When you first step through the Forgotten Temple’s blue portal, the whole place can feel cryptic — a glowing statue, a strange dimension, the suggestion of a creature catalogue you haven’t started yet. The Memory System is Hytale’s central progression engine, but it only works once you deliberately activate it. And here’s the part that catches most players off guard: it isn’t retroactive.
Every creature you encounter before touching the Heart of Orbis doesn’t count. Explore too much of your starting biome before finding the Temple and you’ll permanently miss Memories for common mobs you’ve already killed dozens of times. That single fact makes early Temple activation one of the most important decisions in your run [1].
This guide covers everything: how to activate the system, how Memory collection actually works (including the mechanics that trip people up), every milestone reward from 10 to 200, what Life Essence does and why you should spend it freely, how Essence of Void and Voidheart differ from each other, what actually unlocks when you hit 100 Memories, and the most efficient path to get there.
What Is the Memory System and Why Does It Matter?
The Memory System is Hytale’s creature encyclopaedia — but it does a lot more than catalogue what you’ve seen. Each Memory you collect contributes toward milestone rewards: early on, that means Eternal Seeds and extra Teleporters; later, Morph Potions and Backpack Upgrades. The big one, at 100 Memories, is the unlock for Ancient Gateway crafting — the game’s most content-rich late-game portals [1][3].
There are 240 total Memories available in early access, one for each unique creature type spread across every biome — from the passive rabbits in your starting forest to hostile Void entities that only spawn at night [2]. Think of it as a Pokédex that rewards curiosity: the more of Orbis you explore, the faster you fill it, and the faster you unlock what comes next.
The progression hook is intentional. Hytale is designed so that combat skill alone doesn’t unlock the best content — systematic exploration does. Players who treat every new biome as a Memory-farming opportunity rather than just a resource run will hit the 100-milestone significantly faster than those who keep grinding the same zones [4].
How to Find and Enter the Forgotten Temple
The Forgotten Temple Gateway is a cross-shaped stone structure found throughout the world. Look for a vortex or portal icon on your compass — that’s the marker for the nearest one. They appear in multiple zones, so there’s usually one within reach from your starting area [4].
At the entrance, an Earth Golem guards the gateway. The good news: you don’t have to fight it. The golem is entirely optional — the portal entrance is accessible regardless. If you do take it down, it drops Emeralds and Green Crystal Shards on a renewable respawn cycle, making it a decent early farm target on repeat visits. There’s also at least one loot chest on the gateway’s second floor worth grabbing on your way through [2].
Head to the blue portal on the bottom floor. Stepping through takes you into the Edge of the Echo — a separate hub dimension containing the Forgotten Temple proper. At the centre of this area, inside a stone gazebo, stands the Heart of Orbis statue. Interact with it and the Memory System activates. From this moment forward, every new creature you encounter will generate a Memory [1][2].
Make this trip as early as possible. The sooner you activate the Heart of Orbis, the fewer permanent gaps you’ll have in your Memory collection. Players who delay until after exploring most of their starting biome regularly report missing 15–25 Memories for common creatures they’d already encountered — those are gone for good [4].
Already using Teleporters? Link one directly to the Forgotten Temple Gateway so you can submit Memories and collect milestone rewards without making the full journey each time. For a complete breakdown of Teleporter setup, see our Hytale Teleporter Guide.
How Memory Collection Works
Once the Heart of Orbis is active, Memory collection is mostly automatic — but there are a handful of mechanics that regularly trip up new players.
A Memory records when you get within approximately five to six blocks of a creature you haven’t seen before [2]. You don’t need to attack it, kill it, or perform any special action. Proximity is enough. A notification appears in the bottom-right corner of your screen confirming the new entry [5].
A few important details:
- Some mobs require two close encounters before a Memory registers — don’t assume one pass always counts [2].
- Flying and bird creatures won’t register if you’re standing on the ground below them. You need to reach their elevation — pillar up, climb a hill, or ascend a tree to get within range [2].
- Your Memories tab has a 48-entry cap. Once full, no new Memories will record until you return to the Heart of Orbis and submit what you’ve collected [2].
That last point matters more than it sounds. It’s easy to explore for hours without realising your tab filled up, then discover you missed dozens of unique creatures because the system silently stopped recording. Build a Heart of Orbis check-in into your routine — before a long expedition, and whenever you’ve cleared a new biome. The submission interaction takes under a minute and also triggers any milestone rewards you’ve reached [1][4].
Milestone Rewards: Complete Unlock List
There are five reward milestones in early access, each dispensed automatically when you interact with the Heart of Orbis after reaching the threshold [1].
| Memories | Rewards |
|---|---|
| 10 | 3 Decorative Chests, 2 Eternal Seeds |
| 25 | 3 Decorative Chests, 4 Eternal Seeds, 1 Additional Teleporter |
| 50 | Morph Potions (dog, frog, pigeon, mouse), 3 Decorative Chests, 4 Eternal Seeds, 1 Additional Teleporter |
| 100 | Ancient Gateway/Portal Fragments, Backpack Upgrade II, 3 Decorative Chests, 2 Eternal Seeds, 2 Additional Teleporters |
| 200 | Harvest Trophy, 2 Decorative Chests, 2 Eternal Seeds, 2 Additional Teleporters |
The 100-Memory milestone is the priority target. Backpack Upgrade II is a meaningful quality-of-life improvement on its own, but the Ancient Gateway/Portal Fragments are what unlock one of Hytale’s most rewarding content layers — covered in detail below.
The Morph Potions at 50 Memories are cosmetic: they let you temporarily take the form of a dog, frog, pigeon, or mouse. No combat advantage, but they’ve become popular for base-building activities and for reaching creature height when trying to scan bird mobs from above [1].
What Is Life Essence and How Do You Use It?
Life Essence appears as small green orbs radiating from plant life and living creatures across Orbis. It’s the most accessible of Hytale’s Essence types and forms the backbone of the game’s civilian economy — food, farming tools, and creature management [6].
How to get it:
- Picking flowers and harvesting plants
- Chopping trees and clearing foliage
- Harvesting crops (carrots, wheat, etc.)
- Defeating animals and enemies
- Looting chests
You’ll accumulate Life Essence just by playing normally. No dedicated farming routes are needed — casual exploration and combat generate a steady supply [6].
The primary sink is the Rootling Merchant inside the Forgotten Temple Gateway hub. This NPC sells food, consumables, and cooking ingredients with inventory that refreshes every three in-game days on a limited-quantity rotation. Checking back regularly and spending freely is more valuable than hoarding — there’s no meaningful advantage to stockpiling, given how readily it flows from normal play [6].
Secondary crafting uses:
- Feed Bag — 10 Life Essence + crops. Lures animals to a chosen location, useful for setting up passive base farms.
- Capture Crate — 50 Life Essence + wood. Transports small animals back to your base alive [6].
Life Essence doesn’t scale into the combat progression path. For weapon and workbench upgrades, you need the two Void resources covered next.
For more on this, see hytale farming guide.
Essence of Void vs Voidheart: Key Differences and Uses
Both resources drop from the same enemy type and both gate late-game content — but they serve completely different functions. Conflating them is one of the most common reasons players stall out in the mid-game.
Where to Get Them
Void creatures only spawn at night. There are no daytime sources for either material. The enemies that drop both include:
- Void Eyes
- Void Crawlers
- Void Spectres
- Void Spawns
- Void Larva
Essence of Void drops regularly from these enemies during ordinary farming. Voidhearts are rarer — a lower drop rate by design, since they gate the game’s most powerful recipes [7].
What Essence of Void Unlocks
Essence of Void advances your crafting infrastructure. It’s required to build the Arcanist’s Workbench (the recipe uses Thorium Bars, Linen, and Essence of Void), which is the crafting station you need for Ancient Gateways and other advanced recipes. Essence of Void is also used in crafting high-tier armour including Mithril armour at the Armorer’s Workbench — one of the strongest armour sets available in early access [7][8].
What Voidheart Unlocks
Voidheart is the rarer material and handles the weapon and workbench upgrade tree. It’s required to:
- Upgrade the Armorer’s Workbench to unlock Mithril and Adamantite recipe tiers
- Craft the Ice Crystal Staff and Flame Crystal Staff
- Craft high-tier weapons at the Blacksmith’s Anvil
- Unlock further Backpack Upgrades beyond what Memory milestones provide [7]
The simplest way to think about it: Essence of Void opens the doors (workbenches, crafting stations, high-tier armour), while Voidheart puts the best weapons behind those doors.
Advanced: Void Gateway Farming
Once you’ve built the Arcanist’s Workbench with Essence of Void, you can craft a Void Gateway — a dedicated portal to a high-density Void spawn zone. If relying on random night encounters for Voidhearts feels too slow, the Void Gateway is your long-term farming solution [7].
How 100 Memories Unlocks Ancient Gateway Crafting
The 100-Memory milestone delivers Backpack Upgrade II and, more importantly, Ancient Gateway/Portal Fragments. With those fragments and an Arcanist’s Workbench (which requires Essence of Void), you can craft Ancient Gateways — Hytale’s dedicated challenge portals [1][3].
Ancient Gateways are temporary portals to exclusive zones with unique enemies, rare loot, and powerful boss creatures unavailable in the main world. Each type requires different materials and has a limited active window before the portal closes, so going in prepared matters [3].
The four Ancient Gateway destinations in early access:
| Destination | Crafting Cost | Key Feature |
|---|---|---|
| Dragonspire Weald | 10 Cobalt Ingots + 30 Essence of Ice | Frost Dragon encounters |
| The Dread Wade | 10 Adamantite Ingots + 30 Essence of Fire | Rhino Toad and fire-zone enemies |
| Windrider Valley | 10 Thorium Ingots + 30 Essence of Life | 50% chance of spawning a Mage Tower |
| Silent Henges / Tal’kesi Refuge | Creative Mode only | 5 and 12-minute time limits respectively |
All three non-Creative gateways require the Arcanist’s Workbench to craft — which means your Memory and Essence of Void progression tracks converge here. Players who’ve been actively Memory-farming and doing night Void sessions simultaneously will reach this point in a natural flow, with both prerequisites ready at roughly the same time [3].
Early access note: some players have reported game crashes on first gateway entry. Save your world before activating a portal until this is patched [3].
Memory Farming Strategy: Fastest Path to 100
The core principle is simple: breadth beats depth. Revisiting the same biome and killing the same creatures gives you zero new Memories. Every new creature type in an unexplored zone is worth more than hundreds of repeat encounters in a zone you’ve already cleared.
Start With Passive Starter Zone Creatures
Your starting biome has a dense population of passive animals — rabbits, deer, birds, and other low-threat mobs. These are your easiest early Memories: no combat risk, high density. Walk the forest methodically and get within five to six blocks of everything you see. For bird mobs, find a cliff edge or tree line and position yourself at their flight height before approaching — scanning from the ground below won’t register [2].
Move Into New Biomes Aggressively
Once you’ve cleared what’s available in your starting zone, the fastest path to 100 is moving on. A single thorough walk through an unexplored biome typically yields 10–20 new Memories in a single session — creature types you simply can’t find anywhere else. Prioritise biome diversity over thorough coverage of zones you’ve already visited [4].
Night Sessions: Dual-Purpose Farming
Void creatures that appear at night generate Memories AND drop Essence of Void and Voidhearts. A night farming session pulls double duty: you’re pushing toward 100 Memories while stockpiling the materials you’ll need once you get there. Void Eyes and Void Spawns are the most accessible targets in the mid-game [7].
Manage the 48-Memory Cap
The single biggest inefficiency players hit is a silently full Memories tab. Once you reach 48, new creatures stop registering — with no on-screen warning while you’re out exploring. Build a Heart of Orbis check-in into every major exploration loop: return between biomes, before a long session, or any time you’ve been out for more than an in-game day. Submission takes under a minute and claims any milestone rewards you’ve hit since your last visit [2][4].
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to kill creatures to collect their Memory?
No. Getting within approximately five to six blocks of a creature you haven’t seen before is enough. No attack or kill required [2].
What happens if I find the Forgotten Temple late?
Any creatures encountered before activating the Heart of Orbis don’t count — the system is not retroactive. Those Memories are permanently missed. This is why early activation is strongly recommended [4].
Can I collect more than one Memory from the same creature type?
No. Each creature type gives one Memory on first encounter after activation. Subsequent encounters with the same species add nothing to your total [2].
Is the Earth Golem at the temple gateway required?
No. The golem doesn’t block the portal. You can walk past it and access the Heart of Orbis without fighting. Defeating it is optional but drops renewable Emeralds and Green Crystal Shards [2].
What’s the difference between Ancient Gateways (100 Memories) and the Void Gateway?
Ancient Gateways unlock at the 100-Memory milestone and lead to specific challenge zones: Dragonspire Weald, The Dread Wade, and Windrider Valley. The Void Gateway is a separate item crafted at the Arcanist’s Workbench — it’s a dedicated farming portal to dense Void spawn areas. They’re separate systems with different purposes [3][7].
How many Memories are there in Hytale in total?
240 Memories are available in early access, one per unique creature type across all biomes [1].
Sources
- List of All Memories and Rewards — Game8
- What Does the Forgotten Temple Gateway Do in Hytale — TheGamer
- Hytale Ancient Gateway Guide — Game8
- How to Gather Memories in Hytale — Shacknews
- Hytale Memories Explained — PC Gamer
- Essence of Life in Hytale: What It Does, Where to Spend It — AllThings.How
- Hytale Voidhearts and Void Essence Guide — GPORTAL
- How to Get Essence of the Void — Game8
I've been playing video games for over 20 years, spanning everything from early PC titles to modern open-world games. I started Switchblade Gaming to publish the kind of accurate, well-researched guides I always wanted to find — built on primary sources, tested in-game, and kept up to date after patches. I currently focus on Minecraft and Pokémon GO.