The update introduces several new mechanics, overhauls the village system, and provides new achievements, among many other things.
To start with, the villages themselves are now more varied, matching whatever biomes in which they spawn, with architecture specific to plains, desert, taiga, and savannah. Villagers have new jobs, and their clothing reflects both those jobs and the biome in which they live — even Zombie Villagers.
The update provides many smaller quality of life changes for villagers as well, such as making them sleep in their beds and improving their pathfinding abilities. A new set of changes improving the village trading system is included too, and should players wish for all their villagers to immediately run inside their houses, they can ring a Bell to grant that wish.
Some of the new villager jobs and their associated job sites benefit players as well, including the Cartography Table, Blast Furnace, and Smoker.
As the update name indicates, the other half of the update focuses on Pillagers, a brand-new Illager type with smaller noses and reduced intelligence.
While not the most capable of foes, these Pillagers swarm villages under certain conditions.
Should players encounter an Illager mob around one of the new outpost towers and slay the Illager Captain, a Bad Omen descends on them. Entering a village with a Bad Omen triggers a raid, where waves of Pillager enemies descend on the hapless village.
Successfully defending the village earns the player the Hero of the Village title, which grants various discounts during trade with those villagers.
Sweet Berries have been added as a new food in the taiga biomes, while campfires can now be used to light the night and a home or cook some food.
The new achievements revolve around the Pillager portion of the update — for defeating a captain, saving a village, and so on. There is one exception, though: one new achievement is granted when players befriend cats, of which there can now be more.
Mojang said the update should be live on all supported platforms now, but if it isn’t, then players should check their downloads and wait a bit longer.
The full patch notes, including bug fixes and all the minute details, can be found here.
