The biggest difference right now, frankly, is that Minecraft has been around for 15 years and Hytale just entered early ...
One major element of multiplayer in Hytale is that, in most cases, when the host of a world goes offline, the world can't be accessed by anyone else. This means you can only play on a friend's world ...
Echo Point Nova's Matt Larrabee talks movement shooters, making niche games, and '2007-core' game design.