Hytale sure looks a lot like Minecraft, doesn’t it? Giving a quick glance at some side-by-side screenshots it would be pretty easy to confuse the two, though that’s not a huge surprise: Hypixel Studio, maker of Hytale, was founded by Minecraft modders and mappers who decided to create their own voxel game.
Besides looks, Minecraft and Hytale have a ton in common: they both take place in “infinite” procedurally generated worlds with multiple biomes and deformable terrain, they both feature base-building and gear and weapon crafting, cooking, wildlife and fantasy monsters, and other similar systems. They can both be played solo or in co-op, they both have creative modes, and they’re both moddable. And there’s blocks. So many, many blocks.
So… what’s the actual difference between them? Why should you consider trying Hytale if you’ve already got Minecraft?
1. Hytale is very early access
The biggest difference right now, frankly, is that Minecraft has been around for 15 years and Hytale just entered early access—and it’s very early access.
That doesn’t mean it’s full of jank and bugs—it’s actually been very stable and what’s there works well. But Hytale is nowhere near feature-complete the way Minecraft has been for over a decade.
In Hytale, for instance, there are fish but no fishing poles (there are traps, however). There are animals but there’s no taming system. There are monsters but no boss fights. There’s a tab for minigames, but none have been added yet. Hytale is a work in progress—you’ll even find physical signs in the world showing the location of features that are planned for the future.
2. Hytale plans to be an RPG as well as a sandbox
Hytale is intended to be an RPG as much as it is a sandbox, though there’s very little of that RPG available at the moment. The adventure campaign, for example, is simply not included in the current build of the game. There are no quests at all: Hytale is just a sandbox at the moment, and it may stay that way for a long while.
If you’re cool with making your own goals and finding your own fun, you’ll be fine. If you’re hoping for a real adventure with structure and quests, you won’t find it, at least not yet.
3. Hytale’s combat has weapon movesets and ults
There are some hints at Hytale’s RPG future when it comes to fighting. There are special combat movesets in Hytale besides just swinging your weapons as fast as you can. Pressing and holding the attack button will charge up a lunge attack with a sword, a ground-pound with a hammer, and a double-slashing move if you’re dual-wielding daggers.
Combat also slowly fills a meter that grants you an ult, which you can use to unleash a powerful, multi-part attack. You also even bash enemies with your shield, if you have one. It’s not a fully developed system yet, but Hytale’s combat already feels different enough from Minecraft to be notable.
4. Hytale’s crafting is more like Valheim than Minecraft
Crafting is much simpler in Hytale than it is in Minecraft: you don’t have to arrange resources in a grid, you just choose the item you want to craft from the menu (either on your person or at a crafting station) and if you’ve got the resources, you can craft it.
But there is a progression system for your crafting stations in Hytale, like the armorer’s bench, the farming bench, and so on. You can upgrade many of your crafting stations to higher tiers using resources, which will grant you access to crafting recipes for higher tier items. Hytale’s crafting feels more aligned with games like Valheim or Terraria than Minecraft.
5. There’s mantling in Hytale
Mantling is another difference: in Hytale, you can jump and grab onto the edge of a block and pull yourself up and onto it. This may not sound like a major difference, but it’s already come in handy for me a dozen times. It’s useful when escaping from enemies, who can climb over single blocks easily but don’t seem to jump up and grab ledges the way we can. It’s also helpful when exploring, if the procedural terrain generation hasn’t given you an easy path to the top of the hill or cliff.
The main benefit I’ve found is that you’ll often encounter procedural caves and pits in the world. And since my method of exploring is to sprint as fast as I can everywhere I go, sometimes I don’t even see those pits until I’m falling into them.
But mantling has saved me. Several times I blundered right off the edge of a block and into an open pit or crevasse, but managed to grab the edge of the block at the far side, hoisting myself up onto it instead of falling into the hole. Parkour!
Or, more accurately: a careless stumble that doesn’t result in a stupid death. Either way, it’s a nice feature, and something I wish Minecraft had.
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