The team behind Hytale has lifted the curtain once again on their plans for the game’s social features, unveiling two big additions designed to deepen player interaction: proximity voice chat and a new multiplayer “portal” system that makes dropping into friends’ worlds effortless.
According to an interview with founder Simon Collins-Laflamme, the portal feature is aimed at removing the typical setup barriers for multiplayer. Players will build a portal item inside their game world that lets friends join directly; no firewall tweaks, no extra menus. Meanwhile, support for proximity chat is confirmed but hasn’t yet been lock-in for early access. As Collins-Laflamme puts it: “Voice chat is very important to Hytale, it opens the door for many experiences once you’ve got it.”
These feature reveals come on the heels of Hytale’s recently announced pricing and screenshots, marking what feels like a final ramp-up toward release. By focusing on social connectivity, the developers are signaling that Hytale wants to be more than just a solo creative sandbox. It wants to grow into a hub of shared worlds and spontaneous multiplayer drops.
For players, the implications are exciting: Co-op exploration, mixed single-player plus friends, and the kind of seamless social setup that’s rare in sandbox games. If both features hit the way the devs describe, Hytale could well blur the line between solo-campaign and shared open world.
Stay tuned to VGNW and X, we’ll track feature updates, developer diaries, and the road to Hytale’s early access launch.
