Everything you need to know about 'Jungle Awakens' for Minecraft Dungeons ~ System Admin Stuff

Making a great game even better, with new areas, enemies, and loot.

With a very positive review from our team, it's clear that Minecraft Dungeons is something special. Mojang Studios is hard at work on future expansions to make the game even better, and the first two that will probably be included with the Hero Edition have already leaked. The Jungle Awakens and Creeping Winter DLC should add a whole lot of stuff to the ARPG title.

Here's everything we know so far about the Jungle Awakens DLC.

Enter the Dungeon

Minecraft Dungeons

$20 at Microsoft (PC) $20 at Amazon (Xbox One)

Minecraft grows up and reaches out.

Minecraft Dungeons combines the familiar world we all grew up on with an injection of Diablo, a whole lot of fun. Available on every platform you're on, for a ridiculously attractive price, what's not to love?

What is the Jungle Awakens DLC for Minecraft Dungeons?
When is the Jungle Awakens DLC for Minecraft Dungeons release date?

What is the Jungle Awakens DLC for Minecraft Dungeons?

Updated June 06, 2020: We've been hard at work here at Windows Central, and we were able to discover a ton of new information about the Jungle Awakens DLC, including the names of several mobs, levels, and possible additions that could be added to Minecraft Dungeons at time of launch. More information below, or you can check out the original post here. We also got a sneak peak at a level from the Jungle Awakens DLC here.

Updated May 29, 2020: We now know the names of at least three brand-new mobs coming to Minecraft Dungeons with the Jungle Awakens DLC. These include leapers, whisperers, and poison quills. While we don't know for sure what the different mobs look like, or how they'll act in the game, we do know they're unique hostile mobs.

The Jungle Awakens DLC joins the Creeping Winter DLC as one of two expansions planned for release later on. Both expansions should feature a decent amount of new content, but the Jungle Awakens DLC revolves around a humid, living landscape, rather than the barren frozen one of its brother. It's safe to say we should expect new areas, mobs and gear. Almost everything we know so far comes from leaks and our own nosey investigating, so take a lot of this information with a grain of salt.

However, we know that Jungle Awakens will be the first DLC for Minecraft Dungeons, and it will be included with the Hero Edition. While the Creeping Winter DLC has not be similarly confirmed by Microsoft, it's safe to say it has a good chance of being the second DLC, planned for release Fall of 2020.

New levels

We now know that the Jungle Awakens DLC will include at least three levels, with possibly more sub-levels hidden away in a similar vein to areas like Creepy Crypt and Soggy Cave in the main game. We also know the names for two of these levels.

Overgrown Temple. This level looks to take place in the ruins of an ancient jungle structure, with pitfalls, crumbling precifices, and a lot of verticality. It also seems to be very heavy on the undead mobs.
Dingy Jungle. This level takes things to, well, the jungle, and seems to feature a lot more plant-like mobs. We know at least one of the new mobs will be here, and some plant variants of existing mobs, like the mossy skeleton.

New mobs

There could be any number of new mobs added in Jungle Awakens, but we know of at least seven. Most of these mobs appear to be hostile mobs, with a few being variants of mobs we're all very familiar with. We don't have a ton of information on individual mobs yet.

Jungle zombie.
Mossy skeleton.
Leaper.
Whisperer.
Poison quill.
Ocelot.
Parrot.

At least in the case of the parrot, we're confident that this is a cosmetic pet, meaning it won't aid you in battle. The ocelot could be another companion, like the wolf, which would be awesome. The others should all be hostile mobs, with the jungle zombie and the mossy skeleton being variants.

New gear

We have found evidence of a ton of new gear, including artifacts, weapons, and armor, but it's tough to decipher which will make their appearance in Jungle Awakens and which will be reserved for Creeping Winter, so bear in mind that not everything here may make it in the first DLC for Minecraft Dungeons.

As for weapons, we've found a whip class of melee weapons that could be very interesting, that is almost certainly for Jungle Awakens due to the vine-like design of the Unique variant. We've also seen an Ocelot Armor, with multipe prints in leopard and grey.

Artifacts might include things like the Totem of Soul Protection, which sounds like a defense-focused artifact for souls players, and Corrupted Seeds, which might summon poisonous plant minions or cause area-of-effect damage. Finally, there's an artifact called Caller's Bane, but we don't know what it looks like, so we can't make too many guesses about what it might be.

New mechanics / consumables

This is another one that has us a little stumped at the moment. Consumables that are already in the game have inventory icons in the game files, leading us to believe that there's either a plan to implement a new mechanic involving potions (possibly swapping out the health potion for something else?), like brewing potions, for example, or something that was being planned but was dropped. Either way, there are indicators for two potions we've never seen before: the Oakwood Brew and the Sweet Brew. The Oakwood Brew looks like it could bolster defense similar to the Iron Hide amulet, but we don't have any ideas on the other.

There's also a melon consumable in the game files, which makes perfect sense given that melons can only be found in jungles in vanilla Minecraft.

Something that was curiously missing from the base game was the ability to power up items that you wanted to keep. The way that things are now, even the rarest, most powerful Unique weapons quickly become obsolete as you progress, leaving you to either change playstyles or grind to find that specific piece of loot again. With enchantments further muddling the waters, it can become frustrating.

It seems something was planned, being a mason that would exist next to the blacksmith in camp. We were disappointed to find that only two vendors exist right now, which doesn't give you a ton of ways to spend your emeralds. That may change with Jungle Awakens, with diamond dust again showing up in the game files, which was supposed to accompany the mason.

Basically, you'll be able to purchase diamond dust with emeralds, and then use the diamond dust to level up existing gear, instead of needing to replace it with better versions. We're not sure what the costs would look like on this, but it's desperately needed in the game, especially as more players progress into the endgame.

New challenges

Minecraft Dungeons is a ton of fun, especially with friends, but it leaves a little to be desired when it comes to variety of gameplay, and the endgame loop that is normally the strongpoint for ARPG's like Diablo. While we've long speculated something similar to Diablo's Rifts, but with the Nether Portal you can find in camp, we also need motivation to continue playing the game long after we've seen all the levels.

We're not sure what it'll look like or if it's going to happen, but Mojang Studios could be planning a daily and weekly challenge system, possibly accompanying seasonal events, to encourage players to accomplish specific tasks in exchange for rewards. This could be very interesting, depending on how its done, but we don't know what the challenges could be, or how players would be rewarded for completing them.

When is the Jungle Awakens DLC for Minecraft Dungeons release date?

Updated May 29, 2020: We've now received official confirmation from Microsoft that reaffirms our previous assumptions: Jungle Awakens is the first full DLC for Minecraft Dungeons, and it's coming in July, 2020! This means that Creeping Winter will follow, and judging by previous leaks we're expecting a September, 2020 release date. We also know more about new mobs being added. You can read more about the announcement here.

Updated May 28, 2020: Due to a Nintendo eShop page, we may now know when the Creeping Winter and Jungle Awakens DLC packs are planned to release. We don't know which order they'll come in, but the planned release dates might be July or September, 2020. Find out more here.

Thanks to an official announcement straight from Microsoft and Mojang Studios, we now know that prior leaks for the game were accurate: one of the two DLC packs being included in Minecraft Dungeons: Hero Edition is none other than Jungle Awakens, which comes to Minecraft Dungeons in July, 2020. Exact dates and pricing details are still unknown, but those who bought the upgraded version of the game will get the DLC at no additional cost.

Using this information, we can now surmise with reasonable confidence that Creeping Winter, the other DLC be believe is planned for Minecraft Dungoens, is coming in September, 2020. We'll keep our eyes peeled for any new info, and keep you posted whenever we find out something new!

Enter the Dungeon

Minecraft Dungeons

$20 at Microsoft (PC) $20 at Amazon (Xbox One)

Minecraft grows up and reaches out.

System Admin Stuff

Monday 8 June 2020