Hytale Chapter 1 arrives on 12 October 2026, the first big content update since Early Access began in January. It brings the game's first handcrafted dungeon and its first multi-phase boss, the Gobliterator, plus Goblin Breaches, Rune Abilities and a chapter screen that tracks your progress. Hypixel Studios has not announced a release time, and your server will need the new version before anyone on the updated client can join it.
What's in the update
Chapter 1 is also called Update 7. Most of it has been playable in pre-release since 3 September, in five waves, so a lot of the detail below comes straight from those patch notes. The studio has kept some of it back on purpose: the 24 September notes say "a lot of what you'll encounter in this second wave deliberately isn't mentioned in these patch notes".
The goblin dungeon and the Gobliterator
The headline is Hytale's first handcrafted dungeon, ending in a multi-phase boss fight. The boss is the Gobliterator, a scrap-built goblin mech. Its phases, wave spawns and arena changes run on the Encounter Manager, the system the studio says lets its designers build encounters as content rather than engine code, "and so can you". That last part matters for modded servers: the same tools are open to creators.
Hypixel founder Simon Collins-Laflamme has put a prize on the fight. On 24 September, replying to the date announcement, he posted that he will donate $15,000 "to the first streamer who kills the Gobliterator boss in hard mode, no armor, no potion, no glitch, in hardcore mode (you can use iron weapons available in Exploration Mode)". The run has to be streamed so the VOD can be checked.
Goblin Breaches
Once you have started the chapter at the Forgotten Temple, the Goblin Breach world event can trigger from time to time. It opens a temporary portal somewhere in your world, which you find by looking around or on the world map. Step through and you land in "an unstable fragment of Orbis", a set of biomes the goblins have taken over, with a growing Void presence.
The studio's July preview listed the first activities in that goblin world:
- predators you can track and trap
- Void assassins that hunt you down
- treasure chests that spawn enemy waves when you go for the loot
- puzzles guarding places you can't just dig into
Rune Abilities
Runes give your Avatar active combat abilities. You collect them and place them in a Runebinder's Effigy. An Ability Runestone decides which ability you get, and a Modifier Runestone changes how it behaves. Ability Runestones are Rare quality, modifiers Uncommon.
By the 1 October pre-release, the abilities were Enrage, Fireball, Imbue Poison, Ground Slam, Wind Strike, Chain Hook and Charged Shot. The modifiers were Expansion, Extended Duration, Fork, Ricochet, Wither, Rend and Quickening. The studio warned in September that the rune system "will change a lot between now and Chapter 1's release", so treat that list as the latest pre-release, not the final set.
Goblins and their gadgets
The goblin faction has been reworked around the chapter: the Scrapper, Miner, Guardian, Lobber, Burner and the elite Feastmaster, who calls in reinforcements mid-fight. Not every goblin is hostile, and one runs a shop.
The goblins also bring gadgets you can use yourself: the Scrap Drill, which breaks several blocks at once; the Spyglass; the Scrap Glider; Rocket Boots for double jumps; and the Hookshot with its Hook Anchors.
Chapter progression and the Forgotten Temple
Your journey starts inside the Forgotten Temple, which the studio says will serve as "a hub for your progression through the Early Access chapters". A new chapter screen works as a roadmap: you finish objectives as you play and earn cosmetics as rewards. Hypixel has said it isn't planning enchantments for Chapter 1.
Smaller changes in the pre-release notes include French as a game language, a World Events toggle for Creative worlds, and shared cooldowns on health and stamina potions.
What your server needs to do
The September pre-release notes are blunt about it: "clients and servers have to be on matching protocol versions". Once players' clients update on 12 October, a server still on Update 6 will turn them away.
- Back up the world before you update. The
universefolder holds your worlds and player data (see our Hytale save file location guide). - Update the server once the release is out, then restart it. Our Hytale server update guide covers the steps.
- Check your plugins and asset packs. Update 7 renames several asset types and changes the protocol, and Hytale has refused to start a server over mod validation problems since Update 3. Update or remove anything that fails to load.
- Decide about Breaches. If you would rather not have them on a build server, world events can be switched per world with
/worldevent enablefollowed bytrueorfalse.
Self-hosting? Update 7 adds a safety check: the server now refuses to boot if its world, prefab cache or backup folder sits inside the launcher's install folder, "which every update patches or wipes", and exits with code 11 after printing how to move them. Move your data out before the update rather than reaching for the --allow-install-dir override.
If your server is with us and players still can't join after the update, open a ticket and we'll get it onto the new version. Starting a fresh world for Chapter 1? Plans are on the Hytale server hosting page.
What's coming next
12 October: Chapter 1 releases. No time has been announced, so watch the official Hytale X account and hytale.com news on the day.
Minigames, no date yet: the July roadmap estimated them "within the next 2-3 months", the same window it gave Chapter 1, but said they have "their own timeline".
Chapter 2: the crafting rework and Companions who move into your home, "if all goes well".
FAQ
What time does Chapter 1 release? Hypixel Studios hasn't said. The 24 September announcement gives the date only, so plan your server update for whenever the client update appears.
Will Chapter 1 wipe my world? The studio has not announced a wipe. Breaches open from your existing world once the chapter starts at the Forgotten Temple, but back up before you update anyway.
Can I try it before 12 October? Yes. Most of the content has been on the pre-release channel since September, and the second wave (24 September) can be started at the Forgotten Temple. The dungeon's full contents have not all been described in the notes.
Is Hardcore needed for the Gobliterator? Only for Simon's $15,000 challenge. Hardcore arrived in Update 6, and it can only be chosen when a world is created, so an existing world can't be switched to it.
Will my mods break? Some might. Update 7 changes asset schemas and the network protocol, and plugins built for Update 6 may need an update from their authors before the server will start with them.
Sources: Hytale on X, 24 Sep, Simon Collins-Laflamme on X, Update 7 pre-release patch notes, First look at Chapter 1, Update 6 patch notes.