Crafting Games That Are Like Minecraft: 14 Steam Picks

The best games that are like Minecraft give you the same quiet thrill: a world that is yours to take apart, a pickaxe in your hand, and the moment your first shelter keeps the night out. Minecraft works because it never tells you what to do next. You dig because you want better tools, build because you want somewhere to live, and wander because the next hill might hide a cave worth a whole evening.

Every pick below keeps at least two of those pillars (mining, crafting, building, surviving) and adds its own twist, whether that is Norse bosses, a raft on an endless ocean or a factory the size of a city. Here is the short version, with player modes and release dates as Steam lists them.

What makes a game feel like Minecraft?

Minecraft is a sandbox: a game that hands you tools and a world and lets you set your own goals. Its worlds are procedurally generated, meaning the game assembles terrain from rules rather than a hand-drawn map, so every new world is different. On top of that it offers two moods: Survival, where hunger and night-time monsters push you to dig and craft, and Creative, where you simply build.

Most games that are like Minecraft borrow some mix of these four ingredients:

• Reshaping the world. Digging tunnels, flattening hills, placing blocks. Some games use voxels (3D pixels you can add or remove), others use 2D tiles.
• Crafting progression. Better materials lead to better tools, which reach better materials.
• A reason to build. Shelter from danger, storage, or just showing off.
• Friends. Shared worlds where one person farms and another goes caving.

No single game matches all of Minecraft, so the sections below are grouped by which part of it you love most. If you want an even wider spread, our sandbox games like Minecraft roundup covers more ground, and every list we publish lives under games like the ones you love.

3D building adventures that feel closest to Minecraft

These are the games that are like Minecraft in the most direct way: a 3D world, a free hand to build, and enough danger to make shelter matter.

Enshrouded

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If your favorite Minecraft memories involve flattening a hillside for a castle, start here. Enshrouded’s land is fully terraformable, and its whole pitch is that you can build anything, anywhere. The difference is the wrapper: you play a Flameborn, the last hope of the kingdom of Embervale, pushing back a corrupting fog called the Shroud.

You hunt, farm, fish and scavenge, rescue survivors who turn your lonely hut into a working settlement, then head out with a grappling hook and glider. Combat runs through a deep skill tree, so you can lean warrior, ranger or battlemage, or blend them.

It suits players who want Minecraft’s freedom with an action RPG (a role-playing game with character growth and real-time fights) attached. Steam lists single-player, online co-op and full controller support, on Windows.

Valheim

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Valheim takes the Minecraft survival loop and gives it a direction. You arrive in a procedurally generated afterlife shaped by Norse myth, and you progress by defeating regional bosses called the Forsaken. Each biome has its own resources and enemies, so, much like moving from stone to iron to diamond, every new region asks for better gear.

Between fights you chop, craft, raise longhouses and eventually build a ship to sail toward unexplored land. Building is where many groups lose whole weekends.

It is the strongest pick here for a friend group: Steam lists it for 1 to 10 players with online co-op, on Windows, macOS and Linux. Our survival games like Valheim list goes further down this road.

DRAGON QUEST BUILDERS 2

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This is the most literal answer to “Minecraft with a story.” It is a block-building RPG set in a land where a cult, the Children of Hargon, has outlawed building and creating, so every wall you place is a small act of defiance. You travel with a companion named Malroth, help townsfolk, fight monsters and harvest crops.

The single-player campaign teaches building through quests, which makes it friendly for anyone who finds an empty Minecraft world intimidating. When you want to go bigger, an online sandbox mode lets up to 4 players build together. The Steam version also bundles extra building packs and outfits. Windows, with full controller support.

Portal Knights

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Portal Knights wraps Minecraft-style crafting in a lighter action RPG. You choose Warrior, Mage or Ranger, level up, craft weapons and travel through portals between dozens of randomly generated 3D islands, gathering materials from caves, lakes and dungeons. You can build almost anything, and private islands give you a place for a castle to show friends.

Its standout feature for families and couples: Steam lists Shared/Split Screen co-op, meaning two people can play on one PC screen, plus Remote Play Together, which streams a local game to a friend online. It is the only pick here with split-screen. Windows only.

2D and top-down games that are like Minecraft

Seen from the side or from above, these games trade first-person views for clearer bases and busier fights. The digging-and-crafting heart is the same.

Terraria

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Terraria is Minecraft turned on its side: a randomly generated 2D world you dig into, build on and fight across. You chase raw materials underground to craft ever better gear and machinery, take on bigger and bigger foes, and build housing for the allies you meet along the way.

Where Minecraft is relaxed about goals, Terraria leans harder into bosses and combat, so it suits players who liked the Nether and the End more than quiet building. Steam lists single-player, online co-op, online PvP, Steam Workshop (Valve’s hub for player-made content) and controller support, on Windows, macOS and Linux. See our games like Terraria list for more in this style.

Core Keeper

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Core Keeper is for the player whose favorite Minecraft moment is a long mining session. You wake in a forgotten cavern and dig outward around a mysterious ancient Core, mining ores, crafting tools, building a base, and farming, fishing and raising animals along the way. Later you add automated machinery for mining, smelting and storage, and face huge Titans.

The top-down view keeps things cozy until a boss shows up. Steam lists it as a 1-8 player mining sandbox with online co-op and controller support, on Windows and Linux.

Necesse

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Necesse mixes Terraria-style questing with a dash of colony management. Its infinite, procedurally generated world holds dungeons, bosses, seas and ores, but the twist is your settlement: you recruit settlers who farm, tend animals and gather resources while you sail off to fight pirate kings, dragons and fallen wizards.

If you ever used Minecraft villagers as a workforce and wished they did more, this is your game. Steam lists single-player, online and LAN co-op (LAN means playing over the same local network), PvP, Steam Workshop and controller support, and the store page mentions dedicated servers for hundreds of players. Windows, macOS and Linux. Colony fans should also try our colony sim games like RimWorld.

Starbound

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Starbound opens with a disaster: you flee your home, your ship is damaged, and you beam down to a planet to repair it. After that the galaxy is open. Follow the story to save the universe, or ignore it to farm, collect creatures, raid dungeons or become an intergalactic landlord.

Building is the draw for Minecraft fans, with hundreds of materials and over two thousand objects for cabins, castles, underwater arcades or space stations. It was made for multiplayer and mods: Steam lists online co-op, PvP, cross-platform multiplayer and Steam Workshop, on Windows, macOS and Linux.

Survival sandboxes with a harder edge

Some players love Minecraft most when the sun goes down. These games that are like Minecraft turn up the pressure, with zombies, hunger or a shark under your floor.

7 Days to Die

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7 Days to Die is Minecraft’s monster nights with the safety off. It blends first-person shooting, survival horror, tower defense and RPG growth in a post-apocalyptic world, and the world is fully destructible and moldable, so you can dig, shape and reinforce terrain much like a voxel builder.

You loot, mine and craft from over 500 recipes, then design forts with traps, electric power, auto turrets and automated doors to hold off the undead. It suits adults who found creepers too polite; it is not one for young kids. Steam lists single-player, online and LAN co-op and PvP, cross-platform multiplayer and a level editor, on Windows, macOS and Linux.

Unturned

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Unturned is the pick if you want something free. Steam lists it as free to play, with in-app purchases that the store page describes as cosmetic only, with no pay-to-win. It is an open-world zombie survival sandbox: scavenge, hunt, build and fortify a base, then head back out for airdrops and fights.

Among free games that are like Minecraft, its blocky style will feel familiar, and Steam Workshop support brings a deep pool of community maps and mods. Steam lists single-player, online and LAN co-op and PvP, and a level editor, on Windows, macOS and Linux.

Raft

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Raft shrinks Minecraft’s world down to a few planks on an endless ocean. You start with a plastic hook, drag in floating debris, and slowly grow your raft into a floating home while managing hunger, thirst and a man-eating shark. Later you sail to islands, scavenge reefs and find the last traces of civilization above water.

It suits pairs or small groups who like a clear goal and a steady feeling of upgrade. Steam lists single-player and online co-op, on Windows.

Games for Minecraft engineers and redstone builders

If your Minecraft base ended up as a web of redstone, automatic farms and minecart lines, these games that are like Minecraft put engineering at the center.

ASTRONEER

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ASTRONEER replaces the pickaxe with a Terrain Tool that digs, collects, shapes and even colors the ground as if it were clay. Across a solar system of seven celestial bodies, each explorable down to its core, you snap together modular bases with power plants, crafting stations, harvesters, automation and railways.

The pressure comes from survival and logistics rather than heavy combat, which makes it a gentle pick for younger players or anyone who loved Minecraft’s exploration more than its mobs. Steam lists single-player, online co-op and controller support, on Windows.

Space Engineers

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Space Engineers is for the player who spends more time on contraptions than on survival. You design ships, stations and planetary bases block by block, and every block and voxel has mass, inertia and damage, so a badly built ship really does break apart. Terrain can be drilled and carved too.

Like Minecraft, it offers Creative and Survival modes, so you can build freely or mine for every part. Steam lists single-player, co-op, online PvP, cross-platform multiplayer, Steam Workshop and a level editor, on Windows.

Satisfactory

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Satisfactory is the natural next step once your automatic farms stop feeling like enough. It is a first-person factory builder on an alien planet: harvest resources, run conveyor belts, pipe liquids, and automate trucks and trains to distant outposts while your factories climb many stories high. Exploration and combat are there, but only as a side dish.

Steam lists single-player, online co-op and cross-platform multiplayer, on Windows. More automation and building picks sit under the best games on Steam.

How to choose between these Minecraft-style games

Start with the part of Minecraft you would miss most, then check who you play with and which computer you use. A quick guide:

• Free-form building: Enshrouded, Space Engineers (Creative mode), DRAGON QUEST BUILDERS 2’s online sandbox.
• Mining and crafting progression: Terraria, Core Keeper, Necesse.
• Survival tension: Valheim, 7 Days to Die, Raft.
• Redstone-style engineering: Satisfactory, Space Engineers, ASTRONEER.
• A story to follow: DRAGON QUEST BUILDERS 2, Starbound, Enshrouded.

A worked example

Say you have a group of six friends. One plays on a Mac, one on a Linux laptop, and everyone wants a shared world with a goal. Check the table: Core Keeper caps at 8 players but has no macOS version on Steam. DRAGON QUEST BUILDERS 2’s sandbox stops at 4. Valheim supports up to 10 players and lists Windows, macOS and Linux, so it covers the whole group. If two of the six are not sure they want to pay, Unturned is free to play on all three systems and makes a good first night before you commit.

Mistakes to avoid

• Ignoring the camera. Terraria, Starbound, Core Keeper and Necesse are 2D or top-down. Great games, but not what you want if first-person exploring is the magic for you.
• Assuming split-screen. Of these games that are like Minecraft, only Portal Knights lists Shared/Split Screen co-op on Steam. The rest are online co-op, and some add LAN.
• Skipping the platform line. Several picks are Windows only on Steam, including Enshrouded, Satisfactory, Raft and ASTRONEER.
• Expecting endless freedom from a story game. DRAGON QUEST BUILDERS 2’s campaign guides you step by step; its online sandbox is where the open building lives.
• Handing a horror game to a young Minecraft fan. 7 Days to Die is survival horror. ASTRONEER, Portal Knights or DRAGON QUEST BUILDERS 2 are gentler.

If co-op is the deciding factor, our best co-op games on Steam list sorts picks by group size, and the best survival games on Steam covers the tougher end of the genre. For something calmer between building sessions, try our farm sim games like Stardew Valley.

Questions and answers

What is the closest game to Minecraft on Steam?

For 3D building in a world you can reshape, Enshrouded is the closest match: its land is fully terraformable and you can build almost anywhere, with survival and RPG combat on top. DRAGON QUEST BUILDERS 2 is closest in look, a block-building RPG with a story campaign and an online sandbox for up to 4 players. Portal Knights adds chunky islands and split-screen co-op.

What game is replacing Minecraft?

No single game has replaced Minecraft. Different games have taken over different parts of it instead. Valheim and Enshrouded handle the survival-and-building side with more combat and bosses. Terraria and Core Keeper focus on digging and crafting. Satisfactory and Space Engineers take Minecraft's engineering side much further. Many players keep Minecraft and add one of these when they want a fresh goal or a different setting.

Are there free games like Minecraft on PC?

Yes. Unturned is free to play on Steam. It is an open-world zombie survival sandbox where you scavenge, hunt, build and fortify a base, with a blocky style that will feel familiar. Its store page says purchases are cosmetic only, with no pay-to-win. It supports online and LAN co-op, PvP and Steam Workshop maps and mods, and runs on Windows, macOS and Linux.

What are the best survival games like Minecraft?

Five strong survival picks on Steam are Valheim (Norse survival for 1 to 10 players), 7 Days to Die (zombie survival with base defense in a destructible world), Raft (surviving and building on the open ocean), Enshrouded (survival action RPG with free-form building) and Core Keeper (an underground mining sandbox for 1 to 8 players). All five support online co-op according to their Steam pages.

Which games like Minecraft can I play with friends?

Valheim supports 1 to 10 players in online co-op, and Core Keeper supports 1 to 8. DRAGON QUEST BUILDERS 2 has an online sandbox for up to 4 builders. Necesse offers online and LAN co-op plus dedicated servers. If you want to share one screen, Portal Knights is the pick here that lists Shared/Split Screen co-op and Remote Play Together on Steam.