'What the f***': Modding arch-sorcerer casually invents Minecraft x Hytale crossplay, defies laws of god and man alike

Even at a casual glance, it's not hard to see the similarities between Minecraft and Hytale, its latest block-based sandbox competitor. As Hytale's early modding scene flourishes, one modder is taking those similarities to their logical endpoint, deciding that if the games overlap so neatly, Minecraft and Hytale players might as well just play together on the same server.

It might sound like black magic, but that didn't prevent modder Sadat Sahib from demonstrating the fruits of his forbidden arts. On Reddit, Sahib posted screenshots of a functioning prototype of Minecraft and Hytale crossplay, casually explaining that he "made Bedrock <-> Hytale <-> Java cross-play possible!"

"what the fuck," said one redditor. The reply is, by far, the post's highest-rated response.

Not content with immediately baffling an entire community of Hytale players, Sahib then went to X, where he shared a minute-long demo of his work-in-progress crossplay mod. In the video, Sahib has Minecraft and Hytale clients running in windows beside each other, with the same geometry represented in each game's respective blocks and art style. As Sahib moves in the Minecraft client, a player character in the Hytale session mimics those movements. Sahib then tabs over to Hytale, where his movements—and even block placements—are then similarly mirrored in the Minecraft session.

As Sahib explained in replies on Reddit and X, Hytale is serving as the host for the crossplay session, and while block placements are translated to equivalent blocks on the Minecraft side, it seems like only the prototype's Hytale player is capable of placing new blocks. Considering he's handbuilding a bridge between two different games with their own systems and mechanics, it's not surprising that Sahib says "currently many things are Broken."

It's unclear whether Sahib will ever release the crossplay mod for public consumption as he says it's "more of a proof of concept," but he intends to "update it for a good while" to see how much shared functionality he's able to implement. The first big item on his list is to solve shared world generation, as the Minecraft crossplay client is currently limited to loading its immediate surroundings from the Hytale side.

Terrifyingly, Sahib has already made some substantial headway since posting his first look at the crossplay mod. In less than a day, he's uploaded additional demonstration videos to show that he's also added functional cross-game chat, animation synchronization, and combat.

Personally, I'm of the opinion that Sahib's growing power represents a threat to software stability everywhere, but I salute his efforts nonetheless.