Windswept Gravelly Hills

Windswept Gravelly Hills is a rare overworld biome found at colder temperatures and lower humidity levels than its close relative, the standard Windswept Hills. The terrain is dramatically elevated and fractured, forming steep slopes, shattered ridges, and suspended floating islands that hover above the landscape. It typically borders snowy plains, ice spikes, snowy taigas, and regular plains, and demands specific combinations of high erosion, high Peak-Valley values, and strong continentalness to generate.

The most striking feature of Windswept Gravelly Hills is the overwhelming dominance of gravel across nearly every surface. Gravel replaces what would otherwise be stone, dirt, and grass, leaving the biome almost entirely coated in loose grey stone. This gravel saturation severely limits vegetation — only narrow strips of grass blocks survive, and even those support little more than scattered bushes. In Bedrock Edition, trees do not appear in Windswept Gravelly Hills at all, making the landscape appear particularly bare. Above approximately Y=120, precipitation shifts from rain to snow and any exposed water freezes into ice.

Despite the hostile surface, Windswept Gravelly Hills still holds resources worth seeking out. Emerald ore spawns throughout the biome alongside iron and coal deposits, though the thick gravel cover often conceals them. Beneath the surface, patches of infested stone may hide silverfish. Animal spawns lean toward cold variants of common farm animals, and llamas wander the hills in herds. When Vibrant Visuals are enabled, the biome adopts a cold blue color grading and cooler sunlight, reinforcing the distinctly frigid character that defines Windswept Gravelly Hills.