10 Free Games Like Minecraft You Can Play Right Now

Notch’s Minecraft is a great sandbox-style building game that provides infinite ways to survive in a virtual 8-bit world. It brings out your creativity and lets you build anything from destructible terrain.

Others have developed free PC games that are as impressive as Minecraft and Terraria, and some of them are so good that they give the originals a real run for their money. Here’s a rundown of 13 of the best:

All games listed here are free to download and play. Some titles offer optional in-game purchases for cosmetics or bonuses, but the core gameplay experience costs nothing.

1. VoxeLibre

If you want a free Minecraft experience that’s as close to the real thing as possible, VoxeLibre is the answer. Formerly known as MineClone2, this actively developed open-source sandbox game runs on the Luanti engine and is completely free to download and play.

You spawn in a randomly generated world made entirely of cubes, just like Minecraft, and from there, the experience is wonderfully familiar. Mine ores, build shelters, farm crops, fight monsters, and explore a vast procedurally generated world in either survival or creative mode. VoxeLibre goes beyond simply cloning Minecraft, though. It adds original tools like hammers and throwable spears, improved music, and a growing list of new blocks and mobs contributed by its active community of developers. If you have always wanted Minecraft but didn’t want to pay for it, this is your best bet.

2. Terasology

Terasology is a beautiful homage to Minecraft. Though it borrows gameplay elements from Minecraft, including crafting and the user interface, the graphics are just too gorgeous to call this game an outright clone. Developers have created a visual masterpiece, a splendid 3D blocky world.

The game has a full day/night cycle, and the nighttime environment looks amazing, more so with a pixilated moon beckoning at you.

The game runs on Java, which may not be welcomed by gamers concerned about their PCs’ security. Terasology can be downloaded for free from its official website at terasology.org.

3. Trove

Trove is a free-to-play voxel sandbox MMO available on Steam that combines Minecraft-style building with deep RPG progression. You choose from a wide variety of classes, from knights and rangers to candy barbarians and ice sages, and explore a colorful, blocky world filled with dungeons, loot, and other players.

The building side of Trove is surprisingly robust. You can design and claim your own personal corner world, decorate it however you like, and share it with other players. Dungeons are procedurally generated and packed with enemies and bosses to fight, making it great for players who want both creative freedom and structured action. With regular updates and a large active player base, Trove is one of the most polished free Minecraft-like games available right now. Download it for free on Steam.

4. LEGO Fortnite

Lego Fortnite is one of the most exciting free Minecraft-like games to arrive in recent years. Launched in late 2023 as part of Fortnite, it is completely free to play and brings a charming Lego-brick aesthetic to sandbox survival gameplay.

You explore a vast open world, gather resources, craft tools, build structures, and fight off enemies – all with that signature Lego look that will appeal to players of all ages. The world features multiple biomes, including grasslands, snowy mountains, and dry valleys, each with unique resources and dangers. You can play solo or team up with up to seven friends in co-op. Lego Fortnite receives regular seasonal updates and has quickly grown into one of the most popular free alternatives to Minecraft available today. All you need is a free Epic Games account to play.

5. Veloren

Veloren is one of the most impressive free Minecraft-like games available today. It is an open-source multiplayer voxel RPG inspired by Cube World, Minecraft, and Dwarf Fortress, and is actively developed by a passionate community of volunteers.

Unlike most Minecraft clones, Veloren leans heavily into RPG territory. You create a character from several races, explore a vast procedurally generated open world filled with mountains, deserts, jungles, and dungeons, and engage in fast-paced combat against monsters and bosses. The crafting system is deep, and the world feels alive with towns, NPCs, and wildlife. You can play solo or jump into multiplayer servers with other players. The visuals are colorful and charming, and the game receives regular updates. For a completely free and open-source game, Veloren is nothing short of remarkable.

6. Minetest

Minetest is an open-source building game that’s not heavy on specs, which means you can easily play this game on a low-end PC. The game offers a survival multiplayer mode, one of its key highlights.

You can download the game for free from its official website. The game offers regular new updates and patches, which means this is quite a serious project. Minetest supports the day and night cycle and has a large library of community-made mods that can dramatically expand the gameplay experience – including horror mods that add scary creatures and dark environments to the game.

7. King Arthur’s Gold

King Arthur’s Gold, a 2D side-scrolling game like Terraria, is set in medieval times and gives you ample opportunities to show your building and crafting skills. You can mine resources, build and defend castles, and attack other castles by building siege machines using materials scattered throughout the destructible terrain.

There are different types of game modes for your pixel-hunting pleasure. You can hunt for gold, capture the flag, or engage in a quick deathmatch against other online players. I personally love 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 modes feature full PvP combat, which might appeal to gamers who want a bit of action besides building/crafting.

8. ClassiCube

If you want the closest possible experience to the original Minecraft without paying a penny, ClassiCube is your answer. This free, open-source sandbox game faithfully recreates Minecraft Classic, the very first public version of Minecraft from 2009, while adding a host of modern enhancements that make it far more enjoyable than the original.

ClassiCube is built around creative building at its purest. There are no enemies, no crafting systems, and no survival mechanics. Just you, an infinite blocky world, and the freedom to build whatever you can imagine. What makes it special is how accessible it is. You can play it directly in your web browser at classicube.net without downloading anything, or download the lightweight client for Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, or Android.

The multiplayer servers are actively maintained with a lively community, and the server list features dozens of different game modes, including block hunt, TNT wars, and capture the flag, all built by the community. It is completely free, requires no account to try, and runs smoothly even on the oldest hardware. For anyone wanting a pure, no frills Minecraft experience at zero cost, ClassiCube is the perfect starting point.

9. Epic Inventor

Epic Inventor, at first glance, looks like a Terraria clone. This totally free game combines role-playing elements with real-time strategy elements and provides an excellent platform to showcase your construction skills. It lets you build your own cities, robots, turrets, and many other objects and weapons. You can create any of these objects from scratch by mining 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, turrets, and buildings to defend yourself against spooky creatures and other enemies.

But as you progress further, the game looks less like Terraria and more like a real-time strategy game à la Age of Empires. You will have lumber mills to generate wood instead of crafting stations. Basically, Epic Inventor is an RTS title with mining/building/destroying elements.

10. Manic Digger

Manic Digger is another free block-building game. This sandbox game was actually a third-party client for the classic version of Minecraft and is now available as a separate game at sourceforge.net.

Manic Digger’s premise is familiar: build buildings and craft objects on a completely destructible terrain. There is a near-infinite number of square blocks to take advantage of. You will immediately recognize the 8-bit look. Build anything, using resources that lie scattered in the virtual world. The nighttime mode spices things up and offers a beautiful twilight scene. Please note that development stopped in 2015, so multiplayer servers are no longer active, but the single-player experience is still downloadable and playable at sourceforge.net.