Quick picks
- Harder, slower survival: Vintage Story
- Destruction and physics: Teardown
- Free and open source: Luanti
- RPG adventure and creative tools: Hytale (Early Access)
The four at a glance
| Game | Best for | Price | Where to get it | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vintage Story | Deep, demanding survival | Paid | Developer's website | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Teardown | Destruction and heists | $29.99 | Steam | Windows |
| Luanti | Free play and modding | Free | Official site, app stores | Windows, macOS, Linux, Android |
| Hytale | Adventure, combat, creative building | From $19.99 | Official launcher | PC |
If you liked surviving your first night: Vintage Story
Vintage Story, by Anego Studios, takes the survival half of Minecraft and makes it slower, harsher and much more detailed. You start with almost nothing and work your way up through the ages: knapping stone tools, firing clay pots, then smelting copper and bronze long before iron is in reach. Seasons, temperature and food matter, and a careless first winter can end a run.
It's not for everyone. The pace is deliberate, and the game expects you to read, experiment and plan. In return you get one of the deepest wilderness simulations in any block game, a quietly unsettling story running underneath, and a strong modding scene. The latest stable version at the time of writing is 1.22.7, released in August 2026.
Two practical notes. It isn't on Steam, so you buy it from the developer's site and register a game account. And it runs natively on Windows, macOS and Linux, though new versions can need a few extra steps on some Macs, which the official wiki explains.
If you liked blowing things up: Teardown
Teardown, from Tuxedo Labs, is a very different kind of voxel game. Its world is built from small voxels, so every wall, fence and car can be broken, burned or knocked over. The campaign turns that into heist puzzles: you plan a route by smashing your own shortcuts, then race to grab the targets before the alarm timer runs out.
On Steam it costs $29.99, came out of Early Access in April 2022, and sits at Overwhelmingly Positive across tens of thousands of reviews. Alongside the 40-mission campaign there's a sandbox mode with unlimited destruction, online multiplayer for up to 12 players, a level editor, and a huge library of community mods through the Steam Workshop. It's Windows only, and it's Steam Deck verified.
Teardown is the pick if the part of Minecraft you loved was TNT. It's not a survival or building game in the usual sense, so don't expect to settle down and build a base.
If you want it free: Luanti
Luanti, formerly Minetest, is a free, open-source voxel engine with a large catalogue of free games. Several of them, especially VoxeLibre and Mineclonia, are directly inspired by Minecraft, so they feel familiar from the first minute. Others go somewhere stranger, like the puzzle-discovery game NodeCore or the brutal survival game Exile.
It runs on Windows, macOS, Linux and Android, handles modest hardware well, and is one of the easiest ways into modding because games are written in Lua. The trade-off is polish: most games are made by volunteers, so they vary a lot in quality and finish. Our Luanti beginner guide walks you through installing it and choosing a first game.
If you want adventure and tools: Hytale
Hytale shares Minecraft's block-world base but pushes towards an RPG: combat with abilities, dungeons, factions, and a story that unfolds in chapters. It also has some of the most ambitious creation tools of any block game, with Creative Mode, modding from day one, and systems that let players build their own encounters and boss fights.
It entered Early Access on 13 January 2026 after a cancellation and a rescue by its original founder, and the Standard edition costs $19.99 through Hytale's own launcher. It is still very much Early Access. Its first big content update, Chapter 1, is due on 12 October 2026, and our Hytale Chapter 1 guide covers what it adds. If you want a finished game today, wait. If you enjoy watching a game grow, it's the most interesting one on this list.
How to choose
Think about what kept you playing Minecraft, and match it:
- The tension of survival and steady progress: Vintage Story.
- Breaking things in creative ways: Teardown.
- Tinkering, trying lots of games and playing for free: Luanti.
- Fighting, exploring dungeons and building with friends: Hytale.
If you're not sure what makes these games tick under the hood, our explainer on what a voxel game is covers why Teardown's world breaks so differently from a block game's. For more on Teardown's campaign, sandbox and mod support, its Steam page lists everything included.
Frequently asked questions
What is the closest free game to Minecraft?
Luanti with a Minecraft-inspired game such as VoxeLibre or Mineclonia. Luanti and its games are free and open source.
Is Vintage Story on Steam?
No. Vintage Story is sold through its developer's own website and authorised sellers, and you register a game account when you buy.
Is Hytale like Minecraft?
It shares the block-world foundation of building, mining and exploring, but leans further into RPG combat, dungeons and in-game creation tools. It is still in Early Access.
Facts in this article were checked against developer and store sources on 9 October 2026. Prices, versions and dates change, so confirm on the official page before you buy.
