Hytale Early Access Review: Ambitious Sandbox Shows Promise Despite Rough Edges

Seven years. That's how long players waited for Hytale to arrive. The journey wasn't smooth—Riot Games funded development for years before cancelling the project in June 2025. Most games die there. But original founder Simon Collins-Laflamme bought back the rights in November 2025, rebuilt the team from scratch, and launched into early access on 13th January 2026.

Two million copies sold. Over 420,000 concurrent Twitch viewers at launch. These numbers tell half the story. The other half? Hytale isn't finished. Not even close.

What You Get Right Now

Hytale feels immediately familiar to anyone who has touched Minecraft . Bash blocks. Smash rocks. Craft gear. Build shelter. Fight fantasy monsters. The formula hasn't changed, but Hypixel Studios added quality-of-life improvements everywhere.

Chop a tree at its base and the whole thing falls. No floating leaves. Movement flows better—your character can climb two-to-four block heights without building stairs. The automap highlights points of interest , and crafting stations pull materials from nearby chests. Small touches that Minecraft players have wanted for years.

There's very little direction in this early access version . The main hub area features literal "Under Construction" signs. Adventure Mode—the planned story content with quests and narrative—isn't here yet. Players create their own goals or wander aimlessly.

Combat exists but needs work. Different weapon types support varied playstyles. Fast daggers enable leaping hit-and-run attacks. Heavy maces deal crushing damage with slower swings. Special moves and ultimate abilities add depth. But enemy AI needs improvement —orcs stand idle whilst arrows hit them, deer get stuck in geometry.

The world throws variety at players. Giant spiders. Undead skeletal mages. Bears that brutally savage players in forests . Colossal boss-like monsters in certain biomes. Diverse creatures populate the procedurally generated landscapes.

Except the challenge isn't there. Players begin with many abilities unlocked—high jumps, weapon ultimates, ranged bows. Progression feels meaningless when everything arrives immediately. No hunger meter exists . No temperature survival. Nights aren't dangerous. Wander into late-game areas with basic gear and survive easily.

Graphics That Shine (Mostly)

Hytale's world is colourful, with lush forests, floating islands, and ruins . Biomes offer more variety and vibrancy than vanilla Minecraft's blocky landscapes. Character models and creatures use higher-resolution textures with elaborate animations. Some players find it a bit uncanny compared to Minecraft's ultra-simple art style.

But nights are almost unplayably dark without maxing monitor brightness. No brightness slider exists yet. Dynamic lighting creates spooky atmospheres—glowing eyes in darkness startle unprepared players—but visibility becomes the tradeoff.

Performance Surprises

The game runs better than Minecraft on the same hardware , according to IGN's testing. Mid-range PCs report buttery smooth frame rates with zero stutters. Optimisation seems solid for a day-one early access launch.

Bugs exist, obviously. Physics quirks. UI oddities. The developers warned players to expect crashes and data loss . Regular save backups remain essential during this beta period. Most issues aren't show-stopping, but the game completely bugged out and killed rendering for some players after extended sessions.

Multiplayer Growing Pains

No official public servers exist yet . Players host their own servers or invite friends through co-op. The system works—when connections succeed. Many players encountered "failed to connect to server" errors at launch. Windows firewall often blocks the game's network traffic. Community tutorials help, but expect technical fiddling.

Once connected, co-op delivers fun. Performance holds up with multiple players. Having friends makes the sandbox experience more engaging, especially without NPC quest content.

The Modding Promise

Here's where Hytale differentiates itself. The game includes modding tools from day one . Creative Mode offers powerful in-game editing tools—sculpt terrain with brushes, spawn prefabricated structures, use animation tools, create scripted events. The quick settings panel lets players instantly adjust flight speed, inertia, and movement smoothness .

Hypixel built the game with the same tools they deliver to players . Anything developers create, modders should create too. Within hours of launch, someone modded the original Doom to run inside Hytale—proof the engine handles flexibility.

But the developers admit the tools are uneven . Documentation remains incomplete. Some workflows feel clunky. This is "early access for modders" as well. Server source code releases within one-to-two months post-launch. Visual scripting systems inspired by Unreal Engine Blueprints are in development.

The groundwork exists for community-made content to extend Hytale's lifespan significantly.

Reception: Optimistic but Cautious

Simon Collins-Laflamme warned the adventure sandbox isn't good yet . Players received that message. The game feels quite polished for an early access title , but everyone acknowledges incompleteness.

The most frequent criticisms centre on missing progression and challenge. There are fish but no fishing poles . Animals but no taming system. Monsters but no boss fights. A minigames tab with nothing added yet. Physical signs in the world show locations of planned future features .

Pre-purchase revenue secured funding for at least the next two years of development . Collins-Laflamme personally committed to supporting Hytale for a decade regardless of success. The team wants community feedback to shape development priorities.

Some players love what's here. The raw sandbox where you fight, build, and explore is already enjoyable . Others wait for Adventure Mode to deliver meaningful content. IGN describes it as basically Minecraft 2 —the "what would we change if we started over" version of the 2009 classic.

The Verdict

Hytale launches with a solid foundation and massive potential. Movement feels fluid. Building tools surpass Minecraft's. Modding support from launch empowers community creativity. Performance impresses.

But substantial systems remain missing or unfinished. No story mode. Shallow progression. Easy difficulty. Exploitable enemy AI. Technical issues plague multiplayer setup. Players seeking a complete, polished adventure should wait.

Some experienced players report the world is very appealing with lots of visual niceties, interesting points of interest, pleasant music, and controls that feel just like Minecraft . Others find themselves aimless after the initial excitement wears off.

This is true early access—unpolished, incomplete, occasionally broken. Hypixel Studios delivered exactly what they promised: a raw, unfinished experience with incredible potential . The question isn't whether Hytale will improve. The question is how long improvement takes.

For £15.99, players get a front-row seat to watch Hytale's development. Create content with powerful tools. Explore diverse biomes. Build elaborate structures. The journey matters more than the destination right now.

Just don't expect Minecraft's decade of polish. Not yet, anyway.