Hytale's early access release will receive its first Chapter update on October 12, the game's developers have confirmed, following months of smaller patches. Rock Paper Shotgun reports that Chapter 1 is built around the game's goblin faction and introduces several features the sandbox has not carried before.
Chief among them is Hytale's first handcrafted dungeon, an underground goblin lair built by hand rather than assembled by the game's procedural generation. The update also adds the game's first boss encounter, a flamethrowing goblin king called the Gobliterator. The fight is a multi-phase one against a heavily armoured opponent with area-of-effect flame attacks, and is designed along the lines of a traditional raid boss.
A new world event and a wider goblin roster
Chapter 1 broadens the roster of goblin enemies, and the faction will include friendly members alongside the hostile ones. Accompanying them is a new world event, the Goblin Breach: a tear in spacetime that opens to release groups of goblins along with piles of junk they had hoarded. Some of the equipment they leave behind can be taken by players, including a hookshot launcher and rocket boots that boost jumps.
The contents of the update were set out in advance in a developer blog post, and the release date was confirmed alongside a trailer.
A $15,000 challenge attached to the boss
Hypixel founder Simon Collins-Laflamme has attached a cash prize to the new encounter. Collins-Laflamme is offering $15,000 to the first player who streams themselves defeating the Gobliterator without help from teammates, in hardcore mode, and without equipped armour.
Hytale narrowly avoided cancellation before reaching early access, and Rock Paper Shotgun notes the progress that was lost in that period. Chapter 1 arrives on October 12.
