Due to popular demand, ChipHead has launched it's first library expansion earlier than expected.
After asking our lovely community what games they feel we are lacking, 4 games were rated the highest by a good margin. (Not to worry, niche communities, far more are on the way)
Let us begin with game number 1: Hytale.
Fun fact, did you know Hytale started development over 11 years ago and was cancelled by the dudes who published league of legends? Despite that, just over 30 developers persevered and went on to create a game that attracted over a million players within a few weeks of early access to Orbis, the fantasy world of Hytale.
To those of you who are unfamiliar, Hypixel Studios is the studio best known for creating the enormous Hypixel Minecraft server. Hypixel built Hytale as a sandbox title that combines block based construction with the combat and progression found in a fleshed out RPG.
As I mentioned, Hytale takes place across Orbis, a procedurally generated setting packed with dungeons, varied biomes, and creature encounters layered on top of the mining and building gameplay many of you will already be familiar with.
What sets Hytale apart from Minecraft however, is its foundation. From the start, Hypixel engineered the game to focus around community-hosted servers and modding support, with built-in tools meant to simplify running and customizing your own server.
Hytale's progression runs through four Zones (forest, desert, arctic, volcanic), each unlocking better gear and tougher enemies. Most players clear all four zones between 30 to 50 hours, acquiring top gear such as Adamantite or Mithril along the way.
There are two dungeon types: procedural tunnels for casual loot farming, and portal dungeons leading to instanced boss fights with the best rewards. Bosses like the Earthen Golem and Scarak Broodmother gate progress by dropping crafting materials for the next gear tier, rather than advancing any story.
That's great news if you're setting up a server: the game keeps growing with every update, so your world evolves right alongside it instead of players finishing everything and moving on.
Next up: Windrose.
Another huge release has been Windrose, a pirate-themed survival game, similar in spirit to games like Valheim or Raft, but set in an alternate Golden Age of Piracy.
You start shipwrecked on a beach with nothing. You gather wood and stone, build yourself a shelter, and craft basic tools and weapons — that's the survival part.
Over time you get strong enough gear to fight things properly, and you also earn the resources to repair a ship, which is the game's big hook: once you've got a working ship, you can sail between different islands instead of being stuck exploring one spot.
Windrose is currently early access, so it doesn't have a finished game — but there's still a meaningful chunk to play through and things to do once you hit the level cap.
While exploring, you'll find ruins, pirate hideouts, and underground areas to raid for loot, you fight enemies using a combat system that rewards timing your blocks and dodges rather than just button-mashing. You can also get into ship-to-ship battles with cannons, and if things escalate, crews can actually board each other's ships and fight it out on deck.
Playing efficiently through the story and side quests, you'll hit the current level cap of 15 in about 8-15 hours solo, or 4-6 hours in co-op with quest progress shared. If you play more casually, fighting enemies instead of chasing quests, since kills give no XP you can easily sink 25-40+ hours without hitting the cap. Factor in exploring, faction quests, and building, and multiple reviewers report 60 to 90+ hours of content total across the current three biomes.
You can team up with friends (up to 8 people) either casually or on a proper server, similar to how you'd host a Minecraft server. It launched into early access in April 2026 and got a strong reception right out of the gate nearly 70,000 people playing at once on day one.
Enshrouded is another hot topic.
Enshrouded is a survival action-RPG by Keen Games, played from third-person and supporting up to 16 players in co-op. You play as the Flameborn, waking to fight back against a mutating fog called the Shroud that's overtaken the land of Embervale, after some ill-fated attempt to harvest a magical elixir went wrong.
Unlike Hytale and Windrose, Enshrouded is much closer to a finial product. It's been in early access since January 2024, and its full 1.0 release is locked for October 15, 2026 on PC and PS5, with Xbox Series X/S following in early 2027.
Gameplay splits between above-ground exploration and base-building in Embervale's overworld, and dungeon-diving into Shroud covered areas that are more dangerous but hold better loot. You gather resources, build bases, craft gear, and rescue and recruit NPC specialists such as blacksmiths, farmers and archers that unlock new crafting options and services back at your base.
Last but not least: V Rising
V Rising is a fully released gothic vampire survival ARPG by Stunlock Studios, it hit full release back in May 2024 after two years of early access.
You play a newly awakened vampire in an open world split into seven biomes. You gather resources, build and expand a castle as your base, and must manage vampire specific survival needs by feeding on blood regularly and avoiding lethal sunlight.
Progression for V Rising comes from finding and defeating 67 "V Blood" bosses scattered across the map; defeating a V Blood boss for the first time unlocks abilities, spells, castle structures, recipes, gear sets, and passive ability slots, and each one strengthens your character in a way that opens up tougher content.
Unlike the sandbox titles mentioned today, there's a clear ending to V Rising: once you defeat the final story boss. There's no traditional PvE endgame because it's not built as an MMO. Skilled players can blitz the main bosses in 5-10 hours, but most newcomers take 50-100 hours, and full completionists average around 90 hours (according to HowLongToBeat).
Once the story bosses are cleared, replayable content comes from Rift Incursions: hourly world events lasting 20 minutes that spawn once you've built the Eye of Mortium in your castle, giving a repeatable gear grind. Beyond that, the real endgame is PvP: castle sieges, server takeovers, and vampire vs vampire conflict across multiplayer servers.
That's all for now.
Well folks, that's the current state of Hytale, Windrose, Enshrouded, and V Rising for you. Two rising early access hits, one closing in on a big October launch, and one fully finished classic. Plenty more is coming for these games, so check back for updates. And if any of these have you itching to set up a server with friends, ChipHead's got you covered.