The Top 10 Totally Free Games like Minecraft

I wonder why Lego could not come up with such a great idea. Probably they might be looking beyond Lego Batman or maybe create a unique game that requires players to build a virtual world using Lego blocks.

Anyway, Minecraft is probably the best sandbox-building game that provides gamers infinite ways to survive a virtual 8-bit world. And this is why any big game whether created by Lego or other company won’t be as popular as this block-building gem. It brings in the creativity in you and lets you create anything from destructible terrain.

However, there are quite a few free games like Minecraft (and Terraria) as impressive as the original. If you’re bored with the game or don’t want to buy the full version, then do try these free gems. Some games are quite reminiscent of the 2D Terraria, while others feature similar-looking texture pack and 8-bit pixels. So without further ado, here are some of the top free awesome Minecraft clones available for PC.

If you think guns made of textured cubes cannot have realistic recoils, you got to play Ace of Spades. It combines the pixel art and creativity of Minecraft with the fast-paced shooting action of Team Fortress.

With a World War II setting, this first-person shooter allows players to build their defensive positions from the destructible blocks scattered in the 3D world. As a player, you can build structures from scratch, dig a trench or tunnel through the destructible terrain and blast away enemy structures with your pixilated gun.

The best part of the game is that you can take optimal advantage of the blocky, constructible (and destroyable) terrain. You create bunkers with your dedicated spade and destroy moats with grenades. The game has flaws and there might be bugs in gameplay, but it is constantly improving to offer a good Minecraft-like experience.

Inspired by Terraria and Minecraft, King Arthur’s Gold provides excellent building and crafting fun in a medieval setting. Players can mine resources, build castles, defend them and attack other castles by building siege machines using the scattered materials. The 2D side-scrolling role-playing game looks exactly like Terraria and boasts beautiful user-made maps.

There are different types of game modes for your pixel hunting pleasure. You can hunt for gold, capture the flag and engage in a quick deathmatch. I personally loved the Gold Hunt game mode, which pits two teams against each other to hunt for gold. The team with the most gold wins the game. Here you will have to use your hunting and crafting skills to the fullest. Deathmatch and capture the flag mode features full PvP combat, which might appeal to gamers who want a bit of action besides crafting and building castles and siege vehicles from scratch.

There are several paid and free games inspired by Minecraft, but Notch’s epic building/digging game is draws its inspiration from Infiniminer. Developed by Zachtronics, Infiniminer was the first game that allowed players to construct/search objects out of textured cubes in a 3D virtual world.

The game was built with the aim of providing a team-based competitive environment with the objective of excavating gold and gems. The team that discovers and excavates the maximum number of precious jewels wins the game. Unfortunately, game development was stalled within a month of its release.

Infiniminer is still available for download and offers the same level of block-based sandbox building/digging fun as experienced in Minecraft. It is an original game that first brought in the procedurally-generated pixel art stuff to the crowd. Sadly, it got overshadowed by something more exciting and impressive. You can still play the game for free. The link given below will take you to the developer’s page where you can download the game client.

Cubelands is by far one of the best free games like Minecraft. Its infinite 3D world allows players plenty of design features and options. An “online building game”, this Minecraft-clone lets you build architectural marvels, castles, dungeons and towering turrets.

Taking advantage of the Unity 3D technology (you’ll have to download the plug-in before playing), the game is simply ingenious in its way of offering an infinite world full of blocks, letting players create amazing virtual worlds. It’s more like a virtual clone of Lego, only more exciting and immersive.

However, there isn’t any PvP mode, which means it focuses more on building than battle. Self-proclaimed creative geniuses will love to experiment with the colorful blocks and may be build an architectural masterpiece.

The best part of Cubelands is its accurate portrayal of real-life objects (thanks to Unity 3D), making object-building more fun and interesting. You’ll have to register first before playing this gem of a game. You can play the classic version to get a taste of what Cubelands was in its previous versions.

This fun game focuses on building rather than PvP combat or any other element that you’ve seen in the original game. BlockYard can’t be strictly called a Minecraft clone, but it is fun to play, especially for budding engineers who would love to build their own cities, robots, weapons, tanks, airplanes in the 3D virtual world.

The physics-based game allows players to click at the ground and build a block. There are various other controls that will help you change the shape, size and other aspects of any objects you’ve created.

The game requires Unity 3D plug-in to play. If prompted, you will have to download the plug-in before you can start playing. BlockYard does not need any client to download; you can play the game right from your browser. I would recommend Chrome browser for faster load times than Firefox.

New kid on the block Epic Inventor is much like Terraria than Minecraft. This totally free game combines role-playing elements with real-time strategy and gives you an epic platformer. It lets you build your own cities, construct robots, turrets and many other objects/weapons by mining and collecting resources.

Just like Terraria, Epic Inventor focuses on the quests of a lone adventurer. You will have to guide him through forests and plains to collect resources and craft them. You will then have to build your city, build turrets and other defensive weapons to defend yourself against spooky creatures and other enemies.

But as you progress further, the game sheds its “Terraria-clone” title and looks more like a real-time strategy game a la Age of Empires. You will have lumber mills to generate wood instead of crafting stations. There are other aspects the make the game an epic RTS with mining/building/destroying elements.

This is another awesome free minecraft clone. Minetest is free and is not heavy on specs, which means you can easily play this game on your 945GM powered netbook. The game includes a server and a client, and this means it will offer a robust multiplayer gaming experience. The survival multiplayer is present, with a goal to take this to completely new levels.

You can download the game, but expect it to be bug-ridden. Also, terrain is generated pretty slowly as of now. The developers keep on updating by offering new updates and patches, which means this is quite a serious project. Like any survival block-building game, the game supports the day and night cycle. Check out the screenshots and I am sure you will fall in love with this awesome building/digging game.

Get inspired by Minecraft and create an online platform full of themed-games; what you get is an impressive virtual playground that allows kids to build objects from colored blocks, create their own virtual world, interact and have fun with the physics-based gameplay.

Roblox offers thousands of games for kids and teens. All are similar to the original block-building gem. All games focus on building blocks, but have certain objectives. When playing, children can customize their avatars by changing its attire, clothes and gear. Kids also interact and collaborate with others online to create impressive structures, be it a huge fantasy skyscraper or a helicopter. The game has its own virtual currency called Robux, with which kids can buy clothing and accessories for their avatar.

Manic Digger is another great game in this list of awesome free minecraft clones. This sandbox game was actually a third-party client for the classic version of Minecraft. Now it is currently available free at sourceforge.net.

The game is exactly like Minecraft, even the textures look similar to the original. The premise is the same – build buildings and craft objects with the completely destructible terrain. There is near-infinte number of square blocks to take advantage of. You will immediately recognize the 8-bit feel in this game and can build virtually everything with the wide variety of resources available to you. The recent nighttime update totally spices up things and offers a beautiful twilight scene.

MythRuna is an upcoming impressive title touted to give a tough competition to all free games like Minecraft. Combining the procedurally-generated 3D world with serious RPG elements, this game promises to offer a never-before amazing gameplay experience.

MythRuna is still under development and all we have are some lovely screenshots that truly say a lot about the Minecraft-clone. The game claims to be different by offering “role crafting”, which I presume will combine role-playing with crafting elements, i.e. creating objects from the constructible terrain. For the latest news on the game, check out the pre-alpha build page. Want to know its features? Check out this short walkthrough video to get more information about the game.