For a game that has spent a decade touted as ‘the next Minecraft,’ Hypixel’s early access game has received some hands-on impressions from someone straight from Mojang. Jens “Jeb” Bergensten, Minecraft‘s lead developer and the company’s chief creative officer, recently shared his thoughts after spending time with Hytale. Although the verdict isn’t harsh, what he had to say about the long-in-development voxel sandbox is far from glowing.
Jeb responded to a question on Bluesky, asking what he thought of Hytale so far and what he’d like to see more of. He simply said that he would prefer the game to distinguish itself from Mojang’s own game better.
“I’d like it to be more different to Minecraft,” replied Jeb. “It’s very polished, but the feeling I get when I play is that I’d rather just play Minecraft.”
In a separate reply to another question, Jeb said that his experience with Hytale — and other voxel sandboxes — has been limited so far.
“I’ve played a little bit of Hytale. Never heard of Vintage Story before. I know about Portal Knights, and I’m looking forward to the release of Everwind,” he explained. “I always return to Minecraft, though.”
That said, he didn’t dismiss Hypixel’s game outright. He noted that his comment is just an early impression and expects modding to be a key factor in the future. He also made it clear that he plans to revisit Hytale later on. “It’s very early, though, and I know modding will be an important aspect. I will definitely play more later,” added Jeb.
Still, when that reaction comes from someone who’s helped define the genre, it’s hard not to take note. In the end, his comments echo a familiar question that often follows every Minecraft-inspired sandbox released into the wild. Why play this instead of Minecraft?
