Games Like Minecraft: The 11 Best Alternatives in 2026 (Survival, Building and Free)

Most lists of games like Minecraft throw twenty titles at you in no particular order, some of them dead or still "coming soon." That's no help when what you're after is the part of Minecraft you keep coming back for. So this list is sorted by that: survival games first, then building and sandbox games, then a short free section. Every game here is out and playable as of October 2026, and every entry tells you how it compares to Minecraft, what it costs, where it runs and whether your friends can come along.

What you actually like about Minecraft

Be honest with yourself here, because it changes the answer completely:

• Survival. The first night in a dirt hut, the creeping dread of a cave. Start with the survival section.
• Building. You play mostly to make things. Head for the building and sandbox section.
• Exploration. A world that keeps going past the horizon. Valheim, Hytale and Cubic Odyssey are your picks.
• Multiplayer. The server with your mates is the whole point. Check the multiplayer column in the table below.
• Mods. You've never played vanilla in your life. Look at Hytale's mod browser, or Luanti, which is built for making games.

Survival games like Minecraft

Terraria

The one everybody names first, and fair enough. Terraria has been around since May 2011 and runs the same dig, craft, survive loop as Minecraft, just flattened into 2D side-view. That one change makes it a very different game to build in. You can play online co-op or PvP. It's $9.99 on Steam for Windows, macOS and Linux, and it goes on sale regularly, so check before you pay full price. If you've only got ten bucks, this is where I'd spend it.

Core Keeper

Imagine Minecraft's caving, except the cave is the whole game. Core Keeper is a top-down 2D mining and survival sandbox with base-building. It left early access with its 1.0 release in August 2024. Up to 8 players can play online co-op with drop-in, drop-out play, and you can run a dedicated server for your group. It's $19.99 on Steam.

Valheim

If your favourite Minecraft memory is surviving a new world with friends, Valheim is the one. It's a co-op survival game for 1 to 10 players set in a procedurally generated Norse-myth world, so like a Minecraft seed, every world is different. After years in early access (since February 2021), it hit its full 1.0 release on September 9, 2026, and added PS5 and Switch 2 versions alongside PC and Xbox, with crossplay across all of them. That makes it the easiest pick here for a friend group spread across different machines. It's paid; check your platform's store for the price.

7 Days to Die

Kotaku called it "Minecraft with Gravity", and the quote sits right on its own Steam page. It's voxel-based with fully destructible terrain, so digging and building work much like Minecraft, gravity included. It sat in early access from December 2013 until its full release in July 2024. You get co-op and PvP, online and over LAN. At $44.99 on Steam it isn't cheap, so wait for a sale if you're unsure.

Building and sandbox games like Minecraft

Vintage Story

Vintage Story is one of the closest things to Minecraft on this page. It's blocky and voxel-based, but with a much deeper, crafting-heavy survival loop. It isn't on Steam: you buy it from the official site, Humble Store or itch.io, and it runs on Windows, macOS and Linux. Multiplayer is there, dedicated servers included. The developers are refreshingly blunt about its status, saying they still consider it early access "not due to its lack of stability and performance, but because our full vision is far from implemented." It's paid. If Minecraft survival started feeling too easy years ago, this is my pick.

Hytale

Yes, it's real, and yes, you can play it. Hytale went into early access on January 13, 2026, after a bumpy ride: it was cancelled in June 2025, then bought back by its original founders in November 2025 and revived under an independent Hypixel Studios. Its own site says early access focuses on "exploration, responsive combat, and robust building — alongside creator-first tools." You can play it on Windows PC only, through its own client, and you buy it from the Hytale store rather than Steam. Reports put it at around $20 to start, but check the store. Multiplayer means community servers you can browse from inside the game, and recent updates have added server discovery and a mod browser. Several early reviews call it thin but promising, which sounds about right for a game less than a year into early access.

Cubic Odyssey

"Minecraft meets No Man's Sky" is how press and players keep describing it, and it's a fair summary. Cubic Odyssey is a voxel open-world survival, crafting and exploration game set in space. It reached full release by July 2025 and added dedicated server hosting in October 2025, so co-op on a server of your own is properly supported. It's paid, on Steam, and the price moves around with sales.

Portal Knights

Portal Knights trades Minecraft's one endless map for islands you hop between. It's been around since February 2016 on PC, with console versions in 2017. You get 4-player online co-op or 2-player split screen, and the split screen is the big selling point if there's one console in your house and two kids fighting over it. You can play it on Steam, PS4, Xbox One, Switch and mobile. It's paid, and it gets cheap during sales.

Dragon Quest Builders 2

This is Minecraft with a story. The main mode is a single-player campaign that keeps handing you goals, which is exactly what some people miss in Minecraft's open survival. Up to 4 players can build together online in the sandbox mode. It's $24.99 on Steam (Windows) and you can also get it on Switch, PS4 and Xbox. One snag: it isn't currently supported on Steam Deck.

Free games like Minecraft (the short version)

Is there a free game like Minecraft? Yes, a few good ones. Here's the quick version:

• Luanti (formerly Minetest) is a free, open-source voxel engine that comes with whole games built on it, like VoxeLibre and Mineclonia. You can run it on Windows, macOS, Linux, BSDs and Android. My Minecraft vs Luanti comparison covers how close it gets.
• Bloxd.io runs in your browser with no download and no login, and it's built around Bedwars, Skywars, parkour, survival and creative modes.

For the full rundown, Minecraft Classic included, plus which "free" games come with a catch, see my list of the best free games like Minecraft.

Games like Minecraft for kids

Shopping for a younger player? Ratings and chat rules matter more than the feature list. My guide to safe games like Roblox for kids looks at who can talk to your child and what each game sells. If it's really the Roblox-style "platform full of games" they're after, my list of free games like Roblox covers that side.

Games like Minecraft at a glance

Dollar figures are standard Steam prices as of October 2026, before sales. Hytale's is a reported starting price on its own store, so check there. The free picks live on the free list.

Games like Minecraft on Steam

Terraria, Core Keeper, Valheim, 7 Days to Die, Cubic Odyssey, Portal Knights and Dragon Quest Builders 2 are all on Steam. The two exceptions: Hytale sells only through its own store, and Vintage Story through its own site, Humble or itch.io.

What is the most similar game to Minecraft?

No single winner. It depends which Minecraft you mean. For the blocky look plus a crafting-heavy survival loop, it's Vintage Story. For the look and feel plus big modding plans, it's Hytale, as long as you're fine with early access. And if what you love is the loop more than the cubes, Terraria is the closest in spirit.

What game is replacing Minecraft?

Nothing has. Hytale is the name everyone throws out, and it's finally playable: early access since January 2026, Windows PC only, around $20 to start, and going by several reviews, much thinner on content than Minecraft right now. It's not vaporware anymore, but calling it a Minecraft replacement is a stretch.

So which one should you buy?

On a budget, get Terraria. For survival with friends, especially across consoles, get Valheim. If Minecraft feels too easy, try Vintage Story. If you're curious about the game everyone keeps calling "the next Minecraft," Hytale is playable now, just go in knowing it's early access. And if you don't want to spend anything, the free list has you covered.