The First Chapter of Early Access
Hytale released Update 7 on October 12, 2026, and with it Chapter I, Out of the Breach, the first content chapter since Early Access opened in January. The update was staged through five pre-release waves, published on September 3, 10, 17 and 24, then October 1, ahead of the final release. Two hotfixes followed right after, 0.7.1 on October 13 and 0.7.2 on October 14.
For players, it is the largest content drop since launch. For server administrators, it is also the most delicate update so far, with a new save format, a modified network protocol and a reworked plugin API. This article covers both sides, relying solely on the official Hypixel Studios notes.
Good news for the French-speaking community along the way, French joins the game languages, alongside Spanish.
What Players Will Find
The Forgotten Temple and the Goblin Lab
Chapter I starts at the Forgotten Temple. There you discover the Goblin Lab, which serves as the chapter's hub, with a dedicated screen tracking objectives and unlocks. It is also where the Runebinder's Lattice sits, the workbench used to equip the new abilities.
The Goblin Breach, an Unstable Portal
The Goblin Breach is a world event. A temporary portal opens into an unstable fragment of Orbis that goblins have claimed. The Void pushes in constantly, the space regenerates each time you enter, and the player always ends up expelled. Fighting back the Void and upgrading the Goblin Breach Console in the Goblin Lab extends each incursion.
In the Echo of Orbis, breaches begin after a few nights pass, or as soon as an Avatar investigates the disturbance at the Forgotten Temple. They open onto a new biome, the Guttering Hollows, with trackable and trappable predators, Void assassins, enemy-wave treasure chests and puzzles. Hunts across a breach require a Voidheart, and hunt sites appear on the world map.
The Deepworks, the First Real Dungeon
The Deepworks are the game's first fully handcrafted dungeon, and they conclude Chapter I. Winding rooms, goblin hordes, flames and falling debris, puzzles and checkpoints punctuate the descent.
Two bosses await. The Feastmaster, an Elite Goblin far more agile than his bulk suggests, then the Gobliterator, a multi-phase final fight.
An optional button at the entrance of the boss chamber makes the encounter even tougher.
Runestones, a Proper Ability System
This is the feature that changes how the game plays the most. Runestones are crafted from Runestone Shards, two for an Ability Runestone, one for a Modifier Runestone, then slotted into the Runebinder's Lattice. An Avatar equips at most two Ability Runestones, each able to receive Modifier Runestones. Stacking the same rune twice on one ability is not allowed.
A Mana bar replaces the stamina display. It regenerates on its own, is spent on abilities, and signature hits restore part of it. Casting an ability slows movement by 40%.
| Runestone | Effect | Mana | Cooldown |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chain Hook | Pulls the target toward you and briefly slows it | 50 | 6s |
| Charged Shot | Channeled frost bolt, auto-fires at full charge | 35 | 4s |
| Enrage | +30% damage dealt, +20% damage taken, 8s | 45 | 4s |
| Fireball | Explosive flaming ball, 28 Fire damage | 30 | 2s |
| Ground Slam | Stone spikes that launch enemies | 40 | 5s |
| Imbue Poison | Stacking poison on weapon hits, 3 stacks | 40 | 4s |
| Wind Strike | Next 3 attacks fire piercing wind arcs | 30 | 2s |
Eight Modifier Runestones reshape them. Colossal enlarges projectiles, Rebound makes them bounce, Splinter splits them, Enduring extends duration, Quickening speeds everything up at the cost of damage, Thrift cuts mana cost, Rend adds a bleed and Wither weakens enemies hit. Effects on damage, mana and cooldown multiply with each other.
Seven Goblin Gadgets
Goblins are resourceful, and the player claims their arsenal.
- Scrap Drill, a drill that breaks a 2x2 area and loots metal blocks.
- Scrap Glider, a glider that keeps momentum, dives and climbs.
- Rocket Boots, a double jump.
- Hookshot, a grapple that attaches to Hook Anchors.
- Spyglass, for zooming in on distant areas.
- Bangstick, a craftable throwable.
- Goblin Repair Kit, a repair that does not lower maximum durability.
And the Rest
Over 20 new or reimagined goblin NPCs, including the Scrapper, Miner, Guardian, Lobber and Burner.
Over 100 cosmetics, largely goblin-themed, and two full sets to unlock, Scrap Arcanist and Junk Pilot.
New exploration music, 6 tracks for Zone 2, 12 for Zone 3 and 24 for Zone 4. Three new blocksets, Enkindled Copper, Enkindled Iron and Goblin Iron. On the combat side, melee weapons strike about 15% faster, health and stamina potions now have shared cooldowns of 15 and 30 seconds, and durability climbs sharply, iron weapons go from 120 to 250 points.
Minigames arrive shortly after the chapter, from the main menu, with solo or party matchmaking. Two are announced, Prop Hunt and Shuffle Jam, the latter chaining 12 microgames per match.
The Five Pre-Release Waves
Hypixel Studios rolled Update 7 out gradually on the pre-release branches, which is why some servers were already running part of the content before October 12.
| Wave | Date | Main content |
|---|---|---|
| Part 1 | September 3 | Runestones, gadgets, reworked goblins, worlds bundled in mods |
| Part 2 | September 10 | Node Editor, goblin behavior toward the Void |
| Part 3 | September 17 | New save format, Memories, debug tools |
| Part 4 | September 24 | Second content wave, French language, /worldevent command |
| Part 5 | October 1 | Balance, new Modifier Runestones, Goblin Breach tuning |
What Changes for Your Server
This is where Update 7 demands attention. Four points are structural.
1. World Conversion Is Automatic and Irreversible
Saved worlds take less disk space, and existing worlds upgrade themselves the first time they load. The trade-off is clear, BlockSection data blobs move to version 7 and an older server version can no longer read them. Once a world has been loaded by an Update 7 server, there is no way back.
In practice, a full backup before updating is not a precaution, it is your only exit if something goes wrong.
2. Client and Server Must Share the Same Protocol
Several network packets changed layout, ItemMovementSettings, UpdateBossBar, ShowEventTitle and SetChunkEnvironments among others. Hypixel Studios is explicit, client and server must be built from the same protocol version. An updated player will not join a lagging server, and the reverse holds too. Plan the server update for the day your players receive theirs.
3. Plugins That Touch Blocks Must Be Recompiled
The plugin API lost part of its direct block and chunk access. ChunkAccessor, IWorldChunks, IChunkAccessorSync, WorldChunk.breakBlock and several setBlock and getBlockType variants were removed. Block access now goes through BlockOperations and BlockModule.getBlockEntity.
A plugin limited to commands or chat events will most likely pass unharmed. A plugin that reads or modifies the world will need recompiling, and often adapting. If you depend on third-party plugins, check that an Update 7 compatible version exists before switching.
4. Assets Are Now Verified and Capped
The server must declare the true size of each asset in AssetInitialize. If the server sends more bytes than declared, the client disconnects. And a single asset can no longer exceed 256 MiB. A resource pack or mod built with older tooling can hit either of these.
World Settings Worth Knowing
- World events. The
/worldevent enablecommand turns them on or off per world, withtrueorfalse, and toggles the state when the argument is omitted. The setting is stored in theEnableWorldEventskey ofWorldEventsWorldConfig. New Creative worlds start with events disabled, Exploration worlds set them from the World Settings screen. - Goblin Breach. The minimum gap between two breaches rose to 30 minutes, a breach nobody approaches vanishes after 5 minutes, and crossing to hunt requires a Voidheart.
- Blocked interactions. The new
BlockedRootInteractionTagslist inGameplayConfig.WorldConfigblocks matching interactions server-side and hides them from the HUD. - View distance.
MaxViewRadiusis now clamped between 1 and 32, down from 512. A higher value is brought down to 32 in memory with a warning, without touching the file. - Mods and worlds. A mod can bundle whole worlds, which appear in the list once the mod is installed and remain even if the mod is removed.
- Bans. Banning or kicking an account now closes every connection it has open.
Renamed Commands
| Before | After |
|---|---|
/fragment |
/portal |
/leave |
/portal leave |
/cursethis |
/ephemeral |
/eventtitle --major |
/eventtitle --style |
One useful addition, /fragment timer add <seconds> adds time to a portal instead of replacing the value.
The Two Hotfixes Not to Miss
0.7.1 on October 13 fixes a problem that directly hit multiplayer, joins to a Windows-hosted world timed out after 30 seconds. It also lets you reconnect immediately after an IP change, instead of being refused as already logged in.
0.7.2 on October 14 is the most important one for a hosted server. It fixes a crash that disconnected every player in a world when a cave chunk loaded an old goblin spawn beacon from Update 6, and a crash on Linux in worlds using RocksDB chunk storage. Our servers run on Linux, make sure you are on 0.7.2 at least.
What to Do on Update Day
- Warn your players and set a maintenance window. World conversion takes time on a large map.
- Create a full backup from the Backups tab of your panel, and download it. This is the step not to skip.
- Stop the server cleanly before touching anything.
- Update the server, then your plugins and asset packs to Update 7 compatible versions.
- Restart while watching the console during the first load, this is when world conversion happens.
- Set world events with
/worldevent enableaccording to what you want for your community. - Test a real connection from an updated client before reopening.
For large file transfers, plugins or asset packs, use SFTP rather than the panel file manager. Our guide How to Connect to Your Gaming Server via SFTP walks through it. And if you want to automate backups for next time, the guide How to Schedule Automatic Restarts with Schedules covers the panel's CRON syntax.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I go back to Update 6 if something goes wrong?
Not with an already converted world. An older server version does not read the new format. The only way back is the backup made before updating.
Will my plugins work?
Those that do not interact with blocks or chunks stand a good chance. Those that read or modify the world must be recompiled against the new API. When in doubt, test on a copy of the world.
Does the Goblin Breach trigger on every world?
On Exploration worlds, yes, unless you disable world events. New Creative worlds have them off by default.
Can a player who has not updated their client connect?
No. Client and server must share the same protocol version.
Are minigames available yet?
Not at launch. Hypixel Studios announces them for shortly after Chapter I, accessible from the main menu.
Looking for a Hytale server ready for Chapter I? Our plans are on the Hytale Hosting page.
Sources, the official Update 7 pre-release notes, the Chapter I, Out of the Breach announcement, the modder-facing notes and the Update 7 hotfixes. All images are published by Hypixel Studios.
Enjoy the descent into the Deepworks 🎮
