As Minecraft-like survival game Hytale readies itself for an early access launch later this month, the game’s co-founder and technical director has braced fans for the game’s state on Valve’s ever-popular Steam Deck.
Alongside the game’s Windows version, Hytale is launching with an experimental native Linux version which should run fine on the most popular Linux gaming machine around. However, even with this port, the game is still “not officially recommended” on the handheld.
Soaking on Twitter, technical director Silkey explained that the game does not have any official controller support on launch, and the game’s developers are not testing its Windows version through Valve’s Proton compatibility layer at all.
“One test was conducted on a Steamdeck with attached docking station (Monitor, Keyboard, Mouse) and got well playable results in local singleplayer,” the developer told fans. “Steamdeck is NOT officially recommended as there is NO CONTROLLER SUPPORT YET).”
While the game will be playable in its native Linux version with the help of Steam controller configurations, the team have not tested Proton compatibility for the game at the time of writing. However, considering the game does not feature kernel-level anti-cheat, the game’s Windows version should also be playable on the handheld.
“We have not tried and won’t try Proton,” the developer told fans on social media. “Given that we don’t do any kernel-level anticheat, you will probably be able to run it via a compatibility layer too but that’s for the community to find out.”
As for the game’s Linux version, the developer does reiterate that it is an experimental version of the game due to “the diversity of the Linux ecosystem”. However, seeing as the game will more than likely run via Proton without issues, fingers crossed, fans should be able to play the main build of the game on their Steam Decks without issue.
With this in mind, maybe wait a few hours after launch to jump into Hytale on Steam Deck so that someone else more dedicated and talented can create a banging control scheme in your stead. (As much as I love rebinding keys, I do hate creating an entire control scheme with the Deck’s UI.)
There’s currently no official word on whether Hytale will have official controller support at some point in the future. Not like that will stop anyone on Steam Deck from enjoying the game. I’ve played Sins of a Solar Empire on Deck thanks to a handy control scheme someone made. If that game can be made playable with a controller, so can this.
It’s also worth noting that Hytale is not launching on Steam during its early access period. In a recent FAQ, the team explained that they will not be releasing on Steam’s storefront to avoid negative user reviews while the game is still in early access.
“We want to spend our time in Early Access working with the community and improving the game, rather than over-indexing on negative reviews from players that aren’t as well-informed yet about what we are doing,” the game’s executive director Patrick “Lyall” Derbic wrote in the FAQ. “Steam is a great marketing tool but one that we might never need. This doesn’t mean we will never be on Steam—just that we do not see the necessity of it yet.”
Hytale officially launches on January 13, 2026.
