Hytale’s Update 2 continues the momentum from Hytale Update 1 by tightening progression. It is a systems-heavy patch that focuses on progression, world generation, and server stability, while also adding fresh customization options and quality-of-life upgrades. It’s the kind of update that changes how day-to-day gameplay feels, whether you’re exploring solo or running a Hytale server for friends.
Below is a clear breakdown of the biggest changes, plus what they mean in practical terms for your next play session.
Cosmetics And Customization Get A Big Boost
Update 2 expands avatar variety with new face and head options, including multiple mask and blindfold variants, plus new mouth styles (Vampire, Cute, Orc). There’s also a new white color option for fantasy cotton cosmetics, and several hairstyles have received visual updates.
A standout change is the new armor visibility toggles right in the character panel. This is great if you want to keep your look consistent while still wearing the best gear. Even better for multiplayer: server hosts can enable or disable this feature to match PvP rules or immersion-focused servers.
Polish continues with improved cape running animations, which helps movement feel smoother during general gameplay and exploration.
Necromancy Arrives As A New Combat Option
One of the flashiest additions is a new item, the Grimoire: Rekindle Embers, that lets players raise skeletal minions from nearby bone piles, with a chance to drop from the large Praetorian Skeleton. This introduces a new way to approach fights, especially when you want extra bodies to help you control space or distract enemies.
It’s also worth noting what the developers and coverage around the update emphasize: this is a fun feature drop now, with talk of a more complete magic system in the future.
Mining And Tool Progression Is More Structured
Update 2 makes mining progression more logical and more “tiered.” The biggest headline is that Adamantite now requires a Thorium or Cobalt pickaxe to mine.
Alongside that, mining and pickaxe progression has been adjusted so that:
- Lower-tier pickaxes deal much less damage to higher-tier ore blocks
- Upgrading to a higher-quality pickaxe significantly reduces the hits required
In practice, this makes early mining feel more deliberate, while making tool upgrades feel more rewarding. If you’re used to brute-forcing tougher nodes with under-tier tools, Update 2 pushes you toward “right tool for the job,” which is especially important on a multiplayer Hytale server where resource progression can shape the whole server economy and pacing.
Creature And Drop Balancing Changes Encounters
Several combat and loot adjustments land in this patch:
- Polar bears have been buffed
- The Magma Toad has reduced tongue damage and now alternates between tongue attacks and a new headbutt ability
- Several NPCs (Bison, Boar, Cow, Horse, Warthog) now drop Medium Hide instead of Light Hide
These changes matter because they affect both difficulty and crafting progression. The Magma Toad shift, in particular, changes how predictable the fight feels, and hide drop changes can ripple into early-to-mid crafting paths depending on what your group farms most often.
More Decorative Crafting And Renewable Dye Materials
If you like building and aesthetics, Update 2 adds more decorative light recipes at the furniture bench.
It also improves renewable textile options: petals are now craftable (and renewable via farming sunflower seeds for yellow petals), and lighter cloth block variants can be crafted using petal combinations. That’s a quality-of-life win for builders who want consistent palettes without constantly hunting for limited materials.
WorldGen V2 Steps Forward And Ore Distribution Changes
World generation gets a meaningful upgrade:
- WorldGen V2 is being prepared for public documentation to help modders
- New Default_Flat and Default_Void templates are added using WorldGen V2
- Ore placement has been heavily refactored across all zones, resulting in more ores, especially in Devastated Lands undergrounds
- Important limitation: you’ll need to explore new chunks in existing worlds to see the ore changes
For players: this is your excuse to push further out and map new territory.
For Hytale hosting server owners: this affects how you plan resets, world borders, or “new exploration zones” so players actually experience the improved distribution.
Farming Improvements Reduce Friction
Farming gets several practical upgrades:
- Eternal crops no longer break from accidental weapon damage
- Tilled soil lasts longer (about 1.2 to 1.5 days) and soil decay under fully grown crops is fixed
- You can hold torches offhand while using the hoe and seeds
- Breaking fully grown eternal crops returns seeds
- Harvested crops can be placed on the ground while crouching
Hoes also have adjusted progression: Copper is now Tier 2, Iron Tier 4, and Thorium is added at Tier 6. Overall, it’s easier to keep farms stable, lighted, and less annoying to maintain.
UI And Accessibility Updates Make The Game Feel Smoother
Update 2 includes lots of small improvements that add up:
- Better tooltips, including color names in avatar customization
- Improved hotbar active-slot visibility
- Inventory interaction upgrades, including better double-click handling and new shortcut keybinds for quick actions
- A new FPS counter overlay option in settings
- Player marker improvements (compass support, cleaner map labels, height indicators)
- A new accessibility mode for ophidiophobia that changes snake models into hatworms
If you manage a community, the FPS overlay and marker improvements are especially useful because they reduce the “is it my PC or the server” confusion and make group navigation easier.
Server Stability And Auto-Updates Are A Big Deal For Hosting
The “Bug Fixes, Tech & Stability” section is huge for anyone serious about multiplayer. Update 2 introduces a server auto-update system with configuration options and new commands for update management. It adds an UpdateModule core plugin integrated into server boot, plus a related update config in HytaleServerConfig, and a dedicated shutdown reason for update restarts.
That’s the kind of behind-the-scenes change that helps servers stay consistent and reduces downtime caused by manual update workflows, especially as Hytale continues pushing frequent patches in early access.
Experience The New Update With Pine Hosting Hytale Server Hosting
If you want to jump into Update 2 with friends, running a dedicated Hytale server is the easiest way to control your world, your rules, and your progression pace.
With Pine Hosting Hytale server hosting, you can focus on playing the update instead of babysitting infrastructure. This patch is particularly server-relevant because it includes server auto-updates, world generation changes that may require new chunk exploration, and gameplay progression tweaks that communities will feel immediately.
If you’re comparing options, look for Hytale server hosting plans that make it simple to manage updates, backups, and scaling as your player count grows. That way, you spend more time exploring WorldGen V2 ores, testing necromancy in group fights, and building out new farms and towns in multiplayer.
