Hytale's Modding Scene Is Already Experimenting With Battle Royales And Running Minecraft

The early access for Hytale has been strong, and modders are already producing significant additions. I saw a developer who created a system that introduces Fortnite-style storms into the game. On January 26th, a user named dattadeveloper shared his creation, which adds a customizable, shrinking world border.

He also provided a link to download his WorldBorder mod, which comes with an API and can be used in other projects. The mod is standalone and allows for fully customizable border colors and multiple shapes, along with various options to adjust it. Dattadeveloper has shared video examples of the mod in action, demonstrating its possibilities, and seems ready to collaborate with other modders and event organizers.

This development brings back memories of how battle royale modes, inspired by The Hunger Games, became popular in Minecraft over a decade ago. It feels like Hytale is providing a minimal refresh the subgenre needed. The creator is already experimenting with his own version of a Hunger Games-like mode, which suggests that larger community-driven competitive modes are on the horizon. It will take much more to challenge Minecraft's dominance, but the unfolding developments in 2026 are worth watching. This follows other impressive modding feats, such as one user getting Minecraft to run within Hytale’s world map just last week.

That earlier achievement came from user iamcxv7, or Sadat Sahib, who on January 17th posted that he had gotten Minecraft running in Hytale. The process involved "pure pixel data manipulation" and, as explained on Reddit, used:

"no GPU, no OpenGL calls - just pure CPU-based 3D rendering."

The game runs entirely server-side at 35 frames per second with a resolution of 320x240. While it is an older version of Minecraft, version 0.30, the accomplishment signals a bright future for Hytale's modding scene. It is not a video trick; it is the game running in real-time. Sahib's other projects are equally impressive, including working emulators for the Game Boy and Game Boy Color using the same process. He also reportedly got the entire Windows 95 operating system running without noticeable issues, and within that, he ran Doom. Hytale itself is shaping up to be a major title, emphasizing RPG elements more than similar open-world crafting games. Its success is more notable considering it launched without being on Steam, which is the primary platform for millions of PC gamers.

Read also, a recent social media post gave a look into the dynamic between Minecraft and Hytale. Jens Bergensten, lead designer at Mojang, described Hytale as "very polished" on Bluesky. He added he would "like it to be more different," and that in its current form, he would "just rather play Minecraft."