I've briefly checked in on a few instances of people I watch streaming this game, and it reminds me of nothing so much as the XKCD strip about Google+.

"You should play Hytale!"

"What is it?"

"Not Minecraft!"

"What's it like?"

"Minecraft!"

"Oh, what the hell. I guess that's all I really wanted."

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

The thing is that not only did Vintage Story already exist, but there's all sorts of free mods over at Curseforge that offer the same experience alone or as part of a mod pack. This sort of feels like when Palworld dropped and people were like "It's Pokemon...but not."

It does make sense. The devs were originally minecraft modders that hit the limits of what that game was capable of being twisted into.

Matrix Dragon, J. Random Nutter

LAST EDITED ON Jan-18-26 AT 04:38 AM (EST)
 
Yeah, Hytale is really kinda just....more combat-focused Minecraft, which is also more moddable. And has a much higher baseline of performance.

It's Minecraft 2: Minecrafier, essentially. Which, frankly....that's what a lot of people wanted.

(And also doesn't give money to Microsoft, which is either a bonus or the main reason to get it, depending on how much you dislike them.)