7 features you may have missed in Minecraft 1.20

Minecraft 1.20, also called the Trails & Tales update, has only been out for a week. However, the amount of content packed into this single release can be quite overwhelming at times. Players who want to experience everything that Trails & Tales has to offer may just have their hands full as they pore through the features and additions.

Sure, Minecraft fans know many of the implementations in 1.20 quite well. From the camel and sniffer mobs to cherry blossom groves, trail ruins, and archeology, plenty of features have been broadly advertised by Mojang and the community.

Meanwhile, there are more than a few in-game additions that players may not be aware of right away. Nonetheless, these features are certainly worth exploring where possible.

Note: Some aspects of this article are subjective and reflect the opinions of the writer

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Revamped sign blocks and other features in Minecraft 1.20 that players may not have experienced yet

1) Calibrated Sculk Sensors

The deep dark biome and all of its blocks were introduced back in Minecraft 1.19, so it's understandable for some fans not to expect any new ones in version 1.20. Despite this, Mojang did introduce a new craftable sculk sensor block by combining a standard sculk sensor with three amethyst shards.

Known as the Calibrated Sculk Sensor, this new variant is capable of receiving a redstone signal on one side, which will filter out all vibrations that don't match the strength of the redstone pulse connected to the block. This nifty block also has double the vibration detection range compared to standard sculk sensors.

Lastly, Calibrated Sculk Sensors have a shortened activated period compared to their ordinary counterparts. Calibrated sensors will only be active for 10 game ticks instead of 30.

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2) Piglin Heads

Unless players have been spending a lot of time in Minecraft's Creative Mode, command console, or Charged Creepers, the new mob head block may have escaped their notice. Piglins, when killed by a Charged Creeper's explosion, will now drop their heads as several other in-game mobs can.

The piglin head can be used as a decorative block. However, it also has some other interesting applications. It can be equipped to a player's head slot and will wiggle its ears as the player moves. The ear wiggling can also occur when the piglin head is powered by redstone, and it can even be placed on a note block to recreate piglin sounds.

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3) The "Relic" Music Disc

Multiple music tracks arrived in Minecraft's Trails & Tales update to fit the release's theme. However, one track made its way to the game in music disc form courtesy of the "Relic" disc, which will play the track by Aaron Cherof when played in a jukebox block.

This new item can only be obtained as rare loot from brushing suspicious gravel blocks within trail ruins structures. It possesses a 1/12 chance of popping out of these blocks when brushed. Even more interesting is that when played on a jukebox, this music disc can create a redstone comparator signal output of 14.

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4) Revamped Sign Blocks

Ever since Minecraft's early days, sign blocks have been somewhat hobbled in a few regards. Players could only apply text to one side of the sign. Editing the sign also required breaking the block and placing it again. This has changed in a significant way in the Trails & Tales update.

As of version 1.20, players can now interact with a placed sign to directly edit its text without breaking and picking it up. Furthermore, they can apply text on both sides of a sign block as well as the new hanging signs. If fans don't want others editing their signs though, they can apply a honeycomb to "wax" them.

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5) Silencing Sculk Shriekers

Sculk shriekers debuted in Minecraft 1.19. They are dreaded by plenty of players for the ominous screams they make and their ability to summon the deadly Warden. Fortunately, fans who are averse to the sounds that these blocks make have a solution of sorts in the Trails & Tales update.

By waterlogging sculk shriekers by covering the blocks with a water flow or a water source block, Minecraft players can silence these blocks from making their token sounds of anguish.

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6) Slimes and Magma Cubes + Jump Boost

One of the longer-running issues in previous versions of Minecraft pertained to slimes and magma cubes. For whatever reason, these mobs wouldn't receive the benefits of the Jump Boost effect when hit with a splash potion containing the status. This has been fixed as of version 1.20.

It's unclear as to what interesting applications may entail this change, but Minecraft players will surely find useful ways to harness the increased jump height of these two mobs. It's advised to be careful, though, as the increased jumping capabilities can also be potentially dangerous.

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7) Loot Table Random Sequence Adjustments

One of the most divisive changes in Minecraft 1.20 is one that may not be noticed all that often in many circles. As of the Trails & Tails update, the random sequences used to determine loot found in loot chests are deterministic. Using a built-in sequence identifier, loot will be set when a world is generated.

What this means in layman's terms is that as long as Minecraft players use the same parameters when entering a world seed, they'll find the same loot in chests each time the world is generated. However, it's possible to change the sequence identifier by altering the "random_sequence" ID within the world's registry.