If you’re interested in building and exploration gameplay found in Minecraft, you may be on the lookout for other games with a similar concept. Well! There is some good news for you. Many games like Minecraft games exist which cater to the same whetting of appetite but come with their own twist and theme.
In this article, we will list the 10 most popular games that sustain the enjoyment of playing Minecraft. We’ll also explore whether Minecraft games are safer for kids and provide useful advice on how to prevent children from screen addiction. So, keep learning!
What types of games are Minecraft games?
“A Minecraft game is a form of video gaming where you can build, play, explore and freely navigate within a large open world.”
Such games are open-ended, which enhances their appeal. Now let’s take a look at certain features that, when put together, create a Minecraft-style game:
- Sandbox Gameplay: You are free to customize however you wish to play the game to your liking. There are no levels or rules to follow. For instance, you may choose to build something one day and explore activities the other day, or simply go for playing around.
- Building and crafting: Moreover, during your journey there are some items such as blocks of wood or stone that you can find. These can then allow for the design of tools, houses or any other thing that comes from your imagination and created by your mind’s eye.
- World exploration: Also, the world is wide and opens up for roaming around with much more waiting to be discovered. For instnace, you can discover animals along with lost caves with treasures hidden deep inside them.
- Survival mechanics: During the exploration and construction phases, you must also try to stay alive. This includes gathering food, tools, and creating shelters to defend against monsters or fire. This is another challenge one can add.
- Multiplayer Features: Lastly, you can make new friends, construct unique objects together with your friends in different parts of the field while battling for survival beside each other. Everything is more enjoyable when friends join the multiplayer games.
To summarize all of this, Minecraft remains very creative and contains no limits accompanied by endless adventure which bursts out from every corner. All these elements work seamlessly into one game experience which meets everyone’s expectations perfectly!
Use parental controls to help your kids develop healthy digital habits
10 similar games to Minecraft games
Are you looking for games similiar to Minecraft? If so, then be glad as there are plenty of other games with similar themes available in the market.
These games all offer a unique blend of boundless creativity and adventure, whether the focus is on story-based gameplay, building new spaces or even embarking on deep underwater expeditions. Let’s check out 10 alternatives to Minecraft together and explore their mechanics, what makes them enjoyable, and how they can become your next gaming obsession!
Terraria
- Age Rating: 12+
Terraria is a tile-style pixelated 2D sandbox game that lets you dig, build, collect resources, and fight battles within its fascinating realm. Your journey starts after picking up basic tools, which allow for advanced crafting ranging from houses to weapons as well as armour upgrades.
Similar to Minecraft, players can break blocks and place them in different configurations, but here it’s in a side view perspective. The rest of the world contains numerous secrets consisting of difficult, advanced challenges. You’ll also explore widely known treasure-filled caves just lying underground everywhere, waiting to be uncovered.
Roblox
- Age Rating: 7+
Roblox is not just a game; it comprises different games that users can simultaneously play. Like in Minecraft, you can play blocky building games, open world survival games and even create your own games.
You can find everything from highly sophisticated role-playing games to very basic obstacle courses. Exploring the world with friends and having the ability to build something together refreshes the experience.
Starbound
- Age Rating: 12+
Starbound adds Space Exploration as a new twist to constructing worlds from scratch while maintaining Minecraft’s essence. In the game, you have the opportunity to travel between galaxies made up of numerous planets, each having its own unique creatures.
The journey involves fixing your spaceship, followed by settling on one of the planet’s bases, customising it as well. Surviving on some planets requires gathering resources while making tools and machines, which proves extremely beneficial.
The Forest
- Age Rating: 16 +
The Forest is a genuinely frightening and chilling survival horror game which begins with the crashing of the player’s plane into a dark, ominous forest. You are its sole survivor; thus, you must practice basic survival skills such as chopping wood, hunting, crafting tools, and building shelter, among others, to stay alive.
Exploration is also vital in The Forest, just like it is in Minecraft, since it helps one find better supplies. Older teens may enjoy the game, but adults are its true target audience, especially those who love intense real-life survival challenges.
Valheim
- Age Rating: 12 +
Similar to Minecraft, players start off with bare hands equipped during their quests set in a Scandinavian-themed world. While progressing through the game, you will be rewarded with different types of loot which include valuable items. Players can even build remarkable halls and ships, allowing them to sail, wishing everyone good weather along the way!
As seen in Minecraft too, one can collect resources such as wood or stone that enable crafting tools, making it pretty fun!
Subnautica
- Age rating: 10+
Subnautica takes you deep into an alien planet’s ocean. You must submerge into the water to collect resources to craft tools and build bases out of desperation to survive after a ship crash. While gathering oxygen, you will have to manage the perils of dark caves filled with dangerous creatures.
It is like a more aquatic Minecraft survival experience where explorers are able to construct glass power plants and even submarines for further exploration. They can also build glass tunnels, which add adventure around every corner, making it ideal for thrill seekers.
7 Days To Die
- Age rating: 16+
7 Days To Die showcases horror-themed gameplay intertwined with survival elements. Players must survive zombie waves as perpetual zombies attack at scheduled times throughout the day, becoming incrementally more difficult week by week.
Players spend their daytime defending strong bases against zombies while crafting new items and collecting building materials for defensive structures. Additionally, there exists a zone-based open world map where players can zoom freely, akin to Minecraft.
Vintage Story
- Age Rating: 12+
Much like Minecraft, Vintage Story offers the same foundational gameplay but with more complexity and realism incorporated into it. It retains core activities of block breaking and placing, construction of shelters, crafting items, among others.
Moreover, it requires balancing seasonal changes, food spoilage, time progression and weather shifts as well as several complicating dynamics revolving around survival. A vintage story will best suit players who appreciate the heart of Minecraft but wish for added challenges during expansion and survival.
Trove
- Age Rating: 10+
The blocky world of Trove employs action-packed gameplay and colourful graphics, similar to Minecraft, which has a more subdued aesthetic. You start as either a wizard or a knight, which offers you the opportunity to traverse different areas.
Combat accompanied by exploration is available alongside levelling up through quests. Players can also craft their own houses as well as tweak portions of land and decorate them as they wish.
Dragon Quest Builders 2
- Age Rating: 10+
An engrossing story merges seamlessly with construction in this game. In Dragon Quest Builders 2, participants gather materials and restore the village, farm, and castle buildings. Some guiding objectives have been set, but players are granted plenty of leeway when it comes to designing their environment.
As you finish quests, helpful characters come to assist you, which gradually unlock new building options. Like in Minecraft, it heavily revolves around crafting, exploring, and creativity.
Are Minecraft games appropriate for kids?
Yes, Minecraft-style games are often appropriate for kids! They usually get rated “E” for Everyone or 10+, indicating they have been designed for younger children and tweens. Still, being a parent, you have to consider positive aspects as well as concerns when evaluating their overall appropriateness. Let us assess both sides with clarity.
Benefits of playing Minecraft-style games
- Increased creativity: You can construct so many things like houses, farms, roller coasters, castles and even more! Such games help to nurture an imagination.
- Enhanced critical thinking skills: While building and crafting tools needed for your structures in the game, you learn how to solve interrelated, intricate problems step by step. This helps ensure that you become smart too!
- Collaboration skills: If you are playing with other friends, you learn how to plan and help one another achieve certain milestones, which improves sharing ideas together. That can be very helpful in real life.
- Educational and enjoyable: In addition, some video games offer missions that resemble puzzles in intricate ways. Therefore, you definitely learn through such activities without noticing.
➔Potential concerns to think about
! Too much screen time: Many games are very engaging, which makes it easy to lose track of time. We all know that they can have a disastrous effect on your health as well as on your sleep schedule. So, make sure you take breaks while engaging in other hobbies.
! In-app purchases: Some apps will try and sell features at additional cost. Always remember to ask parents’ permission before spending any money, even if funds are available.
Minecraft-style games provide great potential for fun as well as learning and exploring, but make sure not to overspend the screen time budget, balanced with time spent doing other productive things.
➔How to protect your kids from being addicted to games?
Participating in games is a fun way to develop skills; however, overindulgence may lead to some complications. It’s worth noting that excessive gaming poses both risks practically for safety and for mental health as well. Here, I’m going to present several recommendations designed to help limit gaming.
Encourage breaks and physical activity
So, one very effective approach is to incorporate small breaks between longer intervals of intensive engaging sessions. You should also try strenuous outdoor activities while also attempting brisk walks, as these encourage much-needed blood circulation.Thus, relaxing the mind and enabling an easier sense of body functioning and balance.
Play together to supervise and bond
In addition, spending time with family members can turn into meaningful shared moments. Family members can watch the gameplay and help you get past challenging parts. Most importantly, having family around means you have company during the engagement.
Promote balance with offline activities
While we do appreciate games, there are other sources of joy that offer benefits as well. You can also spend time drawing, reading books, engaging in sports, or socialising with friends.
Explore new hobbies
Exploring new hobbies not only helps keep one’s mind engaged but also ensures a more balanced life.
Use parental controls
Lastly, I must say that just above mentioned tips are not alone workable, you have to try using parental control apps like FlashGet Kids. It’s specially designed for kids, helping parents to set time limits and even see what type of games their kids are playing. Thus, it helps balance fun with supervision.
Conclusion
You now have knowledge about 10 amazing games like Minecraft. Some let you explore the great outdoors, others go on intergalactic travel or require wilderness survival skills – they all give endless options to play through. Just make sure that while having fun exploring new worlds, gaming addiction doesn’t creep in.
So, I would advise using FlashGet Kids for parental control purposes. It effectively tracks your screen, including video game time, which goes a long way in helping manage these types of activities. With this method, any video game can be safely played!
