The developers of Minecraft have released two different 1.18 pre-release versions of Minecraft on the same day. Both 1.

Minecraft: Java Edition 1.18.2 Pre-Release 1 includes a handful of technical changes and a couple of bug fixes, but isn't terribly exciting overall.

Mojang Studios is now releasing Minecraft: Java Edition 1.18.1 Release Candidate 1 to testers, a snapshot that includes a handful of additional fixes for the upcoming 1.18.1 patch update.

Minecraft runs on Java version 17 as of this pre-release – and you can expect the same to be true of the live version of Java Edition once 1.18 officially lands.

To get into the Minecraft beta on Java edition on PC, you'll need to follow these steps: Install the Minecraft Java client by logging into your account and downloading it.