Latest Major Hytale Update Adds Necromancy, New Cosmetics, and More

After seeming like it might never come to fruition, highly anticipated sandbox RPG Hytale finally launched in Early Access on January 13th. Since then, many gamers have fallen in love with the fantasy game inspired by Minecraft. It has already gotten one major update since launch, and today, Hytale released its second free content patch. And honestly? It’s a good one, especially if you’re forever playing a Necromancer in RPGs.

Despite skipping the popular PC platform Steam, Hytale has amassed quite a large fanbase already. And for those who love spending way too much time on their custom character, the latest update made the game a whole lot better. Hytale Update 2 is now live and downloadable via the game’s launcher. It brings in a ton of new customization options, including new Orc and Vampire mouths, plus updated visuals for 6 hair styles. The second patch also brings in some gameplay balance adjustments, changes to make farming feel cozier, and much, much more.

Hytale Patch Notes for January 24th

In terms of new gameplay, the highlight here is a new tome that lets players raise skeletal minions to aid in battle. You can get the new Necromancy Grimoire as a drop from the large Pratorian Skeleton and start raising your undead army. But there’s plenty more to like in this latest Hytale update. For the full list of what’s new, you can check out the official Hytale patch notes as shared by the team below.

Cosmetics & Customization

• New Avatar customization options have been added for everyone.
• Bandit Mask + Side Knot (Variant)
• Blindfold + Thick (Variant)
• Bandage Blindfold + Thick, Left Eye, Right Eye (Variants)
• Vampire Mouth
• Cute Mouth
• Orc Mouth
• Added white color to fantasy cotton cosmetic colors
• Updated visuals for the following haircuts:
• Single Side Pigtail
• Hair Stick Bun
• Simple Bobcut
• Fighter Buns
• Smart Elven
• Windswept
• Added new armor slot visibility toggles next to equipped armor, accessible directly in the character panel.
• Server hosts can disable/enable this feature to enforce rules for PvP/Immersion purposes.
• Improved animations for capes when the player is running.

Gameplay & Balance

• A new item was added that allows the user to raise skeletal minions from nearby bone piles.
  • Has a chance to drop from the large Praetorian Skeleton.
• Adamantite now requires a Thorium or Cobalt pickaxe to be mined.
• Mining and pickaxe progression has been adjusted.
• Lower tier pickaxes now deal much less damage to higher tier ore blocks.
• Upgrading to a higher quality pickaxe significantly reduces the amount of hits required.
• Buffed Polar Bears.
• More decorative light recipes have been added to the furniture bench.
• The following NPCs will now drop Medium Hide instead of Light Hide:
• Bison
• Boar
• Cow
• Horse
• Warthog
• The Magma Toad has been adjusted.
• Tongue damage has been significantly reduced.
• It now alternates between its Tongue attack and a new ability: Headbutt
• Petals are now craftable in the furniture bench under Textiles category.
• This makes them renewable as Yellow Petals can be farmed from growing Sunflower Seeds.
• All crafting requirements used to make different colored Petals are renewable resources.
• Lighter variants for each Cloth Block can now be crafted using a combination of Petals.

World Generation

• WorldGen V2 has been prepared for public documentation to help modders.
• New Default_Flat & Default_Void templates have been added using World Gen V2.
• The Creative Hub Portal now spawns with World Gen V2 flat worldgen.
• Results in clear weather and limited fog, but only works in new creative worlds.
• Major refactor of ore placement in all zones. – You will need to explore new chunks for old worlds to see this change.
• Results in more ores, especially in Devastated Lands undergrounds.

Farming

• Eternal crops no longer break from accidental weapon damage.
• Increased tilled soil lifetime.
• Now lasts longer between 1.2 to 1.5 days.
• Fixed soil decay under fully grown crops.
• You can now hold torches in your offhand while using the Hoe and Seeds.
• Breaking fully grown Eternal crops will drop their Seeds back.
• Harvested crops can now be placed on the ground when crouching.
• Recipe requirement costs have been adjusted for Hoes.
• Hoes now unlock at different farming bench tiers.
• Copper is now Tier 2 instead of Tier 4.
• Iron is now Tier 4 instead of Tier 8.
• Thorium has been added at Tier 6.

UI / UX

• Improved the editor block tooltip descriptions.
• Tooltips will now display the name of colors when hovering over color options in the Avatar Customization menu.
• Made improvements to the visibility of the hotbar active-slot by increasing contrast and adding a diamond indicator.
• This makes it easier to see the hotbar active-slot, when in brighter environments like the Howling Sands.
• The categories of Memories are now sorted alphabetically when being viewed via “The Heart Of Orbis”.
• Scripted Brush QoL improvements.
• Added missing entries to filters, and removed invalid blocks from filters.
• Fixed various bugs in existing scripted brushes.
• Added decoration and cave brushes.
• Removed redundant scripted brushes.
• Updated the JumpIfBlockType node to use a single offset instead of a list of offsets.
• Inventory interaction updates.
• Better double click handling, you can now click faster.
• Shift + Clicking on armor will now directly equip it if no armor is currently equipped in the respective slot.
• QERT shortcut keybinds have been added for the inventory “quick actions” (put all, pull all, quickstack and sort).
• Shortcuts now display in the tooltip when hovering over “quick action” buttons such as “Sort Items By Type (T)”.
• An “FPS counter overlay” option has been added to the settings menu.
• This can be found under General > User Interface.
• The current FPS will be displayed in the top right corner of the game when this is enabled.
• Made various improvements to player markers.
• Player markers now display on the compass.
• Removed “Player: ” prefix from the player markers on the map.
• Player names will always render on the map.
• Added toggle buttons for map/compass visibility in the maps player list.
• Players at different heights will have a different icon (up/down indicators) in the compass.
• Added Ophidiophobia accessibility mode. 
• This can be found under Gameplay > Accessibility.
• Turns Snake models into Hatworms.

Audio & Visual Effects

• Added all missing basic Rex sounds.
• Updated the bones item drag/drop inventory sound.
• Fixed a bug in a Howling Sands cave track.
• Updated all food particle tints.

Bug Fixes, Tech & Stability

• Introduced a server auto-update system, including configuration options and new commands for update management.
• Added a new UpdateModule core plugin and integrated it into the server boot process, allowing the server to check for and apply updates, notify players, and handle staged updates.
• Introduced UpdateConfig in HytaleServerConfig with fields for enabling updates, check intervals, notification preferences, patchline selection, backup options, and auto-apply modes. Includes serialization support and getter/setter methods.
• Added a new shutdown reason ShutdownReason.UPDATE to indicate when the server should restart to apply a staged update.
• Added new /update commands and detailed server messages for checking, downloading, applying, and managing updates, including player notifications and auto-apply warnings.
• Updated the release workflow to include launcher scripts (start.sh, start.bat).
• Made improvements to rendering shadows to fix various issues.
• Fixed middle click “pick block” when the hotbar is full in creative mode.
• Now when middle clicking a block in creative mode when the inventory is full, it will replace the current slot with the newly picked item.
• The Asset Editor will now display documentation in tooltips.
• Fixed issues with Mantling detection which resulted in many unintended behaviours.
• Implemented a fix to persist cleared keybinds across sessions.
• Made some adjustments to improve weather transitions to reduce jarring visuals.
• More improvements will be made in future updates.
• Fixed an issue when using teleporters to avoid accidental collisions by applying an offset.
• Rail carts now consume correctly and place properly.
• Bed respawning in unloaded chunks has been fixed.
• Fixes an issue where the collision checks always failed if there were no loaded chunks.
• Major server stability, validation, ECS, localization and timeout improvements.
• Refilling containers now targets the closest block of water rather than requiring you to aim at a block behind/under water.
• Fixed some types of items displaying oversized placement previews.
• Fixed an issue with the Berserker haircut texture tiling.
• Fixed glasses textures from inheriting the cosmetic colour on their lens highlights.
• Added permissions for world map teleporting.
• Prevents players from sending packets to the server and teleporting anywhere they want without Op.
• Emerald Wilds dungeon and other environments have been fixed. – You might hear new soundtracks!
• Fixed sending player marker updates while map isn’t open.
• Fixed player markers flickering when hovered on the map.
• Other players names are more readable when zoomed in on the map.

Are you playing Hytale yet, or waiting for a few more updates before you check it out? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!

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