Hytale: The New Minecraft?

Written by: Ander Renelt

Minecraft is one of the largest video games of all time, breaking records for numbers of sales- over 350 million copies sold as of last year. Minecraft still receives millions of players per day, and is a big part of internet culture. However, that doesn’t mean that Minecraft is without faults. Many players of Minecraft enjoy playing “modded” versions, adding unique features to the game not possible otherwise. Many coders of these “mods” often complain about the difficulty of modifying Minecraft’s code, with some mods taking years to develop. That’s where the biggest server on Minecraft, Hypixel, comes in. Hypixel brings in a constant stream of tens of thousands of Minecraft players, offering a multiplayer experience like no other. Almost ten years ago the developers of Hypixel announced their own game: Hytale. After ten years of setbacks, buyouts, and passed release dates, Hytale has finally arrived in the gaming space.

The game looks very similar to Minecraft, with a blocky style. Despite appearances, Hytale promised many unique features, such as an integrated modding space (coders rejoice), new progression, items, and even a completely new combat and crafting system. Seeing these promises, I decided to buy the game and see if it lived up to the hype.

The first thing that I noticed is that your avatar is very customizable, with many free cosmetics. The customization is less than Minecraft’s customization, which allows you to make any skin you want without preset cosmetics. I didn’t count it against the game too much, as Hytale’s models are a lot more complex. Upon actually starting the game I saw the full landscape, and I must say that it looked amazing. Like I said earlier, the models are much more complex. There were also a lot of quality of life features that Minecraft lacks, such as a minimap, drawing crafting items from nearby chests, and only needing to hold a torch to light up an area, rather than placing it down. The combat system was also really fun, with many different types of weapons, such as hammers, daggers, katanas, and battle-axes.

Then I tested some mods, the main selling point of Hytale. I don’t code, but as for downloading mods I can definitely say that the experience was very user friendly. The installations are built into the game, so you don’t even have to enter a 3rd party website. Just one or two clicks and the mod is installed within seconds.

The game is only in its testing stages, but so far the game is amazing. It offers an experience very similar to Minecraft, but the added features really help it stand out. 

Now for the big question: is Hytale the “new Minecraft?” Definitely not. Minecraft is one of the most widely played video games of all time, so I doubt it’s going to die anytime soon. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t play Hytale, you should definitely try it if you’re in the market for a new game. I just wouldn’t compare it to Minecraft, just like how you wouldn’t compare a high school basketball player to LeBron James.