What were Minecraft Seecret Updates?

Minecraft has been out for over 15 years, and staying relevant for more than a decade is an achievement in itself. One of the reasons the blocky world has remained interesting for so long is the constant updates that add new features and mechanics. Since the game has become massive, these updates are now planned, announced, and then delivered with proper events such as Minecraft Live. However, this wasn’t always the case.

During the early days of Minecraft, when it was just a one-man project, there were some "Seecret Updates" that added some of the most iconic and important features to the game. Minecraft creator Markus Persson, also known as Notch, started a trend of releasing some updates without any announcement.

These updates would come out on Fridays, one even on a Saturday, and there were ten of them before the series was discontinued. Here’s everything about the Seecret Updates.

How important were the Minecraft Seecret Updates?

The Seecret Updates started on June 18, 2010, and lasted until September 18, 2010, with the release of the tenth and final features. This was when Minecraft was a simple game with barely any sizable player base, and everything was mostly handled by Notch himself. With the release of the monumental Halloween update that added the Nether dimension, the Seecret Updates were officially discontinued.

Coming to the features that came with these updates, it’s surprising how some of the most iconic items and mechanics were added by Notch himself. The first Seecret update added the minecart and rails, two items that became an integral part of the blocky world.

The next Seecret updates added many of the modern features that make practically anything possible in the game. For example, the second update added dungeons, spawners, and even saddles. Then came the third Seecret Friday update, one of the beefiest updates in the series, as it brought redstone, redstone torches, levers, pressure plates, iron doors, etc.

The remaining seven updates in this series introduced features like snowfall and winter mode, and items like boats, cacti, sugar cane, paper, books, bookshelves, slimes, chickens, eggs, and fences.

The eighth Seecret update also added the multiplayer feature. The last update in this series was released on a Saturday instead of the usual Friday release. It added the sneaking mechanic, paintings, and fishing rods to the blocky world.

More than a decade later, the blocky game has become a commercial mammoth with proper events such as Minecraft Live to announce all the new upcoming features. While the updates are not as impactful as the ones during the Seecret series, they still aim to improve the gameplay experience and make the blocky world more fun to explore.

Edited by Adarsh J Kumar