2026.01.17-4b0f30090

The first major content update for Hytale Early Access introduces new creatures, extensive quality-of-life improvements, and dozens of fixes across all game systems. This update marks the beginning of rapid iteration based on community feedback, with improvements to crafting accessibility, combat balance, world generation, and overall stability.

World & Environment

• ▸Dinosaurs and other NPCs now inhabit underground jungle biomes (requires generating new unexplored areas)
• ▸Devastated Lands sewers feature proper atmospheric effects and creature spawns
• ▸Volcanic regions beneath active volcanoes now display appropriate environmental effects
• ▸Corrected entity placements, textures, and interior layouts in Feran villages
• ▸Removed invisible obstruction behind the bench in the Forgotten Temple

Crafting & Items

• ▸Backpack progression significantly streamlined: base backpack now requires Tier 1 workbench and only 8 Medium Leather (previously Tier 2 and 16 Leather), first upgrade requires Tier 2 workbench (down from Tier 3)
• ▸Processing benches reduce hide-to-leather conversion time by 10 seconds
• ▸Workbenches can now access materials from chests within 14 blocks horizontally and 6 blocks vertically (doubled from previous range)
• ▸Torches and light sources can be placed on the ground from the Utility Slot while wielding pickaxes or hatchets
• ▸Raw produce now consistently grants Health Regen I; cooked versions provide additional benefits
• ▸Corn exchange value adjusted from 4 to 1 Essence of Life to correct progression imbalance
• ▸Mature Cauliflower, Pumpkin, and Eternal Crops no longer drop seeds when broken improperly
• ▸Wood logs now display their material type in tooltips, with crafting recipes showing which trees drop specific wood types
• ▸Woodcutter's Block converted to decorative furniture, removed placeholder development markers

Combat & Balance

• ▸Weapon attacks now require line of sight to register hits
• ▸Standard burn damage reduced across the board (lava burn unchanged)
• ▸Cactus and brambles deal Environmental damage type instead of generic damage
• ▸Fire-themed creatures and NPCs gain immunity to fire damage
• ▸Crystal Earth Golem combat behavior and spin attack improved
• ▸Added knockback resistance to NPCs that previously lacked it
• ▸Skeletons no longer take drowning damage
• ▸Kweebecs immune to cactus and bramble environmental damage
• ▸Cautious predators like foxes will no longer attack unless provoked
• ▸Resolved exploit allowing charged attacks to bypass stamina costs

NPCs & Creatures

• ▸Replaced Trork Shaman placeholder summon animation with proper animation
• ▸Implemented correct loot tables for Kweebecs and Trorks in Whisperfrost Frontiers
• ▸Livestock no longer climb on Chicken Coops
• ▸Fixed signature attack activation without sufficient energy

Character Customization

• ▸New eye options: Cat Eye, Demonic Eyes, Goat Eye, Reptile Eye
• ▸New mouth options: Large Mouth, Tiny Lips
• ▸New hair color: Lavender
• ▸Reworked Bangs hairstyle and brightened Dark Brown hair color
• ▸Featherbound Hood now displays correctly for Supporter edition owners

Audio & Visual

• ▸New hit and break sounds for stone blocks and ore mining with layered effects
• ▸Horses produce running sounds while mounted
• ▸Torch ambient sound softened and loop improved
• ▸Adjusted volume levels for cocoon breaking and animal vocalizations
• ▸Reduced pitch variation on sword swings
• ▸New particle effects for ore breaking, fruit consumption, memory absorption, and health potion usage
• ▸Fixed positioning for rope, plants, flowers, and foliage when held

Quality of Life

• ▸Sleep now available starting at 7:30 PM (90 minutes earlier)
• ▸Information panel explaining the Memories system appears on first Heart of Orbis interaction
• ▸Toggle Fullscreen, Switch HUD, and Take Screenshot can no longer be bound to mouse buttons
• ▸Sprint field of view capped at 160° to prevent extreme visual distortion
• ▸Version warning system alerts players when launching pre-release builds or opening worlds from different versions
• ▸Improved interaction system performance during server lag spikes
• ▸LAN server discovery cancellation now functions correctly

Server & Commands

• ▸Teleport command argument order corrected: /tp <player> <targetPlayer>
• ▸Give command supports item durability specification
• ▸Whitelist and ban commands accept both online usernames and offline UUIDs
• ▸Server networking upgraded to use BBR (Bottleneck Bandwidth and Round-trip time) congestion control for QUIC
• ▸Enhanced authentication and session token error handling

Stability

• ▸Fixed crash when using non-English folder names for screenshots
• ▸Fixed crash when selecting certain hairstyles with variants
• ▸Fixed crash caused by corrupt cached avatar previews
• ▸Fixed crash related to memories plugin loading failures
• ▸Fixed crash when updating player model
• ▸Resolved "waiting for chunks" delays at view distances below 128
• ▸Fixed localization loop affecting Norwegian language users
• ▸Corrected memory restoration reward timing and quantity
• ▸Fixed race condition in instance teleports causing entity removal issues
• ▸Fixed session refresh for singleplayer servers
• ▸Resolved crop growth issues where certain crops like tomatoes would not grow correctly