With Hytale pre-orders now live after seven long years, players are already planning to de-make it back into Minecraft, and I get it

The release of Hytale, one of the most anticipated sandbox games of the last decade, is officially on the cards. And no matter the state it launches in, modders are already preparing to drop their own tweaked takes on the long-awaited game as soon as we're all able to see what all the fuss was about. That includes essentially de-making the game to turn the Minecraft-like into, well… more of a Minecraft-like. And if early player reception to said announcement is anything to go by, it could be the right call.

With a proper Hytale release now on the cards following its cancellation at Riot and subsequent buyback from some former Hytale developers, players are already looking forward to the mods set to come to this former mod. We've come full circle. One major tweak making it big on Twitter/X is the pixelated resolution resource pack from 'Hatsuya,' which swaps the game's more high-res art for the sort of 16x tilesets more reminiscent of the game that inspired it.

It isn't hard to imagine why it's striking hard in the hearts of would-be Hytale heroes. Despite Hatsuya admittingly preferring "Hytale's style a thousand times over," they're quite literally doing it for the love of the game, going so far as to say, "If making this resource pack will attract more people to experience how good Hytale is and see its full potential, then I'm happy."

Now, had Hytale dropped closer to when it was first announced, the 'HD Minecraft' look would have been a big deal. They certainly were, and that early RTX option certainly convinced me to pick up a GPU I really didn't need at the time.

But with the kids who grew up staring at these pixelated graphics now likely out of compulsory school, they've woken up with the same nostalgia goggles we '90s kids have had for a while now. While we're relishing in games designed around the wobbly visuals of the early 3D era, the Minecraft kiddos just want to feel like Minecraft kiddos again. And I get it.

Still not sure what I'm talking about? For all intents and purposes, you can chalk Hytale up to being a more adventure-focused take on Mojang's literal game-changing survival simulator. Hytale was born in the Minecraft. Molded by it, even. With its legacy carried by endless mods and custom game modes, all of which are old enough now to have nurtured the curious minds of today's younger game developers, one of these becoming a real commercial product isn't too surprising. The entire development timeline, though? Let's just say I'm looking forward to the book.

The story of Hytale taking years longer than planned, before being snapped up by League of Legends publisher Riot Games, only to still not actually release, is a well-documented gaming snafu. The point is that the road to Hytale's release has been so long-winded and convoluted that those who were originally drawn in by the idea of it being Minecraft but modern are now quite happy to see it look more like the game that inspired it.

And though the team has repeatedly said how it's not in the best shape, going so far as to suggest only picking it up if you "believe in the long-term plan to make Hytale a great game," just know that like Minecraft before it, there's already growing proof that Hytale will have the same kind of passionate players working to add their own ideas to the game while the main team work on building the Hytale that was promised nearly a decade ago.

Seven years after the original Hytale announcement trailer dropped, early access is finally set for January 13, 2026, priced at $23.99. If you're ready to see what the fuss was all about, you can pre-purchase the game here. Though the bursting of this hype bubble may have taken account creation down with it.