Minecraft's Dappled Forest: Everything Coming in Game Drop 3

Minecraft's new rhythm of smaller, themed "game drops" keeps delivering. With June's Chaos Cubed barely a month old, Mojang is already deep into testing the year's third drop, built around the prettiest biome the game has added in years: the dappled forest. Here is everything confirmed so far, including the new toys that just hit snapshots in July.

The dappled forest: Minecraft goes autumnal

Revealed at Minecraft Live this spring, the dappled forest is a rust-toned, autumn-flavored region filled with poplar trees and red shrubs. Poplars bring a brand-new poplar wood block set for builders, and the drop adds long-requested wool slabs and stairs alongside it. Scattered through the biome you will find mysterious abandoned camps — small story-telling structures that hint at travelers who passed through before you.

Community reaction has been enthusiastic for a simple reason: warm oranges and reds fill a real gap in Minecraft's palette, and a cozy exploration biome pairs naturally with the camping theme running through the drop's items.

New in July's test builds: straw beds and cushions

On July 7, Mojang shipped Java snapshot 26.3 (Snapshot 3) and Bedrock Preview 26.40.30, and they add two small but clever survival items:

• The straw bed lets you sleep through the night without resetting your spawn point — perfect for expeditions where you don't want to lose your home spawn
• The cushion finally gives players a simple, official way to sit down
• Abandoned camps received further tweaks based on early feedback

The straw bed in particular solves a decade-old annoyance: sleeping at a temporary camp always meant accidentally moving your respawn. Now camping is genuinely safe.

When does Drop 3 release?

Mojang has not confirmed a stable release date yet — as of mid-July the biome and items are still cycling through weekly Java snapshots and Bedrock Previews, with testing promised "through the summer." Based on the cadence of the first two drops of 2026 (Tiny Takeover in March, Chaos Cubed on June 16), a late-summer to early-fall window looks likely, but that is our read of the pattern, not an official date.

How to try it early

You can test everything today: on Java, enable snapshots in the launcher and load 26.3 Snapshot 3 or newer; on Bedrock, join the Preview/Beta program. As always, back up worlds before opening them in test builds.

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