TL;DR: Ravengard is Hypixel’s next big game, described by its lead designer as a “PvPvE loot extractor”. You start in the coastal city of Ravengard, pick a class and dive into dungeons full of monsters, bosses and rival groups of players. Loot only counts if you escape with it. It runs on modern Minecraft only, with a custom resource pack, and it is still in playtests that open for a few days and then wipe progress. The third playtest ran October 30 to November 2, 2026, recommended Minecraft 26.3 and added a new dungeon, crafting, gear modifiers and a fifth class, the Sorcerer. Hypixel says news on what comes next is coming “as soon as possible”. No release date yet.
- 3Public playtests so far
- 5Classes in the latest playtest
- 26.3Recommended Minecraft version
- TBAFull release date
What is Ravengard?
Hypixel first teased an unnamed game at the end of its 12th anniversary video in March 2025 and released the Ravengard announcement trailer on November 22, 2025. In Dev Blog #13 that December, lead designer and project manager Kazius laid out the idea: a PvPvE loot-extraction game where groups of players loot a dungeon while fending off creatures, bosses and other groups of mercenaries.
If you have played Dark and Darker or the extraction mode in shooters, the loop will feel familiar. You head in with your gear, fight for loot and try to get out. Die in the dungeon and what you were carrying is at risk. Make it back and you can spend, craft and upgrade in town. The difference is that this is all inside a Minecraft server, built by the team behind Bed Wars and SkyBlock.
A first for Hypixel: modern versions only
Hypixel has supported 1.8 PvP for over a decade. Ravengard breaks that. It is the first Hypixel game limited to modern Minecraft versions at launch, and it needs a custom resource pack for its textures and models. For the latest playtest, Hypixel recommended Minecraft 26.3. For PC Java players that means no 1.8 client: install a current version and accept the resource pack when you join mc.hypixel.net.
Classes
The design blog promised four classes at launch, each with six abilities, of which you can equip two at a time: Knight, Warrior, Hunter and Assassin. The third playtest’s patch notes also balance a fifth class, the Sorcerer, with spells like Lightning Strike, Fireball, Ice Shards and Spring Healing.
| Class | Playtest 3 highlights |
|---|---|
| Knight | Shields no longer drain stamina while raised, blocking is directional, Shield Bash cooldown 30s → 20s |
| Warrior | HP 220 → 200, Overpower replaced by Overcharged (+20% defense, faster attacks for 7s) |
| Hunter | HP 180 → 210, bows get quivers of 6 to 8 arrows by rarity |
| Assassin | HP 160 → 190, base stamina 100 → 130, Poison Dagger damage doubled |
| Sorcerer | HP 170 → 220, big damage buffs, Rumble now hits through doors and walls |
What Playtest 3 added
- The Outer Ruins, a new dungeon with goblins, skeletons, demons, killer plants, fire spirits and bandits, plus two new bosses: the Skeletree and the Goblin Chief.
- Crafting and salvage. Blueprints drop from chests, loot bags, fallen players and level-up rewards. You gather components and pay a fee in Crowns, the game’s currency, to craft. Unwanted gear can be broken back down into components.
- Gear modifiers. Cursed Fragments, earned from level-ups and successful escapes, buy Damage and Defense modifiers that boost equipment by up to 20%.
- New armor sets (Moss, Goblin and Forest) for every class, level-up rewards at the Raven’s Nest Tavern and an intro quest for new players.
- Quality of life. Fallen teammates show on the minimap, a 40-Crown Respawn Sigil, rarity icons and Stronghold Keys with three uses.
The bosses got tougher too. The Wraith and the Cursed Knight went from 3,000 to 3,500 HP.
How the playtests work
Ravengard is not open all the time yet. Hypixel opens the servers for a weekend or a few days, collects feedback, then shuts them and resets progress. Announcements go up in the News and Announcements section of the Hypixel Forums, and the team ran a Q&A on the official Hypixel Discord on November 4 (it requires a linked Minecraft account). If you want to be in the next test, watch the forums and Discord rather than waiting for an in-game notice.
The community is already building around it. Helper mods such as RavengardPlus on CurseForge and RavenNest on Modrinth add item-value and upgrade markers to your inventory. Both say they follow Hypixel’s allowed-modifications rules. As always, only install them from their official project pages: our malware report from this week shows why.
Why it matters
Hypixel’s newest big games have been SkyBlock updates and small arcade modes. Ravengard is its first brand-new flagship in years, and its first to leave 1.8 behind. If extraction works in Minecraft, it could pull a lot of the PvP crowd onto modern versions. If it doesn’t, it will still show how far a server can push custom content with resource packs alone. For more on what is happening on the network right now, see our story on the SkyBlock 0.27.3 Magic Find rework.
