As Hytale enters the sandbox game arena, Minecraft and Mojang’s Chief Creative Officer Jens Bergensten has taken a look. What does he think of the game in its early access state? The verdict: “very polished” and worth keeping an eye on, but also a bit familiar.
In a Bluesky post responding to a netizen’s query about his thoughts on Hytale, the creative director, who had previously expressed interest in trying the game, admitted: “I wish it was a bit more different from Minecraft. It’s extremely polished, but the experience while playing makes me want to just play Minecraft instead. However, it’s still early days, I know modding is going to be a big part of it, and I will definitely spend more time with it in the future.”
This assessment seems quite fair, as even Hypixel Studios leader Simon Collins-Laflamme — who helped salvage the game after Riot Games (which had acquired the title from him years prior) canceled its project — has repeatedly and publicly emphasized that Hytale is still rough and unfinished.
In a lengthy post analyzing the similarities and differences between Hytale and Minecraft, Collins-Laflamme acknowledged that Bergensten’s comments were very objective.
“Jens saying Hytale feels very polished is probably the highest compliment we could receive,” Collins-Laflamme said. “He’s someone I respect deeply, and I know he rarely comments publicly on other games, so I truly value this feedback.”
Collins-Laflamme pointed out that many people don’t fully grasp the complex design system of Minecraft — the pioneering sandbox game, now so familiar, has evolved over many years into an ecosystem of features and systems that work in synergy. Hytale, obviously, hasn’t had enough time to achieve the same level of development; it’s a miracle it exists at all after multiple internal restarts.
“I’m very critical of our own game — I agree with a lot of the negative feedback and I’m constantly taking notes,” Collins-Laflamme continued. “For months, I’ve been saying Hytale still has a long way to go, and I still hold that view today. It’s what drives me to work hard every day. It’s great to hear Jens say he’ll come back to experience it later, and I hope by then he’ll feel the true vision we have for Hytale.”
Regarding the feedback about “wanting to just play Minecraft instead,” Collins-Laflamme admitted: “It’s natural for him to feel that way at this stage; we haven’t had the time to add all the distinctive features yet. The current early-game experience is still quite basic compared to upcoming content like World Gen V2.” The expanded world generation system, in particular, will be a major leap for the game, greatly increasing the potential for varied encounters and environments.
He listed a large amount of planned content not yet implemented, including instanced dungeons, boss battles, quest lines, and narrative storytelling. The future of Hytale will be even more distinct from Minecraft — “it will be a new experience focusing more on combat adventure, exploration, and fantasy elements, which is exactly why we are developing and playing Hytale in the first place.”
Another user focused on the core experience, hoping Hytale “will maintain its sandbox nature and not make players feel ‘forced’ to experience all the subsequent added content.” In his response, Collins-Laflamme stated: “Exactly, it’s a tough challenge, but we have a plan.”
“We’re not trying to compete with Minecraft or replace it; we just want to create a work that resonates,” Collins-Laflamme emphasized in his main post. He further clarified: “In the coming years, as we expand our development of modding tools and fantasy world-building, everyone will see a significant divergence between Minecraft and Hytale.”
