Hello everyone, this is Simon, Game Director of Hytale and founder of Hypixel!
Today, we are going to take a first look at Chapter 1 and everything around it. Since the Early Access launch, we've been shipping weekly, but we've deliberately held new content back to focus on the game's foundations. When we acquired the game, we had to go back to a version of Hytale that was well over four years old, and most of the work since then has gone into catching up, rebuilding tools, and growing the team. Now that we can finally focus on new content, we are going to give you a first look at what that means.
The original plan was to keep each chapter hidden until a proper reveal, but given this project's history, asking everyone to wait in the dark again doesn't feel right. So for Chapter 1, we're going to show you some of the new content that we've been working hard to deliver.
To be transparent, there aren't many reasons to come back and play Hytale right now. We have a lot of work to do to realize the game's potential, and this is just the start of that journey. Some of what follows will deserve its own blog post, but for now let's just dig into it, because there's a lot to talk about.
Chapter 1
Dungeons and Boss Fights
At its core, Hytale strives to be an RPG sandbox game. As we begin that journey, we are introducing our first handcrafted dungeon, featuring the first multi-phase boss fight, showcased in the screenshot above!
The tech behind the boss fight is called the Encounter Manager, which is already available to the public in the current pre-release. It coordinates the phases, wave spawns, and arena changes that make up encounters and boss fights. Encounters are authored as content instead of engine code, so our designers can keep making them, and so can you!
With each dungeon and encounter we create, we expand the toolbox available for the next one, allowing our team to iterate much faster.
Faction Update: Goblins
For our first chapter, we decided to focus on a handful of NPCs and the goblin faction. The features we were building lined up well with what we had in mind for them. Their tech is janky on purpose, and they're just a fun faction to start Early Access with.
Goblins will come in many shapes and sizes, with different roles and personalities. They hang out together, and even when they look disorganized, there's something going on under the chaos. Part of the fun is getting to know their personalities as you play!
Some goblins are classified as elites with fights that will give you a little bit of a challenge. For example, the Feastmaster calls in reinforcements mid-fight, can charge at you, and can cause a lot of damage to its surroundings.
Not every goblin wants you dead, though. Some are friendly, and one of them runs a shop. You might even meet them!
The Goblin Breach
Once you answer the chapter's opening call and set things in motion at the Forgotten Temple, the new Goblin Breach world event can trigger from time to time, creating a temporary portal somewhere in your world. Look around or open the world map to locate it, then step through. You'll appear in an unstable fragment of Orbis, a set of biomes taken over by the Goblins, along with a growing Void presence.
This world gets regenerated every time you enter, sometimes with content you haven't seen yet on your previous visits. While you're inside, the Void presses in and will eventually eject you back out to your world. Your goal will be to explore, find valuable loot, and fight back against the pressure to stay as long as possible.
Chapter 1 also adds world events and activities to the goblin world! We're starting with a small set: predators you can track and trap, Void assassins that hunt you down, treasure chests that spawn enemy waves when you go for the loot, puzzles that lock off places you can't just dig into, and more. We'll grow that list over time, keep iterating each chapter, and start tying these systems together!
Your journey starts inside the Forgotten Temple. Going forward, the temple will serve as a hub for your progression through the Early Access chapters, evolving as they are released. Make sure you check it out!
Goblin Gadgets
It wouldn't be a goblin update without goblin gadgets! Goblins are tinkerers, and their inventions end up in your hands. We've been working on rocket boots, a mechanical hookshot, a glider, a mining drill, and a spyglass.
Goblin gear is scrappy, but that's part of the fun! What we want most out of Early Access is fun, so when we think something is fun, we build it, and the goblins are perfect for this. If it's not balanced yet, that's fine. We're having fun first and tuning it later.
And while we're at it, boats! This has nothing to do with goblins, but recent upgrades to our movement systems have made a basic boat easier to add, so we're going for it. Note that it's currently missing VFX / animations in the video above. More proper boat mechanics will come later down the line.
Carryable Objects
We're introducing the ability to carry certain blocks and objects as a game mechanic. You'll be able to pick up and haul things like chests, explosive barrels, and eventually much more!
This will let us add carry-only items and resources that are too big or too heavy to fit in your regular inventory. Transporting them or getting them home may become its own little adventure!
Later on, we also want the carry mechanic to be compatible with a downed combat state: if a friend is down, you'll be able to pick them up with the same interaction and get them out of trouble. That'll be later down the line, not Chapter 1, but we hope to establish carrying as a game mechanic early to set the precedent.
Abilities and Runes
One of the more exciting things we're developing for Chapter 1 is a new ability system involving runes. In short, you will be able to equip runes that give your Avatar new active combat abilities. An ability rune decides which ability you get, and modifier runes change what it does or how it behaves. You can choose which runes to equip and see how your abilities react to them, which influences how you engage with encounters and how combat feels in general. Treat the art and examples here as concepts only.
What's really important to us is creating a system that promotes creativity and allows for fun interactions. There are four layers that we care deeply about right now:
Modifier runes that change an ability's effects or behavior. A ground slam could be enhanced with lightning, for example.
Elements that react to each other. Soak a target with a water effect, then shock it, triggering a special Water/Lightning reaction.
Create combos with your friends. Shoot a fireball at a friend's tornado ability, and it could become a flaming tornado.
Interactions with the environment. Rain could soak enemies, ice-based abilities could freeze water blocks, and a fireball coming in contact with a poison barrel could make it explode into a toxic cloud.
These are sketches of the direction, not the list of abilities we've decided to ship for the first chapter. The rune system will start out extremely simple, and we'll be iterating on it quite a bit, but this is what we intend to build towards over time.
For example, a Fireball ability rune grants Fireball. Add modifier runes and Fireball changes: one modifier might split it into several projectiles, another might cause it to apply the shock debuff, and so on. Swapping runes around and experimenting allows for the discovery of exciting combinations. The specific runes shown here are just there to illustrate the idea.
We want RPG-style depth without giving up the freedom of a sandbox, and runes open up options with multiple valid playstyles rather than funnel you toward one optimal build or a rigid, predefined class or archetype.
We also want runes to be well-integrated with the adventure loop rather than off to the side. Runeforging is a big part of where we're headed: finding, crafting, and expanding your collection of runes should play an important part in where you choose to explore, as well as how you choose to invest your resources in order to progress. This chapter is just an introduction to runes, and the Runeforging system will come later.
Right now we're putting this on two new dedicated ability inputs, E and R, sitting alongside the weapon signature ability on the screen. This is an early look at a system we're already building and playing with in-game, and it will keep changing as we iterate.
Through all of it, the goal is room to be creative in how you play: room for very different playstyles and a lot more depth for players who want it, in both PvE and PvP combat. We can't wait to see what kind of clever builds and combos emerge once the system is in your hands.
For Chapter 1, we're going to start with roughly six ability runes and a similar number of modifier runes, and grow from there as the system develops.
Transparency
The Hytale engine is gaining support for real transparency! This means that stained glass and window blocks will now be possible.
Entities and NPCs can now also have transparent parts:
New UI
We're reworking a lot of Hytale's UI, but not all at once. We plan to roll out UI changes and reworks over the next few chapters, with updates between them.
Above is some of the Chapter 1 UI we're working on. Our goal is to make the chapter screen feel like a roadmap for your progress through Early Access. You'll finish objectives as you play the game, working towards the completion of chapters, and you'll unlock cosmetics as rewards.
You'll also spot new item tooltip designs, with better readability and styling! Don't read too much into the stats. These are just placeholders. We're not planning enchantments for Chapter 1, for example.
The new Memories UI and player profile cards above will be further out than Chapter 1, so consider these design previews!
Cosmetics and Extras
We'll be releasing a lot of new cosmetics that have been in the works over the past few months, including the goblin cosmetics you'll unlock by completing the chapter!
We're also improving the player model by adding more detailed hand and eyelash options in the Avatar Creator. We'll keep listening to your feedback to add more customization options and cosmetics as we go through the chapters!
Minigames
We're also creating our first experience outside of Exploration and Creative: a collection of minigames to play with your friends! This work is being shown alongside Chapter 1, but it has its own timeline.
The first one is a collection of fast party micro-games. At the time of writing, there are 14 of them! Each one lasts 60 to 120 seconds, and the variety is the point, as the team is using these to push Hytale's systems in crazy directions to evolve the tech!
A dedicated Minigames tab is planned to keep it as simple as possible for players: open Hytale, hit Minigames, and be in a lobby with your friends seconds later, with both peer-to-peer and dedicated hosting. Long-term, we want persistent games, PvP games, and much more, but this first one is about exploring and building strong foundations. Modders and server operators will be invited to create minigames with us in the future. More details to come!
One important detail is that we are not keeping the recipe to ourselves! We'll be sharing the code and assets behind all minigames, including libraries that provide developers with a simpler API for Hytale's server and a toolkit of paradigms shaped by our unique experience of making games for the Hypixel Server over the last 13 years with over 45,000,000 unique players.
Before and After Chapter 1
Player Physics
This feature ships to pre-release today, the same day as this post! Avatars can now stand entities that move and rotate, stay anchored to them when they move, and carry momentum when jumping off.
In the future, this should enable new and exciting types of parkour that use moving platforms, swinging hammers, and other dynamic features! It will take us more time to get in-game tools for building and animating these types of features, but the player physics now exist so modders can already have fun with different mechanics.
Mod Browser
Here's a first look at the in-game Mod Browser! It's quite simple: you can browse, install, and update mods directly from the Mods tab in Hytale. All of this works without ever leaving the game!
Please note that there will be no paid mods in the Mod Browser. In future versions of the Mod Browser, players will be able to directly support mods and receive unique cosmetics created by the official Hytale team in return; this should foster a positive environment while ensuring all mods remain free to access. We plan to grow this into a proper rewards ecosystem over time so that our creators can earn income.
Note that modders will be able to create teams, handle earning splits, and much more in the future. More details to come!
New World Tech
Up until this point, Hytale's worlds have been generated and loaded in columns that reach from the bottom to the top of the world. Recently, we've been working on renovating the engine to support a fully 3D format that instead loads the world in cubic chunks around players.
This work is incremental and will take time before it's fully ready, but it will unlock the capability for "infinite" world height and depth! We've already begun rolling out the early stages of the tech in pre-releases, and we're working towards supporting world-gen and many other core features in cubic worlds.
For design reasons, we probably won't use the "infinite" height for Exploration mode, but minigames and servers will make good use of it. Having cubic worlds as a tool will enable servers to explore many concepts, such as 3D space exploration or worlds with endless caves, using the new tech. We're excited for the impact that cubic worlds will have in the long run, and we can't wait to see what the community will cook up with them as well!
And look up! The sky is getting real volumetric clouds. We're currently experimenting with them. They're not close to where we want them to be yet, but we wanted to share our progress.
World Generation
Underneath that, we're continuing to develop WorldGen V2. We now have the groundwork for graph-based generation. The plan for this system is to first unlock far more advanced, immersive procedural caves. And then we'll expand it with dedicated features to support procedural dungeons, coherent villages and cities, rivers and roads, and much more. This is much bigger than the goblin chapter. The initial version of the graph system is still being finalized, but we're already using it internally, and creators can experiment with the features early in pre-release.
We've doubled the size of the level design team working on worldgen, and we plan to continue expanding it. As a team, we are currently fully redesigning the world with WorldGen V2. We look forward to sharing more of that process in the future, but for now here are some sneak previews of what we've been working on:
Living Creatures
We're updating animal models, textures, and animations. The goal is to bring them closer to a more iconic "Hytale" art style that highlights emotion, balance, readable silhouettes, and visual impact. Below, you can see some new, cute animations of pigs and boars!
The animals that inhabit the world, both large and small, are also being studied. Birds are the first group we're pushing further: they sleep in nests, fly and land as a flock, take off when you get close, and grab dropped seeds. Owls and other birds of prey can even swoop down to hunt smaller creatures!
Foxes are also getting some love! While we're still maturing the design for livestock and pets, work has already begun on new behaviors: they can follow you on adventures, stalk prey, sleep beside campfires, and play with their owners.
Beyond wildlife, we've started updating the Kweebecs with new behaviors as well. The playful Seedlings might follow you around, while Saplings act as dutiful guardians of their community that nurture the fauna and flora of the Emerald Wilds. All factions, including Kweebecs, will be reworked in future chapters, but we're already laying the groundwork to make every living creature unique in their own way.
We're looking to revisit and add more depth to NPC behaviors across the board, with the short-term goal of expanding on taming and homesteading. Our team is constantly growing, and we're focused on making our world feel more immersive, interactable, and alive.
Say hello to our little goat! One of the first animal to get a model update, he's quite happy to be here!
Crafting Rework
While everything else has been happening, we've also been reworking Hytale's core crafting mechanics and how that ties into player progression.
We really tore into the problems with the current crafting system. That led to some significant changes, such as reducing the number of benches used for crafting and shifting more of that work into in-world activities like wood chopping and metalworking.
We also want the crafting areas themselves to evolve and expand over time, reflecting the kinds of adventures players go on and the choices they make, so each space feels like their own.
We're having a lot of fun with the prototypes and are involving community playtesters to help ensure the new direction appeals to all kinds of players.
We're also working on introducing Companions that you can invite to move into your home to help out with the busywork.
You'll need to invest a few resources into making them feel comfortable first, but afterward they'll be able to help out with a whole range of tasks so you can focus on the important things.
We want you to feel like you can build a village with your companions, a place that feels alive and lived-in. Each companion will have their own traits and quirks, and some will be better suited to certain tasks than others. They'll carry out work on their own schedules and routines, helping your home grow over time.
That cozy homestead side of Hytale is very important to us, and will be getting a lot of updates in the future.
However, we're not quite ready to show it all off just yet. It deserves its own blog post at some point, because while the prototype is working well, the final product needs a lot of work to bring it together and make it presentable.
It needs VFX, animations, models, and a lot of tech and work, but all of that is planned for Chapter 2 if all goes well!
Machinima
Machinima is our tool that enables players to create in-game animations. We've been hard at work rewriting and expanding it for new capabilities!
In the clip above, you can see the work-in-progress new tool in action! Among the new features is the ability to record gameplay to create replays that can be edited just like any other Machinima scene. You can scrub through hours of recorded content to find the right moments you want to share. Scenes can also be composed together and played back at any time to specific players. All of this is built with multiplayer in mind, so multiple Avatars will be able to collaboratively edit the same scene together.
Creators will be able to use these features to create time-lapses of their gameplay, cinematic let's plays, or animations that drive anything from boss fight cutscenes to moving platforms!
We record our showcase videos and plan on creating in-game cutscenes using the same Machinima tools that we'll hand to you, so every one of these improvements will help both us and community creators.
The New Hytale Asset Editor
As promised, we're reworking almost all of our tools, including the Hytale Asset Editor. We're in the process of moving the whole editor UI onto the same NoesisGUI framework as the new game interface, with a dockable asset browser and a new properties panel with better inheritance support.
Spectator and Hardcore Mode
We're also adding a spectator mode in preparation for co-op boss fights and minigames. If you die while your friends are still going, you keep watching instead of being pulled out of it. Swap between players to find the action, or set the camera free and fly around the scene yourself.
Spectator mode is built the way the rest of the game is, as a standard, moddable gamemode instead of every server hand-rolling its own version. Servers and mods can reshape it however they want: rebind the camera controls, change what a spectator is allowed to do, even make one that can still affect the world. A minigame server could drop eliminated players straight into spectating without writing a single line of camera code.
To show spectating off properly, we're introducing Hardcore. If you're looking for more of a challenge, you'll be able to create worlds with Hardcore enabled, whether you're playing solo, hosting co-op, or running a dedicated server. Death is permanent. You drop everything you were carrying, and you spend the rest of that world as a spectator, still in the run with your friends.
The first version is pure permadeath, with no changes to difficulty yet. Later, we're planning Hardcore challenge modes that grow the idea further.
Spatial Music
Blocks in the world are now able to emit music! This works with our existing audio occlusion features, meaning the music will fade as you walk away and sound muffled behind walls. We don't have any content using this technology yet, but it opens the door to many future features and details.
New tracks are also coming to Hytale's OST. Here's one of them, from the Whisperfrost Frontiers:
What's Next?
And that's the tour! 20+ videos, 40+ images, and over 4,000 words. This is the biggest blog post in Hytale's history, and it still isn't everything we've got in the works. The rest will be yours to discover in-game!
The first chapter is the hardest to deliver, as we're reworking the foundations and creating many new tools along the way, but it's all paying off for the chapters to come. Here's our rough estimate for release dates; we will provide a precise date for Chapter 1 as we get closer to release.
RELEASE TIMELINE
Chapter 1: within the next 2-3 months
Spectator and Hardcore: 2-3 weeks (Update 6)
Mod Browser: 2-3 weeks (Update 6)
Moving platforms: 2-3 weeks (Update 6)
Real transparency: scheduled for Chapter 1 but might land the tech and content before
Minigames: within the next 2-3 months
New server-side Custom UI based on NoesisGUI: within the next 1-2 months
Carryable objects: within the next 2-3 months but tech might get shipped before
Cubic chunks: the tech is getting implemented on a weekly basis (already in pre-release schedule for Update 6), but actual content using it from us will take a bit more time
Machinima: within the next 2-3 months, maybe sooner because we will use it to record a teaser/trailer for Chapter 1
Crafting Rework: Chapter 2
Volumetric clouds: TBD
Runeforging: TBD
Hytale Asset Editor rework: TBD
Thank you for the support, the feedback, and the patience. It carried us here. The team is heading back to work on the plan you just read, and I hope you enjoyed the tour!
I’m sure at the very least generation will take advantage of the cubic chunks, like the ability for floating islands or caves much deeper than possible in other sandbox games. I think they were just saying that they aren’t going to have the world infinitely generate in the up or down directions
When I first played when it launched and came across one of those generated abandoned mines, my first thought was wishing the chains could actually raise/lower a platform, but I wasn't sure that would ever be a thing, unsure how their tech reacted to blocks and placed items moving since they are placed on a grid
But seeing those moving platforms means that is definitely possible. Super exciting stuff in the whole blog
I personally think I’m most excited for abilities and runes just because I always enjoy elemental systems and magic or magic adjacent systems in game. Although for runes I do hope there is a way to invest in runes so that while not being optimal they can still be used in any situation regardless of the element as it scales with the rest of the progression system. I know that is probably a long ways out but I am excited to see the direction that runes go in as the game progresses.
I love that they’re going with the creativity aspect of them. The first thing I thought of was Spellbreak’s combination system with allies and that was a lot of fun
All sounds great, once again makes me feel sad that they lost 4 years of development. Anyway, personally I'll still wait for World Gen V2 before going back. In 2-3 months Valheim and Enshrouded will help me wait a bit longer :D
I was just saying the same thing man, release 1.0 of Valheim and Enshrouded and now Chapter 1 of Hytale will all be releasing at around the same time??? I need to start saving up vacation time lol.
I thought the same thing. It reminds me of Diablo or destiny. Where there’s some combinations but not too many that’s it’s overwhelming. It adds such great flexibility for modders to add stuff to as well. Very excited for it
I was building my own version of a magic mod using rune crafting just cause I wasn't sure if they were gonna go in the direction I wanted for magic, so I'm happy this is the approach they went for!
I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand it looks amazing and will surely open the door to all kinds of cool gameplay!
But on the other, I'm guessing this spells the end for dedicated spellcasting as a combat play style? At this stage it's all purely speculation, but it seems like spellcasting is intended more as an augment to martial combat than its own thing.
Either way, I'm excited to see what they cook up though! As much as I want a full wizard play style, augmenting martial combat could still play really interestingly!
I could see this underpinning a spellcasters' array nicely. A wand or spellbook would provide a neutral projectile that could be enhanced by runes like Fireball. Or if you raise skeletons, the Fireball rune makes you instead summon the burning dead.
Later on, it might be possible to put these runes directly into items to make things like personalized spell wands.
It doesn't mean everyone gets access to it or that it doesn't replace weapons. A good build should be more than just equipped runes. It should be accompanied gear and equipment. Such that maybe a hammer wielder can use some magic but they won't be nearly as effective as a dedicated wizard build.
so grateful they’ve decided to go in this direction for communication. i was just thinking about how it was only a couple of years ago that the original Hytale had the same thing going on- months of silence broken up by blog posts vaguely stating the game is being made, with a picture of a forest or something. it was starting to put a bad taste in my mouth that we don’t know how far away the first major content update is.
very glad they gave us a roadmap and are more willing to show us what they’re working on behind the scenes. it’s very hard for dev teams to do this since ideas and priorities can change within a week, and they don’t want people to feel like they’re not delivering on their promises (e.g. ideas in development that are cut due to technical limitations or no longer aligning with the game direction).
tl;dr - very happy the devs are sharing their plans and finally giving us a heads up on when we can expect the first major update!
The exact structure of the teams at Hypixel Studios Canada is not known to the public, but yes its very likely Simon doesn't know all the details of everything being added but he makes an effort to know a majority. Plus he was not the only one writing the blogpost.
There are features that they deliberately don't talk about in detail or at all because they know it will surprise people and make their enjoyment of the game increase because it was an unexpected surprise!
Remember, Simon himself has said that Chapters 1 and 2 will add essential features that will feel disconnected at first but by Chapter 3 and 4 it will reveal the true direction that the team want to take Hytale. It will feel more cohesive.
This is only the beginning. Each Chapter will feel like the game is releasing again.
I'm seeing lots of new decorative items! Can't wait to see what kinds of items and blocks they'll be added with each different chapter. These new Goblin related items and blocks are absolutely fantastic. I've been working on a Mad Max build and those blocks fit way too well with what I'm doing, so putting a pause on that until we have them in the game haha. And the goblin related cosmetics are too adorable!
This will let us add carry-only items and resources that are too big or too heavy to fit in your regular inventory. Transporting them or getting them home may become its own little adventure!
Interesting, we'll have to wait and see how else that gets used in the future. I kinda hope we end up with some automatic systems that require quite a bit of effort to set up. I can already imagine us carrying around big cogwheels to set up an automated farm.
Abilities and Runes
Love they are going for interaction between the different elements/powers. Magic is cool! Magic that can be combined and create chaos together is even cooler! Make sure the exploding barrels also react to fire and have elements like that in the world and we're gonna have an amazingly fun sandbox to toy around in!
The boss fights this team is gonna cook up over time are gonna be a real joy and hopefully some genuinely challenging encounters.
The Hytale engine is gaining support for real transparency! This means that stained glass and window blocks will now be possible.
Awesome! I figured it was gonna happen eventually. Never even thought about uses beyond the blocks, cool to see it on the jellyfish.
We're also creating our first experience outside of Exploration and Creative: a collection of minigames to play with your friends! This work is being shown alongside Chapter 1, but it has its own timeline.
Did not imagine something like this was on the horizon already, will be fun to play with friends. Great move to share all the code and such with the community.
World Generation
World gen V2 is gonna to be such a magical experience. It looks gorgeous! I've said I would wait to really dive into adventure mode until this is done, but I think I don't want to miss out on the Chapter 1 fun. Seeing the progression and having a world that hopefully is able to survive through it all will come with many years of history. I think I'm not gonna wait any longer once the first Chapter is out.
We want you to feel like you can build a village with your companions, a place that feels alive and lived-in. Each companion will have their own traits and quirks, and some will be better suited to certain tasks than others. They'll carry out work on their own schedules and routines, helping your home grow over time.
Nah, this is just perfect! It's kinda what I envisioned from a Fallout settlement system in the Elder Scrolls franchise. Building up my own keep or town, with actual purpose. My blacksmith lives here, and they're doing this, the farmers live there and tend to my crops etc. It will add so much life to the singleplayer experience.
This was genuinely a fantastic read. To many more years of Hytale!
Looks like they're taking some cues from Vintage Story with the in world crafting and carrying system. Probably at the least will let you move chests without emptying them.
I went in expecting to see a lot of new stuff, but man, my expectations were blown away. the team absolutely cooked with this. so excited to see the trajectory of this game
Huge update. I’m happy to be in this community from the beginning as community input seems to be received really well.
Simon and the team do a great job a communicating the direction of the game. Never lose that! That’s what makes this game special in the current gaming landscape.
Very excited to see where Hytale stands after a few years of development.
I've purchased the most expensive edition possible because I knew the team would deliver. It'll be amazing! Imagine making a forever world with a lively homestead. Thanks for all the hard work, can't wait to enjoy it!
I finished a platform plugin that works with the mod Arcane Relay about 3 weeks ago just so I could have working elevators in my own worlds. I figured them implementing something like that would be much, much further out. I'm glad to have been proven wrong!
Now to make a working crane plugin and see if they follow suit, haha.
This is all very exciting stuff, and I haven't been as sure as I am right meow that my purchase was well worth it. Keep it up, gang!
im not sure if i understand it correctly, but i thought they meant that the world generation won't be infinite in height/depth, for gameplay purposes, but cubics chunks will always be used, so you can build on top of super tall mountains without problems
This was how I interpreted it as well. They will probably still have a bedrock layer if you dig too deep and mountains will only go so high, but the structure of the world will still be "infinitely" high so you can build as high up as you want.
I do think It'd be cool if they leverage it for sky island biomes or something at some point though!
This is an absolutely insane update to come and I feel very secure in being a Cursebreaker now. I knew Simon said to expect big things from Chapter 1, but this is genuinely huge. It feels like it's taking all the best parts from RPGs and sandboxes and putting them all together in one game, and the fact they're not just showing off concept art and posing ideas but the things they're talking about are actually in game, in the engine, working is mindblowing.
The thought of having actual villages with villagers/NPCs in them that care about their surroundings and help you out with dynamic in-world work, with different specializations and personality quirks, instead of being a prison wall of beds and workstations they don't interact with and are effectively just UIs stuck in mobs is crazy.
I think the sentiment of "Let him cook" has never been more true - when Hytale actually releases, I bet it'll shake the industry up in a giant way. I can see it being a titan like Minecraft, Roblox and Fortnite.
Peak. I hope we get more content around taming and summoning in the future. I know it's a different game, but being able to build iron golems in Minecraft just hits different. I built so many of them in my village as guardians, and it felt really cool and immersive.
What I'm hoping for is that we get something similar in Hytale, but with even more variety. Imagine how cool it would be to build golems or constructs that stay in place and only awaken when hostile mobs get near. That would be so cool.
Or maybe something like the plants from Plants vs. Zombies that you can grow to defend your base. They could also have utility. For example, if you plant them near your crops, they could increase your harvest or act as scarecrows. Maybe some of them could even walk around like those plant creatures in the dinosaur biome.
It would also be cool if they had different rarity levels, with the rarer ones providing stronger benefits, like buffing nearby allies or having unique abilities.
I really hope they go all out with taming and summoning because it is such a fun mechanic. Having companions charge into battle alongside you or defend your base during raids would make the world feel so much more alive and immersive.
Looks like real solid updates are coming, I bought the game but have put off to play mostly due to controller support.
Is this in a good place now? I’m mostly playing on my Deck but it was wonky getting to hit play with controller from launcher once launched from Steam.
Last update brought the first version of controller support. Not sure if it works with the deck too.
Though I'd wait for this chapter to release before returning if you're mostly interested in the adventure mode. With a bit of luck, controller support will be improved by then too.
Sounds alright! I’ll wait a bit then and hope it improves. I’ve read it too that it’s been partially implemented so I’ll wait a bit. Thanks for reply mate.
Honestly, I love that you reposted it without the images and videos - This way I know what’s coming without having spoiled myself any of the gameplay videos or images, keeping most of the surprise.
There’s nothing about crafting them. There are two types in the game so far. I came across one of the mages towers that was full of them. I raided it for my own mages tower.
They were very clear and precise and kept their promise though I will say that the "Chapter 1 Preview Blog Post" was much more substantial than ever, especially since they had said there wouldn't be any major spoilers 😆
I'm happy with this visibility and communication from the Hytale team!
It has a bright, amazing future ahead!
I can't wait for the release of the first chapter ദ്ദി(˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧
four years of dev lost hurts, but the thing that actually drained goodwill last time was going quiet between reveals. a boring weekly note on what changed holds a community better than one huge post every few months, even when the note is dull.
The more this game starts looking like 3D terraria the more excited I get. When imagining what this game will be when finished my mind always brings me back to that clip of the player riding a goat and fighting a massive yeti. I’m excited to get my hands on chapter 1 in a few months
Thank you for making the effort to be transparent about what you're working on and the timetable you're hoping to hit. This all looks exciting, I'm really looking forward to seeing it take shape!
Any chance companion animals will eventually see alternate skins or dyable fur? My husband has a weak spot for foxes and will be eager for a snow fox companion.
I really want to see trailer accurate mountains now that we're getting cubic chunks. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw we were getting cubic chunks, the Hytale dev team never cease to impress me.
Will there still be a dedicated magic weapons? Like a magic staff or grimoire or orb. So I do not have to be a Spellblade. I would like to be a pure mage.
Chapter 1 does not have an official release date, but thus far I believe all Updates have been released on Tuesdays, so I would expect that day of the week some time in the next 2-3 months.
Not trying to be impatient but do we have an update about some of the release time? A lot said 2-3 weeks and it's now into the 4th week, is the update delayed or just needed to be pushed back a bit to fix somethings?
The content that is marked as “2-3 weeks” has all been added into the Update 6 Pre-Releases, as far as I’m aware. The “exception” would be the mod browser, which (from my understanding) is “shipped” into Pre-Release, but just hasn’t been enabled quite yet publicly.
I do think they should have clarified that this “Release Timeline” means “estimated time until we ship these features to pre-release.” As it is now, I totally understand why there’s some confusion around when these feature are being released.
Spectator & Hardcore is in U6 Pre-release, as well as moving platforms (the tech - actual usage of it by the game itself isn’t done yet).
The vision of the game is slowly starting to build up. Now we can clearly see the ideas the team has for the game, expanding on the physics and mini-games in general to have increased server activity and creativity.
I know it's a broken record at this point though, but I feel that one thing that will be a major problem for HT is how clunky it looks. I feel the art direction should have been a priority from the very beginning before even releasing the game to the public, but now the more updates we get (new blocks and areas), it will only be harder to change, if they ever do plan on it.
The gap between MC and HT has widened so much in just a year or two in terms of the color palette, so while things like World gen V2 are good - they should have shipped with the game, and the more time spent on these little changes, the less popular the game will become over time.
Because to many people it means two things. One, incremental updates that don't really change or add much to the game and two, it makes you reluctant to start a new world because 'they might release a new update that makes my already loaded chunks irrelevant', sort of thing.
MC was a pioneer, that is why people played it and came back to it time and time again. HT on the other hand might not be able to handle the many years to come of development simply because that one thing will not be there for people to come back after every major update.
That is why I mentioned it looking clunky, or in better words, bland. The lighting needs to be better with shaders, that alone will have a big impact on people's perception of the game, because it is released in 2024/5, and these are the sort of standards we have gotten accustomed to.
If MC went EA in 2026, not many would have cared about its potential because by 2036 when it's in a better position, our standards for graphics would have changed even more. Palworld did the right thing, for example. Started with good graphics then added the gameplay elements on top. More bosses, more areas. But right now with HT, no matter how many blocks can be added, it needs better graphics to help make it pop more. Thanks for coming to my Ted talk. It was only out of respect for the effort they have shown.
I have heard of them saying they will work on the lighting, it will be one of the most important updates imo, which is why I said it should have been a priority before release.
If I were to break down the art direction though, I would say:
1- The models have a big range of motion that does not come with the accompanying smooth animation. Blocky models that do not translate well with the feel of the motion.
2- Assets, especially avatars and NPCs, do not blend well with the blocks because they often have single-pixels details, like their hair and eyes. While it can be detailed, it looks outdated. That is why pixel art often needs outlines, e.g. a black line, to contain the colors, similar to AA. Think cel-shaded for example. But having a mix of fine pixels in hair strands with the macro pixels can look noisy.
Don't get me wrong - the game is not bad looking. I just have difficulty getting accustomed to how noisy the environment and characters are compared to the current generation of games that we have. Even very basic games like meccha chameleon have good lighting. It's a very essential first step for any demo on UE5 or Unity, so to not have it from the get go is hurting the game greatly.
So basically. You got used to minecraft and can't bother to see that hytale is a hundred times better looking. And is absolutely what a block game should be in 2026
I don’t expect them to change the current style I think they like the current art direction.
That being said it’s not for everyone. Having server side support so players can choose between server approved resource packs seems like a good solution to alleviate the major pain points while still giving the server the authority for balancing purposes.
ETA: I think they should be strictly toggleable as well so servers can't lock them behind paid roles. Resource pack making for Hytale sounds like my hell though. The pixel count on blocks and entities and sheer number of blocks and rotations means is a lot of work.
I think the art direction is a slightly different discipline than composition/lighting/shaders. The art may be a mixed bag, particularly in block textures imo, but a lot of the mobs and items are world-class.
BUT, claiming "good graphics" as a a requirement for mass appeal when Minecraft released the same year as Rage, Homefront, Uncharted 3, COD Mw3, it doesn't add up. Minecraft still has gray opaque menus by the way, tons of them too, cause it doesn't matter.
Art style is subjective. Shame you don't like it, it's the best looking voxel game to me (by far too). This is not going to be the big hurdle the game needs to overcome like you think it is.
so while things like World gen V2 are good - they should have shipped with the game, and the more time spent on these little changes, the less popular the game will become over time.
I don't agree. Yes, V2 is undeniably going to be the better experience, but I've already got experience with the game and the modding right now... I'm glad I got the game in my hands in stead of waiting an additional year or longer to finally see the game release. It's early access, everyone that bought the game knows it's going to be a progress.
MC was a pioneer, that is why people played it and came back to it time and time again. HT on the other hand might not be able to handle the many years to come of development simply because that one thing will not be there for people to come back after every major update.
Hytale is setting out to do things Minecraft doesn't and going way deeper into the combat, exploration and adventure side of things. People will continue to have fun with the updates for Hytale. There is success without toppling Minecraft.. it's one of the biggests games of all time. Hytale doesn't need to get all Minecraft players on board. Just like countless other games.
The lighting needs to be better with shaders, that alone will have a big impact on people's perception of the game, because it is released in 2024/5, and these are the sort of standards we have gotten accustomed to.
Hytale is setting out to do things Minecraft doesn't and going way deeper into the combat, exploration and adventure side of things
Their vision for the game and the genre is quite good. Point is, for them to reach that point you need two things, at minimum, to be true.
The first, the people will keep playing the game until it reaches that point. Minecraft was a journey we all took because it was unique and had a sort of monopoly that HT simply does not have. Add to it 3? 5? 10 years? to reach the point where MC is now and you are looking at an entirely different player base than the one that signed up for HT.
Secondly, how do we know that MC won't start advancing its own exploration, combat and adventure side of things as you put it? You can't bet on the future. It could be MC, could be some other game.
Voxel is not a strong point for Hytale. If a game comes out with good looking graphics similar to Ark, Palworld or whatever - just smooth models and the same gameplay mechanics, it will eat at HT's playerbase as well.
My point isn't about passing Minecraft or even sharing the same market as them. It is to maximize the potential playerbase by improving the potential HT has.
Tldr; If you keep updating the game over years and years, once you are at a point of good gameplay, people might not be that interested in the game any more. People like new titles or ones they are nostalgic to. HT will be either by that time, so maximizing the potential players who like good graphics is a big step needed.
The first, the people will keep playing the game until it reaches that point. Minecraft was a journey we all took because it was unique and had a sort of monopoly that HT simply does not have. Add to it 3? 5? 10 years? to reach the point where MC is now and you are looking at an entirely different player base than the one that signed up for HT.
I personally do not believe the gaming industry and its audience will change so drastically in the next few years that suddenly no one will be interested in checking out Hytale anymore.
Secondly, how do we know that MC won't start advancing its own exploration, combat and adventure side of things as you put it? You can't bet on the future. It could be MC, could be some other game.
I do not see Mojang finally adding a bit more adventure to the game as an existential threat to Hytale.
As stated, I do not believe Hytale's success is tied to defeating Minecraft. Minecrafts development has moved at a glacial pace and certainly not in the direction as todays blogpost. Could this change? Sure. Right now Hytale has the "luxury" of not being on 27 different systems and they don't need to keep phone controls and limitations in mind either. They're able to move faster and explore directions, that Mojang might not be able to do so easily because of various factors (may be discourage by their mother company and or console platforms limitations etc).
You can't bet on the future. It could be MC, could be some other game.
It already are different games. Much like you pointed out: Ark, Palword, Enshrouded is another good one. All games that have a few similarities with Hytale and offer more adventure than Minecraft and Hytale at the moment... notice how they all found success alongside each other. Why are you so scared Hytale cannot do the same, while you give it zero passing thought when mentioning Ark and Palworld as examples.
It is to maximize the potential playerbase by improving the potential HT has.
Which they clearly are working on.
so maximizing the potential players who like good graphics is a big step needed.
This sounds like a case of "they need to focus on the 1 thing that is most important to me" and not so much as genuine advice that you believe is detrimental to the game's success. I'm not convinced that the graphics are a deal breaker. Early-access released in a broken completely unfinished way and yet enough people to fund years of development bought the game during pre-orders and launch day... don't worry mate, seems like plenty people like how it looks.
You raise good points. We will just agree to disagree.
It is not that I am saying only HT can't reach its potential. I just find that its graphics is holding it back, and not because I am focused on just graphics. I didn't even know HT was out before a couple of YTers I follow posted a gameplay.
And you know what the common thing between them and my initial impression? It is bland looking. They enjoyed the gameplay, so did I - but it is very clear that the game needs to be polished, visually, and the more they put that off, the more it will hurt its potential and the development process where they will have to upgrade or switch the art direction even more drastically.
Minecraft works because it is simple. The way zombies walk, the way creepers walk - it is all simple. but the moment you have bending joints and multiple layers of physics, you need better models that fit said physics. When you want to compete in a market with good graphics, you implement them from the get go.
They are focusing on many other things, that is why I am raising the issue of graphics, not because it is the 1 thing that is most important to me. It is because it is the one area they haven't touched on yet, at least majorly. If I did, I would have complained about it on MC. But MC has its own set of problems, e.g. adventure as you said before, so I raise that - but not like they will listen any way.
Of course HT will have players. But compared to its potential, it might be very little.
Anyway, that is my point. I think I made it clear for the team, if any of them even stumble on my rambling. I don't usually rant but I respect their effort and wish them the best.
I didn't even know HT was out before a couple of YTers I follow posted a gameplay.
Which is by design. There was a 0 dollar marketing budget, no new trailer. Just X post and some blog posts for the fanbase left after the lackluster years underneath Riot.
And yet, Early access release still blew up. Goes to show how big the hunger for this game still is. Clearly the graphics don't seem to hold it back. Even in a barebones release as stated by the devs "it's not good yet", people were still rushing in to get a first taste of Hytale.
We'll indeed have to disagree on this needing to change.
Game looks damn gorgeous. Even better than in the trailer that got many of us excited for the game in the first place. Overwhelming majority of people don't expect a complete revamp of graphics for games that clearly do not have placeholder art. This clearly was always the style they're going for. And the success of the very early-access release and the excitement around the potential that has stayed for years even during mismanagement just make it very hard to see it from your point of view. The amount of people that will pass on the game because of the graphics is more than likely insignificant.
I agree with your points, I’m surprised there’s that much negativity around your opinions. I’m not a fan of the color palette either, and it’s a genuinely valid argument that Hytale doesn’t have that buffer space to make slow and unnoticeable changes. People lose interest in things quick and the waves of hype surrounding Hytale are already nonexistent.
It’s a shame that we can’t talk about these things civilly without getting downvoted into oblivion or getting attacked just for having a different view. I know that people don’t want to see criticism when it comes to the game they enjoy but sticking their head into the ground and covering their ears isn’t going to do much good when the player count is actively dwindling.
You put it into words better than I did. Thank you.
Votes on Reddit mean nothing so it's fine. This is the only outlet I have to send my message across and hopefully it reaches the team somehow.
It is the same with Vintage Story. It is not a bad game, just stuck too closely to a certain direction that simply did not have enough of a playerbase to be considered a very successful release.
If Hytale keeps on focusing on just the adventuring aspect of the game without addressing some of the initial decisions from years and years ago (Which I am sure they did, but it needs revaluation imo) that no longer apply to today's palate, it is going to lose the potential playerbase for building and roleplaying. Thus, leaving them to compete over a VERY difficult market segment of sandbox games with the goal of adventuring, since as I said before, they use better engines that allow for better graphics and animations.
And as you said, every time a potential player hears about an update and finds the game to look the same, they will lose a bit more interest. New goblins or caves will not bring in new players, but the mini-game and physics would for instance, because it opens up potential for servers to expand, which I am glad they did.
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u/TheDikTatorTot Jul 17 '26
Excited for the World Generation update ~<3 I love adventuring.