Nearly a decade ago, a studio born of one of the most popular Minecraft servers began development on their very own game. Hytale has finally become a playable reality, and I’ve got high hopes for it and the future of its content.
When I heard that Hytale’s development was being canceled, it was a pretty big letdown. I had been following the game for several years, rejoicing at whatever snippets of development progress the team chose to share. Luckily for me, that wasn’t where things ended. I am a proud day-one early access player, and there’s a lot I’m excited for, and a lot I enjoyed.
I’ll preface by saying that Hytale is still in early access for players to enjoy and isn’t a fraction yet of what it may be in the future. It’s lacking in progression features, and has a new world-generation system incoming in a future update.
I love a character creator, and that’s where Hytale begins. It took a little getting used to the way Hytale characters looked but I found the character creation menu to be really expansive and satisfying. I was even able to make myself! There are a ton of different clothing options, which I really enjoyed playing around with when making my character. There are a couple of cosmetics that are locked behind supporter editions, which is a bit of a downside for me with the worry of microtransactions in this day and age.
The game is really nice looking and has a sort of mystical vibe to it. There is a lot of complexity to the different systems that exist, like various forms of crafting and the current skeleton of a magic system. Progression as it exists right now feels a little lackluster, but I think it can become equally challenging and rewarding in the future.
I don’t mind a game being eerie, and there have been quite a few moments where I found myself yelling at my screen and virtually running for my life. I found exploring caves to be a little scary, especially with all the freaky monsters hanging out down there. Despite that, I don’t think it’s a bad thing, and it added an extra layer of challenge to getting the materials I needed and exploring to my heart’s content.
Building and decorating also stuck out to me in a positive way. There is endless freedom when it comes to building in Hytale and I really liked the options for furniture. It was an even bigger plus that most of the furniture I crafted ended up being usable. Sure, this feels like a low bare minimum, but I’ve been using stairs as chairs in Minecraft my entire life.
I think there’s a lot to love about the Hytale early access, and while it isn’t in a full-game state, I’d still recommend it to anybody who’s interested in trying something familiar yet new.
