The sandbox role-playing game Hytale, whose optics and gameplay were heavily inspired by Minecraft, was actually already considered “almost finished”. After more than half a year of radio silence, the developers have now reported again with a large update blog entry – and surprisingly the one planned for 2021 Release postponed by at least two years.
Hytale release is postponed to at least 2023
Release in 2023 at the earliest: According to the developers, Hytale should not appear before 2023 at the earliest, possibly even later – because they have realized that they still have a few years of work ahead of them.
That is why Hytale is shifting: The development studio Hypixel was bought by the League of Legends and Valorant makers Riot Games in 2020. The additional resources made available by the takeover are now the reason for the postponement:
“The first half of 2021 was a time of significant change for both Hytale and Hypixel Studios. We continued to recruit new team members whose talents and unique perspectives have enhanced our vision of what Hytale can be.”
As the Hytale team writes in the blog entry, it should be worth the wait:
“Our capabilities as a studio have improved significantly and the scope of what we can do has expanded. Put simply, we’re better at making games than we were before, but taking full advantage of that takes time.”
In case this is your first time hearing from Hytale: You can get a good impression of the Minecraft competitor in our preview video.
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Hytale – Preview video: What does Minecraft 2.0 have to offer?
What new features can you expect?
Crossplay: As one of the biggest time wasters, the studio cites the fact that Hytale is now being co-developed not only for the PC, but also for consoles and smartphones. In order for as many players as possible to play together in the future, one would have had to go back a few steps in the development. So you want to avoid that different versions separate the players – as is the case with Minecraft with the Java and Bedrock versions.
Advanced character creation: Players should be able to generously customize their avatar for the release and combine basic components such as faces, eyes and hair. There are also fantasy elements such as horns, tusks and elf ears – nothing special so far. But the layering system is interesting: For particularly unusual looks, further optical adjustments can be layered here, such as equipment.
New combat system: Your fighting style changes depending on which weapon you have just equipped. Attacks with swords can be charged so that you can use them to carry out vortex attacks. Maces, on the other hand, are very slow and need good timing, but cause massive damage.
All of this should also help to give the NPCs more personality:
“The system allows certain creatures to express their personality through the way they fight. NPCs evaluate various conditions – including the number and behavior of opponents – to control their next action. These range from the target and timing of their basic attacks towards carrying out certain actions, such as changing weapons, using a special attack or fleeing. “
