How "Hytale" became the great "Minecraft" alternative after eleven turbulent years

Philipp Rüegg

23.1.2026

Translation: machine translated

Less than a year ago, the story of "Hytale" seemed to have come to an end. Now, against all odds, the "Minecraft" alternative has been released in Early Access and is already a huge success.

«Minecraft» and «Roblox» should dress warmly. «Hytale» is a new sandbox survival game in which you fight monsters, collect resources and play as a master builder in a world of blocks. On its release day a week ago, it attracted over 440,000 viewers on Twitch - more than any other game. A remarkable achievement, especially as the game was discontinued in June 2025 and the studio behind it was closed.

From modders to millionaires

The beginnings of «Hytale» date back to 2015. A group of Canadian «Minecraft» modders began working on their own title and founded the Hypixel studio in 2018. The name comes from their «Minecraft» server, which was the most popular in the world for a long time. Last year, it was replaced by Donutsmp. The «Hytale» hype was gigantic. The first trailer has over 60 million views.

This also caught the eye of Riot Games, the makers of «League of Legends». In 2020, Riot bought the studio Hypixel and made the founders millionaires.

Five years later, the fairy tale seemed to be over. The CEO at the time, Aaron Donaghey, explained that the ambitious vision could not be realised after internal reboots and that he was not prepared to reduce the scope of the game. A surprising turnaround followed in autumn:Hypixel co-founder Simon Collins-Laflamme announced that «Hytale» had been bought back by Riot and that the game and the studio would continue to exist. 30 developers were immediately rehired and just six months later they are celebrating the Early Access launch.

«Minecraft» plus role-playing game and «Roblox» minus gambling

«Hytale» is currently in an early Early Access stage, according to its own statements. The game is currently only available via the Hypixel website and is not (yet) available on Steam. The studio would first like to test the game with the existing Community and gather feedback. The FAQ states that the studio is not dependent on Steam, but does not rule out the possibility of being present there at a later date. Some modding functions are currently not supported by Steam. However, Valve will be contacted.

Currently, there is a choice of explorer and creative modes. A real campaign and the popular mini-games for which the Hypixel server was known will follow later. Eager modders have already added these, however.

The ability to create new content and your own games also makes «Hytale» a serious «Roblox» alternative. And unlike there, there have been no abuse scandals and the CEO does not promote gambling for children.

Visually and in terms of gameplay, «Hytale» is clearly orientated towards «Minecraft». The procedurally generated world consists of different regions with swamps, forests and caves. There are numerous animals and monsters to hunt and NPCs to interact with. Hypixel describes «Hytale» as a role-playing game. This should only really come into its own with the campaign. The combat system is already more complex than that of «Minecraft» and offers various weapon attacks as well as an ultimate attack.

«Hytale» also offers more freedom of movement. So you can pull yourself up on ledges. There are also significant differences in crafting. You don't arrange resources in a grid, but simply click on the recipe you want to craft. Here, «Hytale» is more reminiscent of «Valheim».

The active modder community is already a clear sign of the game's potential. The most absurd example at the moment is the cross-play version of «Hytale» and «Minecraft» developed by Sadat Sahib. If there's no black magic involved ...

Philipp Rüegg

Senior Editor

Philipp.Rueegg@digitecgalaxus.ch

As a child, I wasn't allowed to have any consoles. It was only with the arrival of the family's 486 PC that the magical world of gaming opened up to me. Today, I'm overcompensating accordingly. Only a lack of time and money prevents me from trying out every game there is and decorating my shelf with rare retro consoles. more

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