Hytale, the seemingly doomed sandbox RPG has a release date at last, after the project was reacquired by one of its original co-founders. It will be launching into Early Access on the 13th January, 2026.
This news was posted on social media via the official Hytale account earlier today, alongside a disclaimer for those eager to hop in and try it out next year. Prepurchasing opens up on the 13th December, though the team has actually urged fans to pre-order the game with caution.
The reason? Rather than an Early Access release where all is polished and feature complete, Hytale instead seems to be launching with a ways to go.
The Hytale social media account states: “If you don’t feel comfortable pre-ordering, please don’t. This is true early access, meaning it’s still very much unfinished and will be buggy for a while, but you have the team’s commitment to make Hytale the game we’ve always wanted it to be. More details are coming soon. Thank you, everyone, for your support. Hytale has been through a long journey, and soon, we will be home.”
Such transparency is both laudable and understandable, especially given the surge of community support for Hytale in recent months. The game hit rocky waters earlier this year when its former publisher Riot Games pulled the plug on what was proving to be troubled development for the game.
Following this, the game was saved by the aforementioned co-founder Simon Collins-Laflamme after negotiations with Riot Games. The result: a game that has been in development since 2015 is finally going to be playable, which is wonderful news.