Minecraft Beta & Preview 26.40.27: Dappled Forest, Abandoned Camps & More
What Changed
Minecraft Beta & Preview 26.40.27, released on 23 June 2026, is the first public test build to carry the full slate of Drop 3 Experimental Features. Because this is a work-in-progress release, things can be unstable, but there is already plenty to explore.
Dappled Forest Biome
A brand-new forest type spawns near cold biomes and is packed with new content:
- Poplar Trees in three leaf colours, red, orange, and yellow, each with matching falling-leaf particles.
- Shelf Mushrooms growing on Poplar trunks and fallen logs; they come in small and large sizes, can be bone-mealed to grow, and have a satisfying slight bounciness underfoot (think beds, but woodsy).
- Red Shrubs, a decorative plant that spreads with bone meal and can be tossed into the Composter.
- Leaf Litter scattered naturally around the trees.
- Standard cold-variant mobs: sheep, chickens, cows, pigs, rabbits, and foxes.
Abandoned Camps
A new structure type appears across 18 biomes, from Meadow and Cherry Grove all the way to Wooded Badlands and Pale Garden. Each biome gets its own themed variant, and every camp is scattered with chests and barrels full of loot waiting to be claimed.
Poplar Wood Set & Wool Stairs/Slabs
Poplar Logs can be crafted into a full new wood block set. On top of that, Wool Stairs and Wool Slabs have arrived in all 16 colours, rounding out a long-requested decorating toolkit.
Bug Fixes & Gameplay Tweaks
- Arrow damage now scales with velocity rather than being random, a meaningful combat consistency fix.
- Sulfur Cube behaviour has been polished: correct block-facing direction, proper knock-back at high Strength levels, and landing particles now appear.
- Players can no longer get soft-locked inside a Sulfur Cube's or a Creaking's hitbox.
- Sheep will eat grass again after being sheared.
- Air bubbles now correctly replenish oxygen.
- Vibrant Visuals glass/cloud layering and RTX coloured-light issues have been addressed.
- Several Realms management fixes, including a new Delete button for expired Realms subscriptions.
Why It Matters
Drop 3 is shaping up to be a substantial nature-and-exploration update. The Dappled Forest adds a visually distinct autumn-palette biome that feels genuinely different from existing forest types, while Abandoned Camps give every forest world a built-in mystery and loot incentive, perfect for survival players who love stumbling onto a story. The arrow velocity fix alone changes how PvP and mob combat feel, and the new Wool Stairs/Slabs open up softer, cosier build options that decorators have wanted for years.
Java and Bedrock
This build is a Bedrock-only Beta & Preview release (Android via Google Play; Xbox, PlayStation, Windows, and iOS via Preview). There is no equivalent Java Snapshot at this time. PlayStation Preview rolls out slightly later than other platforms and carries a marginally higher version number, perfectly normal for Sony's certification pipeline. Java Edition players will need to watch for a separate Snapshot when Mojang ports these features across.
For Server Owners
If you run a Bedrock-compatible server, the experimental tag means these features are gated behind the Drop 3 toggle, they won't disrupt existing worlds unless you explicitly opt in. The new Poplar wood set and Wool Stairs/Slabs add fresh crafting recipes, so economy plugins or custom loot tables may eventually need updating once these land in a stable release. The arrow damage re-work is worth noting for any PvP-focused servers: damage is now deterministic rather than random, which will change how balanced player-versus-player encounters feel at range.
For Parents
This is a test version, not the regular game your child plays day to day, it installs separately and is clearly labelled Beta or Preview. The new content itself is entirely family-friendly: exploring a colourful autumn forest, finding an old abandoned campsite, collecting mushrooms. The "abandoned camp" framing is a gentle mystery narrative with no scary or violent elements. If your child wants to try the preview, just be aware that test builds can occasionally crash or behave unexpectedly, so it's best treated as a bonus playground rather than their main world.
For Players
This is the one you've been waiting for, the Dappled Forest is finally testable! Here's your quick adventure checklist:
- Hunt down an Abandoned Camp in one of the 18 supported biomes and crack open the chests, each biome gets its own themed design.
- Collect all three Poplar Sapling variants (or grab them from a Wandering Trader) and build an autumn garden.
- Bone-meal a small Shelf Mushroom into a large one, then brew up a Stew.
- Try out the new Wool Stairs and Slabs, finally, cosy curved furniture is much easier to make.
- Test the arrow velocity change in a practice arena: arrows fired from further away now hit a little softer, so distance management actually matters.
Remember to report any bugs you spot, the team is actively watching feedback during this testing phase!
Do SNT Kingdoms Need an Update?
No action needed, and SNT kingdoms are not affected by this release. Our kingdoms run Paper 1.21.11 backends behind a Velocity proxy, with Geyser + Floodgate handling Bedrock crossplay. Client connections are supported from version 1.13 up to 1.21.11 via ViaVersion, ViaBackwards, and ViaRewind. Minecraft's new year-based version numbering (26.x) is not yet supported by PaperMC, Velocity, or the Via suite, so 26.40.27 Preview clients cannot connect to SNT kingdoms at this time, that's expected and intentional until the wider server ecosystem catches up. Your Survival, SharedLife, RandomLoot, Chaos, Spleef, and Rivals worlds are all running smoothly on the current stable stack. We'll announce compatibility when the toolchain is ready.