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Since it was released almost 10 days ago, Hytale has been crushing it. The new voxel open-world adventure game has been the talk of the town, bringing with it a fantastic experience that has an infinite amount of potential due to its robust modding possibilities. Hell, I even saw a mod recently that connects Minecraft and Hytale, allowing users to play together in the same world. Still, the game is a blast to play, especially on the Steam Deck, and this is all before official support is implemented.

Hytale

Even without official support, Hytale is able to run wonderfully. It can hit 90 FPS with ease, all just by changing the view distance, which keeps it looking fantastic. Still, it does drain a little high for how the game looks, and some performance hitches remain when running around the world fast. And we can't forget the lack of controller support that makes it hard to fully utilize the UI.

I was curious about the future of Hytale on the Steam Deck, so I reached out to Kevin Carstens, also known as Slikey, who is the co-founder of Hypixel Studios and Tech Director for Hytale, to ask about Steam Deck support.

For Steam Deck and handheld PC support, there is no timeline on it, and it is more intricate than just adding gamepad support. However, he did confirm that Steam Deck support will be coming before console or mobile releases for the game:

For actual handheld we need to look at battery optimizations and the smaller screens size UX. I can't put a timeline on any of this but before we go to any consoles or mobile, we will bring Hytale to Steamdeck and other PC handheld devices.

Kevin Carstens (Slikey)

The team is also not forcing it to happen anytime soon. Kevin mentioned that Steam Deck and handheld PC support is not going to block 1.0 release since it wasn't something they promised, but it will most likely happen since work for handheld optimizations will run in parallel:

When it comes to the UX for small screens I don't know. Our plans for 1.0 are to release what the trailer promised. The trailer never promised non PC platforms so it's not a blocker for 1.0 release.
In reality it is probably going to get done simply because 1.0 is mostly a content challenge and the smaller screen UX and battery work will happen in parallel.

Kevin Carstens (Slikey)

However, throughout our conversation, he did reiterate that controller support will definitely be completed before the 1.0 launch. It's going to be the next "Accessibility Milestone" and will be so much more than adding joystick support. They will be targeting support for accessibility to support people with disabilities who are using special disability controllers, giving everyone a chance to play and enjoy the game.

HytalePreviewSteamDeck 12

While I am a little sad that there's no timeframe for Steam Deck support, it's nice to get confirmation that it is coming at some point and they are taking it seriously. The controller support should help a lot as well, but it sounds like official support will bring with it better UI for smaller screens and battery optimizations to make the most out of the limited capacity handhelds have. Still, I am glad it is very playable in this current state, and I can't wait to see where the game will go as it heads to 1.0.

Hytale can be purchased on their website starting at $19.99.

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Noah Kupetsky
A lover of gaming since 4, Noah has grown up with a love and passion for the industry. From there, he started to travel a lot and develop a joy for handheld and PC gaming. When the Steam Deck released, it just all clicked.
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