these new textures also add a bit more variety to the underground biomes of the game world.
So far, this change only applies to blocks. Ingots smelted from various ores and alloys will retain their current textures and colors. That makes it so that there’s more work to be done with adapting the game to colorblind players.
