Hytale early access review: strong sandbox, but survival mode doesn't live up to Minecraft

As a Minecraft survival mode veteran, my expectations of Hypixel Studios' Hytale could not be more clearly defined: I wanted this sandbox game to trample over Mojang's withered body and bring me a new-and-improved survival challenge to keep me crafting for days, possibly weeks, to come. Instead, Hypixel Studios unleashed my inner architect — but I'm not mad.

Don't get me wrong; after years of development that came with a heavy dose of drama (something about Riot buying Hytale, then cancelling Hytale, then the devs going indie and rebooting the project), this sandbox adventure made by folks from Minecraft's Hypixel server does manage to check all the boxes on my "visual and physical features" wishlist. That said, it really puts the "early" in "early access."

After I created a silly avatar, selected exploration mode, and walked into my first game of Hytale, the sight of a flowery meadow inhabited by sheep, pigs, horses, wolves, deer, foxes, mice, turkeys, frogs, and horned rabbits instantly satisfied my desire to see an abundance of creatures. Noticing their adorable faces along with the detailed shrubbery around them (you can actually count the petals on Hytale's flowers) was wonderful.

The adrenaline rush that comes with a new survival adventure then drove me into lush autumn forests, vast savannahs, barren deserts, and creepy underground caves full of spiders — from whence I quickly retreated, I might add. Among my favorite discoveries were an exceedingly pretty, lantern-lit forest village (home to the "Kweebecs"), an icy pillar claimed by a pack of polar bears, and a magical underground library.

Hytale features four "main" biomes which encompass several sub-biomes: the "Emerald Wilds" are made up of green plains and various forest types, the "Howling Sands" include just about every kind of "hot and arid" landscape, and the "Whisperfront Frontiers" range from pine forests to mountaintops. I love this biome variety, but what I love even more is their size; you never have to walk very far to find a change of scenery.

Exploration wouldn't have been half as much fun, however, without a proper movement system. Whereas my initial response was "Oh no, absolutely not!" upon noticing a stretch of immense, snow-covered mountains on the horizon (a lingering Minecraft trauma), I was incredibly relieved to discover that Hytale players can climb — up to four blocks high, no less! Similarly, upon my first encounter with a bear, I was delighted to notice my blocking ability and special attack. I don't mean to offend that other sandbox game, but it's nice to feel like you're controlling a person with actual limbs rather than a wooden log.

Once the initial excitement wore off, however, I quickly got tired of Hytale's exploration mode. I shouldn't blame an early access game for its limitations, but neither should I pretend they aren't there. Remember the Kweebec village and that magical library I mentioned? My amazement subsided when I realized I couldn't do anything with them. Hytale villagers, though cute, don't respond to player actions except when you attack them — or their animals. I know this because I tried to offer a carrot to one of the Kweebec villagers' bunnies but accidentally slapped the bunny instead; the village guards instantly lost their cool and forced me to commit mass murder in self-defense. Luckily, everyone had either respawned or forgotten about it the next day.

The Kweebec bunny debacle inspired me to start my own animal farm, but again, I was faced with Hytale's gameplay limitations; you can only capture small animals, but they won't grow, can't be tamed, or don't provide any useful service. A wish to rekindle my interest in Hytale then drove me to the Devastated Lands, the most dangerous zone as of writing, which provided a much-needed change of scenery (gloomy, barren, and occasionally on fire), but to my disappointment, it was nearly empty.

The thing I desire more than anything else in a survival game is an endless string of discoveries, whether they come in the form of biomes, enemies, or crafting recipes. Hytale, in its current state, doesn't provide that. After a few hours of playtime, I'd seen nearly every type of landscape, encountered most creatures, and crafted what currently counts as "endgame" stuff. There was nothing else to do.

But just before I left the game behind, I decided to try Hytale's creative mode. You see, I'm usually not that interested in creative features — I always play a game like Minecraft in survival mode, as I don't care for building fancy things without the constant threat of death-by-zombie to spruce it up. Having ignored Hytale's creative options thus far, the feeling of "Wait… You can do that??" hit quite hard.

Besides an unlimited use of building blocks (I'd expected as much), I found scripted brushes to spawn structures, block spawners, brush filters, an entity grabbing tool, the tools to sculpt terrain into any shape imaginable, even a proper movie camera — and that's not even a comprehensive list. Some tools were tricky to understand, but I thoroughly enjoyed ruining Hytale's beautiful scenery with monstrosities like the one below.

Between working on my upcoming feature film called "Giant Humpback Whale on a Tower of Lava Crystals," it has been great fun to change the default brick colors (pink grass for the win), create huge skyscrapers, spawn a few thousand ducks, and then swap back to exploration mode to face a brand-new kind of survival challenge.

Although Hytale's creative mode also has its limits (you need third-party software like OBS Studio to actually record a movie), experimenting with builds, modifying brushes, and trying to figure out camera setups has kept me occupied for too many hours already. While adventure mode is off to a good start, it is the creative tools that make Hytale worth my time in its current form. Without them, I'd have said "bye-bye" to Hytale by now.

So, while I wait for future updates to arrive, which should include minigames and an adventure mode with RPG elements, let me dress up as an armored armadillo while I craft a flying skeleton dungeon to convince my friends that they should join me in early access Hytale — I'll retry the standard survival experience in a year or two.