Remember Hytale? The sandbox RPG blew up big when it launched into early access back in January, making so much in preorders that it secured funding for two more years of development. It was a real triumph because the game had been canceled by Riot after nearly 10 years in development, but was saved from the jaws of death by its creator, Simon Collins-Laflamme, who bought the rights to the game and continued to work on it.
Yet after such a strong launch, I pretty quickly drifted from Hytale because it's still in very early development and is far from feature complete. Even Collins-Laflamme said the adventure sandbox 'isn't good yet' in November of 2025, warning players not to buy it if they were expecting anything resembling a complete game.
Well, my interest in Hytale has quickly been rekindled because the team at Hypixel Studios just dropped a massive blog to show off some of its plans for Hytale's future. How massive? The new devblog contains about 4,000 words and features 22 new videos, with a few dozen new screenshots to boot. Wow.
But before you launch the game wide-eyed and breathless, a reality check:
"To be transparent, there aren't many reasons to come back and play Hytale right now," Collins-Laflamme said in the devblog. "We have a lot of work to do to realize the game's potential, and this is just the start of that journey."
The journey looks like a big one, though. The devblog gives players a look at all the new stuff coming in Chapter 1, like a new handcrafted dungeon, a bossfight with a goblin chieftain, new varieties for the goblin faction, and a world event called a Goblin Breach where players can enter a portal into a new realm to battle monsters and collect loot.
There's also tease for other upcoming world events: "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," Collins-Laflamme said. "We'll grow that list over time, keep iterating each chapter, and start tying these systems together!"
A overhauled UI is also planned, along with a new mod browser, spectator and hardcore modes, and a rework of the crafting system. Additional cosmetics will be added, and an improved player model is in the works as well. Minigames and party games are also being developed for Hytale, over a dozen at the moment, that you'll be able to jump into with your pals anytime you want.
Look, folks, there's tons more in the blog and me giving a brief mention to a mere few of the dozens and dozens of additions coming to Hytale probably isn't serving much of a purpose. You can read (or skim) the devlog yourself, and there's a somewhat vague release timeline for all of Hytale's new features below:
- 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
