With Hytale's Launch Comes The Arrival Of A New Herobrine Myth

With the release of, the community has wasted no time in establishing its own folklore, directly inspired by one of gaming’s most persistent legends. Players have begun circulating images of a new mysterious figure, a spiritual successor to Minecraft's Herobrine. This new entity, appropriately nicknamed ‘Hyrobrine,’ has appeared in a recreation of the very screenshot that started the original myth.

The new image, posted by user @FrMinecraft on X, meticulously reconstructs the classic scene. A strange player figure with no nametag and eerie white eyes is seen standing ominously in the distance. Every detail, from the shape of the hill and the placement of the trees to a nearby chicken, has been copied to mirror the original haunting image.

The first Herobrine story appeared on 4chan's/v/ board 16 years ago. It began with a single, hazy screenshot showing a figure with blank white eyes standing in the fog. The poster claimed it was the ghost of developer Notch's fictional deceased brother, forever haunting the game's single-player worlds. From that one image, a full-blown mythos was born. Players created an entire backstory for the white-eyed character.

The image's recreation is a near-perfect match; thanks to The Gamer for the comparison visualiser, the 1:1 similarity is made clear.

The legend gained viral momentum after a streamer named Copeland staged an encounter where Herobrine was seen just before the player fell into a pit of lava. This catapulted the urban legend into playgrounds, sparking widespread rumors about complex rituals that could summon the phantom into a player's world. Developer Mojang leaned into the community-driven horror story, cheekily including the line "Removed Herobrine" in numerous update patch notes. For younger players, especially, the joke only served to make the game’s low render distance and foggy landscapes feel more menacing.

Now, the community is building a new legend for a new game. Players have taken to calling this new iteration Hyrobrine, playfully suggesting it is the brother of lead developer Simon Hypixel, echoing the original Notch story. The recreation of the original Herobrine image is remarkably faithful. It shows how deeply the Minecraft legacy is embedded in this new community.

The modern internet makes it difficult to replicate the slow-burn mystery that made the original so compelling, so the new myth does not carry the same chilling allure. The effect is less about genuine fear and more about an endearing homage to a shared history. It is a way for players to carry a piece of their gaming past into a new world. It shows how player-driven stories and community-created legends give sandbox games a life of their own, and perhaps this new version will find its way into the stories of a new generation of players.

Read also, Hytale's early access launch was met with a significant and immediate response. The game quickly rose to the top of Twitch, gathering over 420,000 viewers across thousands of streams. This reaction demonstrates the long-building anticipation for a title first announced in 2018, whose original reveal trailer has since surpassed 62 million views.