"We inherited a true hardcore engineering and design challenge": Hytale co-director "genuinely" means it when he says the sandbox RPG is "not good enough" right now

Now that Hytale is back in development under its original studio, a considerable amount of work is underway on the blocky RPG. There's a lot to tweak and fix, to the point that right now, the game just isn't up to snuff, at least according to co-creator and co-director Simon 'Hypixel' Collins-Laflamme.

"When I say Hytale is not good enough, I genuinely mean it. It's not some reverse psychology trick!" he writes on Twitter. "There are barely any game progression mechanics configured, and we have to implement them all in record time to make it somewhat enjoyable."

Right now, he says, the team is working to "Frankenstein together" hundreds of different strands of prototypes built over the course of four years. The devs are truly working against the tide because none of it was designed to be put together like this.

"Of course, I'm confident it's going to be 'OK' for release," he adds. "However, this is the current situation we are dealing with, on top of all the bug fixes, refactors, clean-ups and other ongoing issues that we are facing. We inherited a true hardcore engineering and design challenge, and we are on the clock to deliver early access."

This all stems from Hytale's calamitous journey thus far. Starting out as a project under Hypixel, Riot Games provided funding, before purchasing the team in 2020. Then, in June 2025, Riot closed Hypixel, and Collins-Laflamme was able to purchase the project in the aftermath.

Such turmoil leaves years of work across many hands to clean up for a finished product. The plan, as it stands, is to have some form of beta going sooner rather than later, then use feedback as a barometer for where to focus efforts. This will have consequences, but Collins-Laflamme is hopeful it’s the right call for the long-term.

"Some people will be permanently convinced the game is doomed to remain in this state, unaware that this is an authentic early access experience," he says. "I hope that people who share the game will explain the situation we are in and how we got here."

Hytale is priced so "aggressively low" that its returning owner is "taking on a considerable personal risk," but "charging more didn't feel right" because "I don't think the game is good yet."