Upon the release of Hytale, MeinMMO author Johanna took a look at the Minecraft competitor. Her conclusion: Hytale gives her exactly what she has always missed in Minecraft.
To be honest: When I heard that Hytale was finally going to have a release, I was quite skeptical. After all these years and the back and forth with Riot Games, I had mentally prepared myself for a fiasco.
Especially since its reach could also be limited by not being on Steam; but that is not the case, as we are seeing right now.
And another to be honest: Minecraft, which is very similar to Hytale, was never really my game. I never spent excessive hours in the game, just – like many others probably do – the two weeks a year when you play the game with your friends. Otherwise, the game never really grabbed me.
Still, I really wanted to try Hytale. The game showed many things in its trailer that piqued my interest: An avatar that you can customize (I am a simple woman), discovering temples and other interesting buildings plus survival elements.
Here you can get a first impression with the gameplay trailer:
Limitations are more
What does Hytale give me now? Simply put: limitations and a few RPG elements.
Minecraft is essentially a huge sandbox game that gives you the freedom to build whatever you want. That overwhelms me. It requires too much decision-making. I have to bring a lot of my own creativity to fill the world of Minecraft.
That doesn’t feel the same in Hytale. I don’t feel the pressure to be overly creative to create impressive builds because they already exist.
I know what the counterargument is now: “Hytale is also a sandbox game!” And that is true, no question, especially in its current state. But! Hytale gives me limitations in that it sets a style and doesn’t have too many building options (so far, of course).
The game presents a world that is coherent with its details and design. That inspires me to design my own builds in a way that fits into the world.
Furthermore, Hytale already offers many different biomes with many different creatures. Not to mention the monsters.
And another resolved problem that I had in Minecraft: As a solo player, I always felt quite lonely. In Hytale, I also spawn alone, but it didn’t take half an hour before I found other friendly creatures.
In Hytale, patience is required
What’s the downside? One thing that annoys me is that Hytale is still in early access and many aspects of the game are not yet possible. I would just like even more “limitations” or things I can do.
But those are small details and with what Hytale already has to offer, I’m excited about what the future of the game holds. I’m sure: I will spend more time in Hytale than the maximum two weeks a year like in Minecraft.
Have you tried Hytale yet? If so, what do you think of it? Let us know in the comments!
Hytale will likely be the game that takes the top spot on my current gamer list. The launch of Hytale seems to have pleased not only me, as the Minecraft alternative broke all records on its release day: Hytale has 2.8 million players at launch, surpassing even the developers’ warnings, who are pushing the first patch
