As a veteran Minecraft player, Hytale is almost exactly what I want from a game that is basically "Minecraft 2." Even in its early access state, Hytale has the bones of a fantastic survival crafting sandbox game, and I can't wait to see the RPG progression content that is added down the line. However, one of my biggest gripes with the game comes from its removal of a crucial Minecraft block that makes early game resource gathering a smooth experience.
It's impossible to discuss Hytale without bringing up its comparisons to Minecraft, given that developer Hypixel Studios got its start making Minecraft mods. The Minecraft formula is still at the core of Hytale's gameplay, but Hytale goes out of its way to streamline certain parts of Minecraft's gameplay loop, such as no longer needing to place materials in the correct formation on a crafting table in order to craft an item. For as good as Hytale is at creating a smooth crafting progression, I feel like it misses the mark when it comes to smelting ores into ingots at the furnace, which is something Minecraft nailed over 15 years ago.
Hytale May Never Get Minecraft's Best Feature, But I'm Not Convinced It Needs It
Hytale’s future plans center around expanding its RPG systems instead of adding Minecraft’s deepest mechanic, and I’m totally fine with that.
Minecraft's Coal Block is Sorely Missed in Hytale
The furnace is one of the most important workbenches in Hytale for the early game, since it's needed to smelt materials like Copper, Iron, and Thorium ore into ingots that can be used for not only upgrading other workbenches, but also crafting improved armor, weapons, and tools. Accessing these ingots can be a major bottleneck for progression in Hytale, so it's important to stock up on their ore as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, the process of refining these ores into ingots comes with a hiccup that Minecraft's version of the process doesn't: an extra step between gathering a fuel source and using it to process ores.
Hytale's Fuel Sources Leave a Lot to Be Desired
|
Fuel Source |
Burn Time |
|---|---|
|
Wooden Stick |
5 Sec |
|
Charcoal |
6 Sec |
|
Sap |
6 Sec |
|
Plant Fiber |
2 Sec |
|
Log |
9 Sec |
In Minecraft, the primary fuel source for a furnace in the early game is Coal, which can easily be mined from the abundant Coal blocks found in nearly every cave. Hytale's fuel sources are far less cut and dry, with several wooden items potentially being used for furnace fuel, along with Charcoal. However, Charcoal is only obtainable in Hytale as a byproduct of burning these wooden items in a campfire or furnace, making it essentially a middleman between raw fuel sources and the desired ingots. Compared to Minecraft's Coal, which can be mined directly from Coal blocks, obtaining Charcoal in Hytale feels like an unnecessary extra step and has become a major annoyance of mine.
Logs Are Efficient, But Are Needed Elsewhere in Hytale
Of all the fuel sources in Hytale, Logs are by far the most efficient since they provide 9 seconds of burn time per unit and are themselves raw materials. However, there are too many other uses for logs to waste them as a fuel source for furnaces and campfires. I've also come to find that Wooden Sticks are a crucial resource in Hytale, since they're needed for crafting everything from tools and weapons to food skewers. Neither of these resources feels like they should be burned for fuel, even if Charcoal is created as a byproduct.
Charcoal also has very few uses outside of being a fuel source, with some of the few being for crafting a Halloween Pumpkin and other decorative light sources, so it's clearly designed to be a fuel source first and foremost. Having to burn more valuable resources to obtain it feels less efficient than just mining for Coal like in Minecraft, and it also just adds an unnecessary step in the process toward refining key ores into ingots.
The furnace and campfire in Hytale at least come with two input slots to help increase cooking and smelting efficiency, but this doesn't completely make up for the fact that obtaining Charcoal in Hytale is an overall inefficient way to gather fuel.
Hytale Dev Has Plans to Flesh Out Its Cozy Side, And This Stardew Valley Lover Is Here For It
Hytale’s devs are betting big on farming and cozy systems, and as a Stardew Valley fan, that long term focus is exactly what has me paying attention.
Hytale Still Has the Chance to Improve Its Resources During Early Access
As frustrating as this gameplay quirk has been for me in my time with Hytale so far, the game is still in early access with plenty of time to make adjustments to its crafting and resource progression system. The simplest solution would be to introduce a Coal block like Minecraft has, allowing players to mine for a fuel source while digging underground for the other ores they need to progress. I understand that Hytale doesn't want to be a carbon copy of Minecraft, so finding a different way to solve this issue would likely be ideal.
I think the best solution to this Hytale fuel problem would be to create a natural way for Charcoal to be discovered throughout Hytale's world. Since my primary hangup with Charcoal is the fact that it can only be obtained by sacrificing more valuable raw materials, making Charcoal itself a raw material would be the obvious solution. Rather than simply making it a mineable resource like Minecraft's Coal blocks, perhaps Charcoal in Hytale could be a naturally occurring overworld formation in biomes like Charred Woodlands and Cinder Wastes, where trees are already burned by surrounding lava. Having burnt trees drop Charcoal would fit thematically and mechanically within the world of Hytale, and make collecting Charcoal in the late game more manageable as a raw material that doesn't require players to waste tons of wood across multiple furnaces.
OpenCritic Reviews
- Released
- January 13, 2026
- Developer(s)
- Hypixel Studios
- Publisher(s)
- Hypixel Studios
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Open-World, RPG, Sandbox
