Minecraft Steve rocks a beard after 13 years of clean-shaven adventures

After 13 years without an update to Minecraft’s default character ‘Steve’, Mojang gave the iconic adventurer his long-lost beard

In 2009, the first iteration of ‘Minecraft Steve’ would be introduced to the world of computer gaming. Their official title would be ‘Human’, and they would wear the same teal shirt, blue pants, and tanned skin tone as the Steve we know today.

The only difference back then was that Minecraft Steve’s face would be rocking a six-pixel beard. This would only stick around for four months before the developers would update Steve’s texture to shave off his chin hair.

Steve would stay this way for the next 13 years, even after the addition of the more feminine character model Alex in Minecraft 1.8. But now, the rugged trademark of a true survivalist has returned.

Steve’s beard is back in Minecraft

On August 20, the Art Director for Minecraft (Jasper Boerstra) would announce that the new textures for Steve and Alex were available in the Minecraft Launcher Beta. They stated, “I’m happy you like the return of the beard!”

Of course, the beard isn’t the only update Steve and Alex received. Their shirts, pants, and faces are more detailed with a wider range of color variations.

However, despite Boerstra specifically calling Steve’s new facial feature a “beard”, many fans argue that it’s actually a smile. In 2009, this was a topic of debate among Minecraft stans, and this new update has seemingly relit the flames of the Smile vs Beard debators.

Regardless, it’s nice to see Steve and Alex get a fresh look after staying the exact same over so many years. And with the recent addition of the Caves & Cliffs update, Steve won’t have to worry about his chin getting cold while atop those snowy mountains.