Minecraft is full of exciting adventure maps and the following is meant to be both entertaining and educational. Mojang has partnered with BBC Earth to bring climate change content to the game.
BBC Earth’s Frozen Planet II is now airing, and this DLC of the same name aims to explain concepts of climate change to children. “If you’ve ever started a new Minecraft game and spawned in the middle of an ice shelf biome, you know a thing or two about trying to survive in a tough environment,” the announcement says. This DLC will show similar struggles from the perspective of different animals.
The Frozen Planet II adventures will be released weekly in five installments, from now through October 18. Each of the parts puts you in control of different animals, starting with a polar bear, an orca, and a Lappish bumblebee. Each animal’s quest will illustrate their particular way of life. In the case of the polar bear, protect your cubs as you cross ice floes – you can see some of that in the official trailer below. Walruses, eagles, leopards and eagles are promised for future episodes. More regions such as “snow-covered forests, frozen peaks and vast ice continents” will also be part of the DLC.
As you would expect from educational content like this, the Frozen Planet II DLC is free. That goes for all five episodes. You can grab the first one for Minecraft: Educational Edition or the default game from the Minecraft marketplace right now.
This isn’t the first time Minecraft has teamed up with a television show. SpongeBob SquarePants DLC released in July lets players explore Bikini Bottom as SpongeBob and his underwater friends. That will cost you 1,340 Minecraft coins if you want it – it’s for kids, but it’s not an educational piece like the Frozen Planet II DLC.