Hytale, the Minecraft-like MMO that was recently revived by its original creator (who purchased the rights back from Riot Games), is now finally out in early access. The game can be purchased via the official website (not Steam, although Hypixel said Hytale could launch on Valve's platform at a later date) with three options available to customers:
- Standard - $24.39, includes the Voyager, Savanna, and Forest Guardian cosmetic sets (with the Forest Guardian Cape)
- Supporter - $42.69, includes all the above plus the Featherbound, Scavenger, and Arctic Scout sets, each with their capes, as well as the Knight Cape and Explorer Goggles.
- Cursebreaker - $85.39, includes all the above plus 4 additional cosmetic sets (Hope of Gaia, Void Hero, Pop Star, Voidbearer) and 2 additional exclusive capes (Royal Emmissary, New Beginning).
Without the open data that would have been available via Steam, it's hard to say how the launch is going. There was a rumor that Simon Collins-Laflamme, the game's creator, had shared that over 2.8 million users were in the game, but that rumor has since been largely disproven, on account of anyone being able to join servers with any name when the game launched (this issue has already been patched). Still, via his official X account, Collins-Laflamme did share that the Hypixel team was seeing a 'VERY HIGH rate of new Hytale players', which temporarily caused login issues that should now be resolved. Furthermore, just two days ago, he had noted that the studio's next two years of work had already been funded based merely on pre-order sales.
In just eight weeks, the development team took a build that was over four years old, merged hundreds of branches, and fixed core systems (camera, movement, combat, crafting, building, audio, and rendering), while also squashing thousands of bugs. Even so, Hypixel warns that this is a true early access release: unpolished and still lacking a lot of stuff. What's in the game, anyway?
Exploration Mode
- An infinite, procedurally generated world with beautiful biomes, ancient structures, friendly creatures, and dangerous monsters
- Explore, build a home, grow crops, craft items and equipment, play with friends
- Discover the Forgotten Temple and uncover the first elements of the Cursebreaker story arc (to unfold in future updates)
- Mantling feature for greater freedom and control in navigating the world
- Unified progression and crafting system with expandable inventories, upgradable workbenches that interact with storage, and specialized crafting stations for hundreds of block and decoration types
- Ancient Gateway: Craft and place at your home to venture into temporary worlds called Fragments of Orbis (eventually offering timed adventures from low-intensity exploration to difficult combat and loot extraction)
- Memories system: Collect memories by exploring and interacting with creatures and factions, then return them to The Heart of Orbis for permanent world rewards and upgrades
- High mobility combat with diverse weapons featuring unique abilities
- Farming system with various crops and plants convertible into food and potions
Creative Mode
- In-game and standalone tools for building and creativity
- Features include block rotation, previews, and connected block textures
- Specialized entity tools for creators
Modding Support (Day 1)
- Extensive modding capabilities with asset pack management, assets editor, worldgen editors
- Partnerships with Blockbench and CurseForge for Day 1 modding support
- Tools for big projects and long-term content creation
On top of that, Hytale already offers multiplayer support in all modes. As for what's next, the upcoming Adventure Mode will introduce rich story and narrative elements, deeper progression systems, dungeons with boss fights, and more. Hypixel will also soon start working on the official Minigames, and more social features, such as friends lists and guilds, are on the way. Lastly, the World Gen V2, featuring the complete, restored world of Orbis, is also a long-term goal.
Hytale will eventually launch on consoles as well, while Hypixel is still evaluating the feasibility of a mobile version. Did you jump into this nifty blocky game world yet? Let us know in the comments.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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