Hytale Beginner Guide – Getting Started

The general progression in Hytale follows a straightforward path: Gather basic resources, Craft crude tools, build a shelter, place a Workbench, make a Bed, visit the Forgotten Temple, then Mine and upgrade your gear. Following this progression will set you up for success and help you avoid missing any critical early-game milestones.

First Steps After Spawning

When you first spawn into Hytale, you will find yourself in the Emerald Grove, the mostly peaceful starting zone of Orbis.

Before rushing off to explore too far, take a moment to gather essential resources in the immediate area, such as wood from Trees, Plant Fibers, Stones, and other useful resources to build your first base and gear set. You will also notice a candle near your spawn point, which you should pick up immediately for use as a light source.

Quick notes

Press M to open your map and note the location of the Forgotten Temple Gateway, which appears as a distinct marker nearby. Press F7 to display your coordinates in the upper left corner, which helps you remember important locations. Your inventory can be accessed by pressing Tab, where you will find crafting options available from the start.

Gathering Basic Resources

The first materials you need are Stone Rubble, Sticks, and Plant Fiber. Stone Rubble can be found scattered on the ground as small rock piles. Walk up to them, then press F to interact with and collect them.

Sticks and Plant Fiber are obtained by breaking bushes with your bare hands. Simply walk up to any bush and attack it to receive both resources. Rivers are also excellent sources of Sticks and Stone Rubble if you cannot find enough nearby.

Once you’ve crafted your Pickaxe, Gravel blocks also drop Stone Rubble, though at this stage, you can use loose rubble found on the floor.

Crafting Your First Tools

Unlike other particular sandbox games, Hytale does not use a crafting grid. Simply open your inventory with Tab and look at the top section to see available recipes. If you have the required materials, you can craft the item instantly.

Your first priority should be crafting a Crude Hatchet, Crude Pickaxe, and Crude Sword. Each requires Stone Rubble, Sticks, and Plant Fiber. You’ll need 6x Rubble, 6x Sticks, and 6x Plant Fibers.

The Hatchet speeds up tree harvesting significantly, the Pickaxe lets you mine stone and ore, and the Sword provides essential combat capability.

Building Your First Base

Establishing a base early is essential for survival in Hytale. Enemies can be dangerous, especially at night, so having a safe place to retreat is important. Choose a location relatively close to the Forgotten Temple Gateway for convenience.

Build your walls at least three blocks high to prevent enemies from entering. While mobs can climb two blocks, they cannot scale a three-block wall. You can hold the Space Bar to climb up to four blocks yourself, making it easy to get in and out of your base.

Chop down a tree to gather enough resources to build a small house, as a singular tree can award up to 200x Wood Logs. When chopping trees, you only need to break the bottom blocks to make the entire tree fall. The entire tree will fall, dropping Logs, Sticks, Saplings, and Plant Fiber all at once. Mine the Starting Spawn Cave with your Crude Pickaxe to gather Stone.

Once you have basic walls, place a Workbench inside. The Workbench is crafted from your inventory using basic materials and unlocks access to better tools, weapons, and additional crafting stations. You should also craft a Builder’s Workbench to create refined building blocks such as planks, beams, doors, and windows.

Crafting a Bed

A Bed is one of the most important items to craft early. It sets your respawn point, so if you die, you will return to your base instead of the world spawn. Beds also allow you to sleep through the night and skip to daytime.

To craft a Crude Bed Roll, you need Light Hide and Plant Fiber. Light Hide is obtained by killing small animals, such as Boars. Once crafted, place the Bed inside your base and interact with it to set your respawn point.

At this stage, Bears could be considered difficult to defeat, foxes could cause issues but would reward the same loot as killing non-hostile creatures, and so we’d recommend looking for those.

Note that you cannot sleep at any time. You must wait until nighttime before the sleep option becomes available. The in-game day-night cycle lasts approximately 20 minutes, which is twice as long as similar games.

Food and Healing

Hytale does not have a hunger system. Instead, food provides healing and temporary buffs that help you survive combat and exploration. Different foods provide different effects, so carrying a variety is recommended.

Wild Berries are the most common food source and can be found growing on bushes throughout the Emerald Grove. Eating Wild Berries restores 5% of your health instantly and grants Health Regen 1 and Stamina Boost 1 for 45 seconds. To eat food, hold it in your hand and hold the right-click button

Cooked Wild Meat provides much better healing and buffs. Kill animals like Cows or Boars to obtain Raw Beef, then cook it at a Campfire. Cooked Wild Meat restores 10% health and grants Health Regen 2 and Health Boost 2 for 2 minutes and 30 seconds. Grilled Fish provides similar benefits.

To cook food, craft a Campfire and place it down. Interact with it by pressing F, Add Logs or other fuel to the fuel slot, place your raw food in the input slot, and turn it on.

The Campfire also produces Charcoal as a byproduct, which can be used as fuel. Meat-based foods are best for combat situations, while vegetable-based foods provide Stamina boosts for travel.

The Forgotten Temple and Memory System

One of the most important early objectives is visiting the Forgotten Temple and unlocking the Memory System. The Forgotten Temple Gateway is marked on your map near your spawn location. Head there as soon as you have basic tools and a weapon.

At the gateway entrance, you will encounter a Golem guardian. This enemy is slow and can be easily avoided by running past it or kited with ranged attacks. Once past the guardian, enter the portal to reach the Forgotten Temple at the Heart of Orbis.

Inside the temple, interact with the Statue of Gaia to unlock the Memory System. From this point forward, any new creature you encounter will register as a Memory. You can hold up to 48 Memories at a time before needing to return and record them at the statue.

You will notice several buildings in the Forgotten Temple with WIP signs in front of them, indicating that this area is still being developed. Currently, you can interact with the statue and trade with one NPC, but more features and traders will likely be added in future updates.

After activating the Memory System, any creature you have not yet encountered will display a blue glow. Simply getting close enough will automatically collect their Memory. Return to the Statue of Gaia periodically to record your discoveries and unlock crafting recipes.

Recording Memories unlocks milestone rewards that include valuable crafting recipes. At 10 Memories, you unlock Eternal Seeds at the Farmer’s Workbench, which produce crops that regrow after harvest. At 25 Memories, you unlock Teleporter recipes. At 50 Memories, you unlock Morph Potions. At 100 Memories, you unlock Ancient Gateway recipes and Backpack upgrades. There are 240 total Memories to collect across all of Orbis.

Crafting Stations and Progression

The Workbench is your gateway to all other crafting stations in Hytale. Once placed, you can access multiple tabs, including tools, weapons, and a crafting tab that lets you build 11 specialized stations. Each station serves a unique purpose in your progression.

The Furnace smelts ore into ingots. Place fuel like Logs in the fuel slot, add Copper Ore or Iron Ore to the input, and turn it on. The Tanning Rack converts Hide into Leather, which is needed for armor and other recipes. The Armorer’s Workbench crafts armor pieces, while the Blacksmith’s Anvil creates weapons.

The Farmer’s Workbench unlocks farming tools like the Hoe and Watering Can. The Chef’s Stove allows for advanced cooking recipes. The Builder’s Workbench creates decorative blocks, and the Furniture Workbench crafts beds and decorations. The Salvager’s Workbench breaks down old gear into resources, the Alchemist’s Workbench creates potions, and the Arcanist’s Workbench crafts magical items and teleporters.

Most crafting stations can be upgraded to higher tiers by investing resources. Upgrading unlocks new recipes and improves efficiency. You can upgrade stations to Tier 5 for access to all recipes. Note that workbenches can pull materials from nearby chests, so place your storage close to your crafting area.

Understanding Combat

Combat in Hytale is more challenging than you might expect. Enemies hit hard, and pulling too many at once can quickly lead to death. The combat system rewards careful positioning, blocking, and understanding your weapon’s unique abilities.

Every weapon has three core functions: a quick attack with left-click, a block with right-click that consumes Stamina, and a charged attack by holding left-click. Additionally, each weapon type has a Signature Ability activated by pressing Q, which charges up as you land hits on enemies.

Weapons Overview

Hytale features six weapon types: Sword, Battle Axe, Daggers, Mace, Bow, and Crossbow. Each weapon behaves differently and suits different playstyles. The Sword offers a balanced approach with a forward lunge on its charged attack.

Daggers are highly mobile weapons that allow you to dash through enemies and even launch yourself into the air with charged attacks. This makes them excellent for kiting enemies and escaping dangerous situations. The Mace and Battle Axe deal heavy damage but are slower.

Bows and Crossbows provide ranged options for engaging enemies from a distance. It is recommended to craft and test all weapon types in their crude form to understand how each one handles before committing to upgrades.

Combat Tips

Stay mobile during fights and avoid standing still while attacking. Block enemy attacks with right-click, but watch your Stamina bar. When Stamina is depleted, you cannot block until it fully recharges.

Use charged attacks to reposition and deal extra damage. The Sword and Dagger charged attacks can move you faster than sprinting when chained together with jumps. This technique is useful for both combat and general exploration. Personally, I liked the Daggers against melee as the Charged Attack hits them, then creates space, meaning it’s harder to be hit.

Avoid fighting multiple enemies at once, especially early on. If overwhelmed, retreat and heal before re-engaging. Building a three-block tower can give you a safe spot to recover if needed.

Exploring the World

Hytale generates a unique world for every player, so your map will look different from anyone else’s. As you explore, the map expands to reveal new terrain, structures, and points of interest. Look for abandoned structures, mine shafts, and enemy forts, as these often contain valuable loot chests.

Mine shafts provide easy access to underground caves where you can find Copper, Iron, and Thorium Ore. Copper Ore appears as a raw orange color, Iron Ore is silver, and Thorium Ore glows green. These ores become more common the deeper you go.

Bring plenty of Torches when mining. Place them on the right-hand wall as you explore to mark your path and find your way out. You can also place a Torch in your offhand slot and it will emit light while you mine with a Pickaxe, unlike similar games where offhand torches do not glow.

The Four Zones

Orbis is divided into four distinct zones, each with increasing difficulty and unique resources. The Emerald Grove is the Tier 1 starting area with peaceful plains, forests, and the Azure Glades biome. Azure resources from this biome are needed for certain recipes.

The Howling Sands is the Tier 2 desert zone where you can find Thorium Ore. The Whisper Frost Frontiers is the Tier 3 snowy region containing Cobalt Ore and dangerous Outlander enemies. The Devastated Lands is the Tier 4 volcanic hellscape with Adamantite Ore and the toughest enemies in the game.

Only venture to higher-tier zones once you have outgrown the previous area. Enemies in later zones hit much harder and require better gear to handle. Progression in Hytale follows a similar pattern to games like Valheim, where you must master each tier before advancing.

Helpful Settings to Enable

Before diving deep into Hytale, take a moment to adjust some settings that improve your experience. Open the Settings menu and navigate to the General section. Enable Show Entity Health Bars, which is off by default, to see enemy health during combat.

Increase your Field of View for better visibility during exploration and combat. Enable Block Placement Preview under User Interface to see exactly where blocks will be placed before you confirm. If you are uncomfortable with spiders, there is an Arachnophobia Mode that changes their appearance.

When creating your world, you can adjust the day-night cycle length and death penalties to suit your preferred playstyle.

Frequently Asked Questions