The good and bad of Minecraft Vibrant Visuals on Bedrock Edition
Mojang is currently working hard on Minecraft's new visual upgrade called Vibrant Visuals. This feature was introduced earlier in 2025 and will soon land on Bedrock Edition in the summer game drop. It is currently out as a test feature on the latest beta and preview versions.
The first iteration of Vibrant Visuals is fascinating to witness, as there are some positives and negatives in it. Here are some of the good and the bad we noticed about Minecraft's Vibrant Visuals.
Note: This article is subjective and solely reflects the writer's opinion. Furthermore, Vibrant Visuals is currently in beta and is being worked on by Mojang. Hence, there are strong chances that some negatives and positives might change.
Minecraft Vibrant Visuals on Bedrock Edition: positives and negatives
The good
Since Vibrant Visuals is Mojang's first-ever shader pack for their game, it contains all the advanced graphical features like directional shadows and reflections. This is made possible through Mojang's new Render Dragon graphics engine.
The main positives that can be taken from the initial iteration of Vibrant Visuals are the reflections and shadows.
In the first Minecraft Live of 2025, Mojang introduced the visual upgrade and showcased its features. When they discussed reflections and shadows, they stated that they wanted to retain the vanilla look when adding these graphical features. Hence, they decided to make reflections and shadows pixelated as well.
In the picture above, it is clearly visible that the reflections from the water and the shadows are pixelated. Since the water block texture is not changed, the reflections from it make it look quite unique.
The pixelated shadows of each block, entity, or player also look great, as they maintain Minecraft's pixelated look.
The bad
Since Vibrant Visuals is still in the beta phase, several issues need to be resolved. The two main negatives of the Vibrant Visuals can be the underwater fog and the overall lighting contrast.
At some angles and times of day, the lighting from Vibrant Visuals can look stunning. However, it is not balanced throughout the day-night cycle and in different dimensions. For example, if the brightness is normal during the day, it can be pitch dark during night, the Nether mostly looks dark since there is no light source, and the game can look washed out and flat at times.
Another major issue is regarding underwater fog. Vibrant Visuals make underwater fog too dense even in clear ocean biomes. The fog can be so dense that players might not see blocks that are just a few steps away from them. In the picture above, far-off kelp plants and blocks are completely silhouetted.
Meanwhile, Java Edition shaders, which have been around for a long time, have a much more natural underwater fog.
Check out our latest Minecraft articles:
- Minecraft player builds fascinating replica of Saint Peter’s Basilica in 1:1 scale
- The Disturbed Minecraft mod: Features and how to download
- 5 best places to explore with Vibrant Visuals in Minecraft