This new Minecraft feature is game-changing for Nintendo Switch players

Mojang announced tons of incredible news during this month’s Minecraft Live, but the biggest takeaway for Nintendo Switch players is the addition of Minecraft’s Vibrant Visuals. This visual graphics upgrade mostly focuses on the “interplay of light and shadow” in the game, majorly elevating the appearance of vanilla Minecraft.

After nearly 15 years, Minecraft is still one of the most beloved sandbox games out there, with a dedicated community and ports on practically every platform. If you’re familiar with Minecraft, you’ve probably heard of shaders, the third-party graphics packs that you can use to make your blocky world look a little fancier. Shaders are commonplace in Minecraft’s Java edition, which is PC-exclusive, but thanks to a change in version 1.18, the majority of third-party shader packs no longer work on Bedrock edition, which is the version found on the Nintendo Switch and mobile.

Unlike existing shader packs, Vibrant Visuals is a native feature made by the Minecraft team, with an emphasis on supporting the Bedrock community. According to the official blog post, the team is testing how the upgrade runs across all Bedrock versions to hopefully bring Vibrant Visuals “to as many devices as possible.” While the upgrade will eventually come to Java, it’s significantly more impactful to Bedrock players.

The side-by-side comparison images are incredible, showing off the depth that some subtle lighting and shadow changes can add to Minecraft’s classic cubic aesthetic. The water in particular looks stunning thanks to increased reflections. Plus, according to Minecraft’s Game Art Director Jasper Boerstra, “Vibrant Visuals is backwards compatible with old worlds, and it runs locally – so you can play together with friends who don’t have it activated.”

Minecraft Live also touched on the spring update, the upcoming Minecraft movie, and a brand-new mount called the Happy Ghast, which you can read about on the official website. If you’re in the mood to get crafting, make sure you check out our Minecraft Ender Dragon and Minecraft End Portal guides, as well as our list of the best games like Minecraft.