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arisoturaAs I mentioned in the previous post, I've been playing Hytale a lot lately, so I figured I'd make a bit of a review post about it.
I learnt about Hytale from Mongster's video. Mongster makes videos about Minecraft Alpha and Vintage Story, which are always nice to watch, but he also gave Hytale a try in this video...
I immediately liked the visual style and general vibe of this game, so I wanted to give it a try. Haven't been disappointed so far.
I knew nothing about Hytale and its complicated history before getting in. From what I've gathered, this game has been in development for several years, has been acquired by Riot Games, ported to a different engine, and eventually cancelled... and uncancelled. The original author recognized that many people were interested in Hytale, and basically bought it back from Riot Games. This meant starting back from the old engine, so several years of development were lost in the process. The game has been released as an "early access" version, so knowing all this, one can't be too demanding.
So what is Hytale about? As I mentioned in my previous post, it's a Minecraft-esque block-based sandbox game, albeit with a RPG aspect. There are three game modes planned: Adventure, Exploration and Creative. Seeing as Adventure mode isn't available yet, I've been playing Exploration mode, which is akin to Minecraft's survival mode.
At first, I went in blind, wanting to discover the game on my own. But recently I started watching Hytale videos too. It's interesting to see how others engage with the game and what they do. I also want to give multiplayer a try, if I can find interested fellows.
It seems typical for Minecraft players to want to start by punching a tree. I did it too, heh. It is technically possible to do that in Hytale, but it's not the intended way to get started. You craft your first tools by gathering sticks, stones and plant fibers. It's reminiscent of Vintage Story, or similarly themed Minecraft mods. However, Hytale isn't focused on realistic survival.
What's nice is that you get started in a sort of spawn structure, which can act as a safe place until you've got a house going.
Some players set up shop in one of the various structures you can find, restoring it into a proper home. I like the idea, it's nifty, and certainly works as long as you can stop hostile mobs from spawning in your new home.
I instead opted to build from scratch, so I could experiment with the various options.
Not the best build ever, but certainly a good start. The layout is very... organic, to say the least. I started with a 6x6 main room and a smaller room to the side, intended to be a workshop. I thought of a second floor for the bedroom, but forgot to plan for the stair to get there, so I ended up grafting it onto the structure. It starts from the back of the main room and runs over the workshop. I quite like this architectural, er, style.
I also underestimated how much space I would need. Turns out Hytale's workbenches are pretty big, and there's a bunch of them. I also ended up digging out a basement for storage.
The bedroom. I haven't really figured out what to use as bedside tables yet, so for now, marble blocks it is.
The kitchen. This was a later addition to the building. It also showcases the Chef's Stove, which is the workbench dedicated to food items. Next to it is a campfire, which serves to cook simple food items.
There is no hunger in Hytale, so food functions a bit like in old Minecraft: it heals you up. Eating food replenishes a bit of health immediately and slowly replenishes some more over time, which is interesting. The Chef's Stove lets you cook superior food items, which replenish more health.
In my experience, Hytale hasn't been hard to figure out, despite the complexity. The organization of all the craftable blocks and items into different workbenches works decently well. The crafting system is pretty straightforward, and the workbenches can also pull items from nearby chests, which is nice - you don't need to load up everything in your inventory first.
That being said, I haven't yet explored every aspect of the game. I think it also helps that I have prior experience with Minecraft, so I don't know how it would go for someone who's entirely new to the genre.
I'm a big fan of Hytale's visual aspect. The scenery is pretty colorful, the designs for the players and animals are cute. I realize it's not for everybody, but I like vibrant colors. I think it goes well with the game's fantasy vibe.
Unlike what some people say, I don't think "colorful and cute" should be "for kids". I'd have a lot to say about this, but it'd be for another post.
You also have plenty of customization options for your player avatar, which is pretty cool. It's neat to see what people make with it. Apparently, you can make custom skins as well, like in Minecraft... The developers even added armor visibility settings, so you can wear armor without it hiding your cool skin.
Another aspect I like is... how to put it? The movement mechanics. Compared to Minecraft, it's easier to get around and explore. For example, you jump two blocks high, as opposed to one in Minecraft. You can even make 3-block jumps by grabbing ledges. In a similar vein, you're also less prone to fall damage. I haven't measured this precisely, but it feels easier to take fall damage in Minecraft.
(EDIT- I did actually measure it, and it turns out you can fall from up to 7 blocks before taking damage, as opposed to 3 blocks in Minecraft. I didn't expect this much of a difference.)
Combat mechanics have also been interesting to figure out. As you go, you find that stronger mobs have more elaborate combat patterns, with offensive and defensive moves. You also get various weapons, which have different characteristics in terms of damage per hit, attack speed, and defense capability. For example, a mace may be a good weapon against a slow golem, but doesn't work as well against a more mobile enemy. All in all, pretty fun stuff.
Makes me think of how I haven't done a whole lot of animal hunting in this game. In my experience, drops from hostile mobs and loot items have proven sufficient to cover my needs in food and leather. It's also possible to capture small animals, but I haven't tried that yet. It isn't yet possible to breed animals, either. Farming is possible, however, and there's some depth to it.
I also have things to say about world generation.
The various biomes I've seen so far are pretty nice. The transitions between different biomes are quite abrupt. The biomes themselves feel small. I don't know if I would consider this a bad thing - there has to be a balance between how large and immersive the areas feel, and how easy or hard it is to get to specific areas. There are options for faster travel, though.
The various structures you can find are also pretty interesting, with many different areas and stuff to find (and enemies to fight, heh). It feels like there's a lot to see.
There are oddities with the world generation, though. For example, I've seen instances of caves intersecting dungeons and causing various oddities. There are also some structures where log blocks break as soon as you touch anything near them, which is probably caused by them being wrongly treated as part of a tree.
I'm not going to go too deep into this, though. The developers have said that world generation is going to be completely redone, so hopefully the new generation addresses those issues. Either way, we'll see what it's like.
All in all, Hytale has been a pretty cool experience so far. It does feel pretty polished for an early release.
At the same time, I feel that there isn't much to it in terms of things to do, beyond getting better tools and weapons.
There is the Forgotten Temple - you collect memories of the various mobs you encounter, and return them to the Heart of Orbis. Doing so unlocks various things, and presumably completing this quest achieves something great, I don't know yet.
This kind of stuff leaves me itching for more.
That's on par with what I'd expect from an "early access" release, though. I believe they've got a pretty good foundation with Hytale, and if taken in the right direction, they can make something great out of it.
I learnt about Hytale from Mongster's video. Mongster makes videos about Minecraft Alpha and Vintage Story, which are always nice to watch, but he also gave Hytale a try in this video...
I immediately liked the visual style and general vibe of this game, so I wanted to give it a try. Haven't been disappointed so far.
I knew nothing about Hytale and its complicated history before getting in. From what I've gathered, this game has been in development for several years, has been acquired by Riot Games, ported to a different engine, and eventually cancelled... and uncancelled. The original author recognized that many people were interested in Hytale, and basically bought it back from Riot Games. This meant starting back from the old engine, so several years of development were lost in the process. The game has been released as an "early access" version, so knowing all this, one can't be too demanding.
So what is Hytale about? As I mentioned in my previous post, it's a Minecraft-esque block-based sandbox game, albeit with a RPG aspect. There are three game modes planned: Adventure, Exploration and Creative. Seeing as Adventure mode isn't available yet, I've been playing Exploration mode, which is akin to Minecraft's survival mode.
At first, I went in blind, wanting to discover the game on my own. But recently I started watching Hytale videos too. It's interesting to see how others engage with the game and what they do. I also want to give multiplayer a try, if I can find interested fellows.
It seems typical for Minecraft players to want to start by punching a tree. I did it too, heh. It is technically possible to do that in Hytale, but it's not the intended way to get started. You craft your first tools by gathering sticks, stones and plant fibers. It's reminiscent of Vintage Story, or similarly themed Minecraft mods. However, Hytale isn't focused on realistic survival.
What's nice is that you get started in a sort of spawn structure, which can act as a safe place until you've got a house going.
Some players set up shop in one of the various structures you can find, restoring it into a proper home. I like the idea, it's nifty, and certainly works as long as you can stop hostile mobs from spawning in your new home.
I instead opted to build from scratch, so I could experiment with the various options.
Not the best build ever, but certainly a good start. The layout is very... organic, to say the least. I started with a 6x6 main room and a smaller room to the side, intended to be a workshop. I thought of a second floor for the bedroom, but forgot to plan for the stair to get there, so I ended up grafting it onto the structure. It starts from the back of the main room and runs over the workshop. I quite like this architectural, er, style.
I also underestimated how much space I would need. Turns out Hytale's workbenches are pretty big, and there's a bunch of them. I also ended up digging out a basement for storage.
The bedroom. I haven't really figured out what to use as bedside tables yet, so for now, marble blocks it is.
The kitchen. This was a later addition to the building. It also showcases the Chef's Stove, which is the workbench dedicated to food items. Next to it is a campfire, which serves to cook simple food items.
There is no hunger in Hytale, so food functions a bit like in old Minecraft: it heals you up. Eating food replenishes a bit of health immediately and slowly replenishes some more over time, which is interesting. The Chef's Stove lets you cook superior food items, which replenish more health.
In my experience, Hytale hasn't been hard to figure out, despite the complexity. The organization of all the craftable blocks and items into different workbenches works decently well. The crafting system is pretty straightforward, and the workbenches can also pull items from nearby chests, which is nice - you don't need to load up everything in your inventory first.
That being said, I haven't yet explored every aspect of the game. I think it also helps that I have prior experience with Minecraft, so I don't know how it would go for someone who's entirely new to the genre.
I'm a big fan of Hytale's visual aspect. The scenery is pretty colorful, the designs for the players and animals are cute. I realize it's not for everybody, but I like vibrant colors. I think it goes well with the game's fantasy vibe.
Unlike what some people say, I don't think "colorful and cute" should be "for kids". I'd have a lot to say about this, but it'd be for another post.
You also have plenty of customization options for your player avatar, which is pretty cool. It's neat to see what people make with it. Apparently, you can make custom skins as well, like in Minecraft... The developers even added armor visibility settings, so you can wear armor without it hiding your cool skin.
Another aspect I like is... how to put it? The movement mechanics. Compared to Minecraft, it's easier to get around and explore. For example, you jump two blocks high, as opposed to one in Minecraft. You can even make 3-block jumps by grabbing ledges. In a similar vein, you're also less prone to fall damage. I haven't measured this precisely, but it feels easier to take fall damage in Minecraft.
(EDIT- I did actually measure it, and it turns out you can fall from up to 7 blocks before taking damage, as opposed to 3 blocks in Minecraft. I didn't expect this much of a difference.)
Combat mechanics have also been interesting to figure out. As you go, you find that stronger mobs have more elaborate combat patterns, with offensive and defensive moves. You also get various weapons, which have different characteristics in terms of damage per hit, attack speed, and defense capability. For example, a mace may be a good weapon against a slow golem, but doesn't work as well against a more mobile enemy. All in all, pretty fun stuff.
Makes me think of how I haven't done a whole lot of animal hunting in this game. In my experience, drops from hostile mobs and loot items have proven sufficient to cover my needs in food and leather. It's also possible to capture small animals, but I haven't tried that yet. It isn't yet possible to breed animals, either. Farming is possible, however, and there's some depth to it.
I also have things to say about world generation.
The various biomes I've seen so far are pretty nice. The transitions between different biomes are quite abrupt. The biomes themselves feel small. I don't know if I would consider this a bad thing - there has to be a balance between how large and immersive the areas feel, and how easy or hard it is to get to specific areas. There are options for faster travel, though.
The various structures you can find are also pretty interesting, with many different areas and stuff to find (and enemies to fight, heh). It feels like there's a lot to see.
There are oddities with the world generation, though. For example, I've seen instances of caves intersecting dungeons and causing various oddities. There are also some structures where log blocks break as soon as you touch anything near them, which is probably caused by them being wrongly treated as part of a tree.
I'm not going to go too deep into this, though. The developers have said that world generation is going to be completely redone, so hopefully the new generation addresses those issues. Either way, we'll see what it's like.
All in all, Hytale has been a pretty cool experience so far. It does feel pretty polished for an early release.
At the same time, I feel that there isn't much to it in terms of things to do, beyond getting better tools and weapons.
There is the Forgotten Temple - you collect memories of the various mobs you encounter, and return them to the Heart of Orbis. Doing so unlocks various things, and presumably completing this quest achieves something great, I don't know yet.
This kind of stuff leaves me itching for more.
That's on par with what I'd expect from an "early access" release, though. I believe they've got a pretty good foundation with Hytale, and if taken in the right direction, they can make something great out of it.
