Abandoned villages in Minecraft: All you need to know

Abandoned villages (also known as zombie villages) are a rare occurrence in Minecraft. These villages are completely run-down and empty, with all of the previous inhabitants turning into zombie villagers. One can assume that these villages were overrun by zombies, turning a once bustling city into a barren wasteland.

As seen in the image above, abandoned villages have obvious visual differences to the regular village. The first thing a player will notice are the obtrusive cobwebs that seem to cover every structure found in the village. This shows that these villages have been abandoned for a very long time.

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Everything players need to know about abandoned villages in Minecraft

Natural Generation

A naturally spawning abandoned village in the Minecraft 1.14 pre-release (Image via u/Imagine_Wagonsss on Reddit)

Abandoned villages spawn exactly the same as regular villages in Minecraft. In fact, an abandoned village has a rare chance to take over the spawning of a regular village.

More specifically, in the Java Edition an abandoned village has a 2% chance to spawn in place of a regular village. This chance is significantly increased to 25%-30% in the Bedrock Edition. The reasons for this are unclear, however this can be a blessing or a curse depending on what the player is looking for.

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Abandoned Village Features

The barren streets of an abandoned village (Image via tlauncher)

Abandoned villages have some unique features not seen in the regular villages. These features are:

• All villagers spawned in an abandoned village will be zombie villagers
• All doors and light sources are not generated
• The zombie villagers will not despawn
• The zombie villagers will stay in the shade until night, as they are not immune to the sun
• Most cobblestone blocks are replaced with mossy cobblestone
• Many blocks will be replaced with cobwebs. It is most common for wood to be replaced with cobwebs
• All glass panes are replaced with brown stained glass panes, to give an abandoned and unkempt vibe
• Stray cats can be found in abandoned villages
• Iron Golems cannot be found in abandoned villages, for obvious reasons
• Abandoned villages have more buildings (on average) than regular villages

The video above showcases a Minecraft YouTuber (PaulGG) who decided to change an abandoned village back into a regular village.

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