We’d like to give an honorable mention to The Blockheads (APKMirror). It was a popular Minecraft alternative for many years, but Noodlecake had to take the game down due to disputes with Google Play. It’s still good, but you have to install the APK yourself now. We have a guide for that here if you need it.
LostMiner is a lot like Terraria. It uses 2D style game play but still includes things like mining, building, and crafting various things. You can also find bad guys, animals, and other items as you play. The graphics won’t win any awards, but they fit the style of the game fairly well. Most of the complaints are bug related but this is an indie game so that is to be expected a little bit. Still, the game is relatively inexpensive and surprisingly fun to play.
Pixel Worlds is a fun mix of MMO and Minecraft (or, more specifically, Terraria). Players play in a 2D world with various mining and crafting mechanics. However, there are also dungeons to explore and other stuff. What makes it unique is the inclusion of other players into the game. You can join servers already in progress or start your own for other players to join. It’s a unique experience and it’s also cross platform with PC and Mac.
Roblox is often compared to Minecraft, even if Roblox is a lot bigger with a lot more stuff to do. Roblox is a platform where people can play a large number of game types made by community members. Some of those can include building and crafting. They can also include shooting and puzzles, and all kinds of stuff. Where Roblox and Minecraft cross paths in terms of freedom. Players can play whatever they want and aren’t restricted some a linear path. This high-level sandbox style of game play isn’t like Minecraft, but it feels like Minecraft in some regards.
Survivalcraft is one of the closest Minecraft style games you can find. You end up moored on a shore of a block planet. The goal is to build stuff, craft things, make weapons, defend yourself, grow plants, and all of that stuff. This one also goes that special step further where you can build functioning machines that actually do things. In addition, you can play with up to three players in split screen mode if you play on a device that can handle it. Survivalcraft 2 hasn’t seen an update since 2017 so we’re a bit worried that it’s abandoned, but it plays fine for right now.
Terraria is Minecraft’s closest competitor. It has a lot of the same elements including mining, crafting, surviving, and killing the occasional boss. However, this one takes place in a 2D space instead of a 3D space like Minecraft. The game includes multiplayer with up to seven other players, over 20 biomes to explore, various NPCs to seek out, and more. This wasn’t here for a year or two because it hadn’t received updates in a very long time. However, it seems the developers are back on the ball now. This one is also free with Google Play Pass if you use it.
If we missed any of the best games like Minecraft for Android, tell us about them in the comments! You can also check out our latest app and game lists here!
- Trove.
- Roblox.
- No Man’s Sky.
- Deep Rock Galactic.
- Stardew Valley.
- Terraria.
- Fortnite: Save the World.
- Starbound.
10 best games like Minecraft
Ark: Survival Evolved
Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
While “Minecraft with dinosaurs” is probably a little too reductive of a description, it certainly gives you an idea of what to expect from Ark: Survival Evolved. You gain consciousness on the beaches of a mysterious island chock full of Jurassic beasts, but it’s not long before your skills in crafting and combat come in handy in the quest to become king of the jungle. Ark is a game obsessed with Darwinism and the hierarchy of nature. Start as naked prey, become an apex predator. The game slowly becomes less of a survival experience and more of a power fantasy, emulating the concept of evolution in a way that few other titles have.
Platforms: PC
Cube World has its roots in crafting and character progression, and takes place in randomly generated worlds full of blocks as far as the eye can see. There’s a strong focus on cosmetic customization, with characters able to modify their armor and other wearables for the sake of fabulous self expression. But Cube World cribs from games like The Legend of Zelda too. Inspired by such exploration-heavy games, Cube World gives players an arsenal of skills to better help them trudge through the endless world. Choosing a class and specialization for combat turns the game from a simple exploration simulator into a meaty RPG adventure, packed with missions, bosses, and creepy caves to explore.
Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One
Trove is a voxel game, so its resemblances to Minecraft are immediately apparent, at least from a visual point of view. Trion World’s action-oriented MMO features mines and caverns crawling with enemies and the promise of untold rewards, letting players team up with friends to progress their character and conquer Trove’s sizeable to-do list. However, Trove is more concerned with being an MMO than a Minecraft clone, with its extensive range of classes designed to facilitate and encourage variation in playstyle. Its employment of loot, bosses and dungeons again draws from the well of RPG tropes to deviate from the conventions of its aesthetic inspiration.
Platforms: PC
The tagline for Starbound is a pretty good summation of what to expect: “survive, discover, explore, and fight.” Beyond that, an infinite universe means there are loads of possibilities in its generous heaps of 2D co-op gameplay, not least when it comes to shaping the world and discovering new locations to set up shop. Exploring the game with friends – whether its just to farm, try your hand at space exploration, or create weaponry for quests – is designed to be enjoyable in itself, rather than just a means to an end. And while it is an open-ended experience, the addition of quests and NPCs imbues the game with contextual purpose, unlike the narrative-free adventuring of Minecraft.
Platforms: PC
At first glance, Colony Survival is another game which could easily be mistaken for Minecraft (albeit Minecraft with some very nice shaders), but it’s actually a very different beast. An unusual blend of tower defence and survival strategy, you’re tasked with building a colony from scratch (or assigning your various colonists to build it for you) and defending it against the hordes of monsters that attack your settlement each night. The colonists are the core of the gameplay, able to be assigned by you to different roles including guards, farmers and miners, and generally being a lot more clever than your average mumbling Minecraft villager.
Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One
At its core, Minecraft is all about unleashing creativity and problem-solving. You need a bed, so you gather the materials, arrange them as needed, and construct a bed. Kerbal Space Program is much the same way. No, youre not out in the wilderness building massive replicas of famous locales, but youre using critical thinking skills to help cute cartoon critters survive the harsh reality of space travel. And, like Minecraft, Kerbal Space Program has been used by teachers in schools as an educational tool. See, games can be fun and educational!
Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, iOS, Android
The Creeper will always remain the king when it comes to survival crafting scares, but Don’t Starve (opens in new tab)’s consortium of creatures come pretty close to dethroning that Minecraft icon. The similarities also extends to Don’t Starve’s emphasis on staying alive through the crafting of tools and shelter, despite your incredibly limited resources. However, the game stands apart thanks to its wonderfully gothic aesthetic, which looks like a childrens book fused with H.P. Lovecraft. And, as the title implies, Klei Entertainment’s roguelike uses hunger as merely the first challenge for players to race against in a tough-as-nails survival experience. Staying nourished has never been so intense, and fire has never been a greater friend.
1 Dragon Quest Builders 2
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PS4, PC
Another game which wears its Minecraft inspiration on its sleeve is survival-craft action RPG Dragon Quest Builders 2. The game drops you into a charming block-based fantasy land being oppressed by an evil cult. The cult’s aims? To eliminate all those who dare to be creative. As a result, the world is falling to bits, and it is your job to defy the cult and help the people reconstruct their destroyed land. Building on the decades-long success of the Dragon Quest series, the game differs from its inspiration with the inclusion of a variety of RPG-style quests, as well as familiar series elements such as slimes, quirky dialogue and an enchantingly retro soundtrack by series regular, composer Koichi Sugiyama.
Platforms: PC
The freedom to design and build a castle is just as fun here as it is in Minecraft. Youll dig into the medieval land around your abode, and generally use the environment to fend off invading players. Both the rewards of construction and hilarity of destruction are where King Arthurs Gold excels. And with up to 32 players in multiplayer, King Arthur’s Gold can become ferociously chaotic, but always in a good way. Players will have to learn how to properly utilize the three classes, while also getting used to the physics of the game’s combat tools, like the catapult. Also, there are sharks, and sharks are awesome.
Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
Lego Worlds is based heavily on Minecraft, which itself takes a lot of inspiration from Lego itself, so yeah, you could say these two games have quite a bit in common. You can destroy and build ‘en masse’ in Lego Worlds, tearing down entire environments in one foul swoop to build fantastical structures using its suite of robust crafting tools. But there’s also a campaign mode, collectibles, classic Lego-style gameplay, and a wonderfully theatrical Peter Serafinowicz narrating the whole thing. Lego Worlds brings that classic Lego charm to the genre that it’s partly responsible for creating, which lends the game an infectious quality that manages to constantly charm the pants off of anyone messing around in its brick-based biomes.
Platforms: PC
Survival meets resource management in this time-eater from Wube Software. After crash landing on an alien planet, it’s up to you to build the machines to survive (and potentially escape) this hostile new world. The developers have made it no secret that they were inspired by Minecraft mods such as IndustrialCraft, and the spirit of building and surviving is no secret in Factorio. The game is one of the more complex ones on this list, but with time to invest and careful organisation, you could soon be the owner of a shiny new industrial sprawl. However, beware: The alien wildlife has been taking lessons from the zombies and creepers, and will grow increasingly hostile to you the more you build and pollute their planet!
Clonk is a series of video games that mix action, strategy and platform gameplay. Some of the games are available for free while some must be purchased. While the games are very enjoyable as a single player experience, they are even more fun with friends and thanks to the large number of multiplayer options it is very easy to connect with other players. The Clonk series started back in 1994 with a simple game and has since been re-released a number of times to now include a collection of over 10…[Read Review]
Trove brings the blocky sandbox genre into the MMO arena with an expansive loot based title that mixes two leading game genres. In Trove players will select from several classes which will be your avatar for the adventure filled with making friends, exploring dungeons, enhancing your equipment and even building up your very own corner of the game universe. The pillar of this adventure is your selected class which each come with their own variant of a basic attack and a range of abilities (usuall…[Read Review]
Pushing the ever increasing number of Lego games into a more sandbox environment, Lego Worlds gives you the goal of becoming a Master Builder as you explore a range of Lego themed worlds. This time around your Lego themed adventure is bigger than ever though with a mostly open world that is also procedurally generated with elements of building resulting in a Minecraft like experience. Lego Worlds starts your Master Builder adventure after a less than stellar landing into Pirate Playground where …[Read Review]
Focusing on zombie survival the free to play multiplayer game known as Unturned spent 3 years in Early Access before its final release on the Steam platform in July 2017. Since release the game has not only proved popular in its core gameplay but also the Arena mode which is similar to battle royale titles such as PUBG. In November 2020 the game was expanded to consoles with releases on PS4 and Xbox One as a paid experience. Regardless of the game mode players opt for the same basic premise rema…[Read Review]
Block Earth is one of the growing number of simple block building games developed off the success of Minecraft. Without a survival element Block Earth is solely a creative gameplay experience which is available on your iOS device with free and paid options. With a free install you’ll get the bare bones of gameplay although you’ll still have no problem creating your own customised worlds. However, paying players no doubt have a leg up in terms of usability (e.g. jetpack) and variety (…[Read Review]