Meet the Phantom

At a certain point, I began to feel quite anxious about sleeping in the world of Minecraft Pocket Edition. Can you imagine how difficult it is to fall asleep when there are so many diamonds to collect, enemies to battle, or plants to transplant after yet another creeper explosion?

Sleep is for the weak, and rest is for the boring! Keep that in mind!

Nonetheless, there’s a reason why I still choose to sleep in Minecraft PE. When you’re sleep-deprived, the chances of encountering a Phantom skyrocket!

During last year’s MINECON Earth stream, every player of Minecraft PE had the opportunity to vote for a mob they wanted to see in future updates. The votes revealed that players were eager to have a monster from the night sky.

One developer shared his thoughts on the new mob: “The new creature will be a flying entity resembling a manta ray, dwelling at great heights. Interestingly, this mob will only appear to those players in Minecraft PE who haven’t slept for several days. It will swoop down and deal significant damage.”

We all know that sleep is crucial for our health, but now we’ll truly understand its importance. This flying mob will tear chunks of flesh as punishment for sleeplessness! Below is an image depicting what this creature might look like:

The mob has since been named Phantom and is actively being developed by the creators of Minecraft PE.

You may have noticed that the game screenshot and sketches differ significantly. What changed?

“The main drawback of the created model, according to user feedback, was that it lacked detailed features. You can see that the mouth was removed. When I added a mouth, the mob resembled a regular puppet. The mouth didn’t move or function at all! So, it was decided to remove it to enhance realism.
A large portion of the body was simplified: both the body and wings have fewer segments.”

Opinions about the mob varied greatly, prompting another developer to attempt creating his own version of the monster while trying not to lose the mouth. Unfortunately, he reached the same conclusion as the previous one.

“It looks like a sock with a mouth,” he commented. “I wouldn’t want to be remembered as the person who introduced a sock into the world of Minecraft PE.”

“I aimed to create a genuinely cool design that everyone would love! The new model will look much more intimidating and relentless, instilling fear in players of Minecraft PE,” declared the creator.

The standout feature that will surprise everyone in the mob’s design is its visible skeleton. It truly looks very cool and frightening.

“We approached the choice of color with particular care. We concluded that to scare players, black wasn’t necessary. We opted for a blue shade, which we believe suits best. A red option was also considered, but with that palette, it looked more like a creature from the Nether.”

You can only hide from the Phantom in shelters like caves or houses, or simply by sleeping. Therefore, the developers chose not to include it in the End—there’s no way to sleep there, and the shelters are so scarce that the mob could kill you in seconds. Moreover, the mob will spawn endlessly since the character cannot sleep.

For the designer of the new look, it was an opportunity to bring something truly valuable and stylistic to Minecraft PE. He sought to add something fresh, and the result turned out magnificent!

“I hope this fits within the Minecraft aesthetic. At least—it’s really cool!” – stated the creator.

Let’s hope we won’t be overwhelmed by Phantoms due to our lack of sleep. Although wait, they don’t have mouths! So, perhaps we have nothing to fear.