Freeminer

Minecraft has spawned thousands of mods and clones over the years, some of which got to be pretty popular. However, it’s pretty difficult to recreate the same experience, mainly because the procedural generation algorithms are difficult to optimize. Minecraft reached a pretty steady phase at the moment, which means that the developers can focus on adding actual content instead.

Freeminer is a sandbox game that looks and plays almost exactly like Minecraft, with a few changes and improvements. You can generate random worlds with just a few clicks, although there are still some glitches that need to be ironed out in this regard. It is also possible to define a seed, as well as give a unique name to the world you create, so that you can find it with ease in your list.

As far as the gameplay is concerned, the mechanics are more or less the same, in the sense that you can either play in the creative mode and just build anything you want, or try to survive the wild in the normal mode. The latter also adds a health bar and the possibility to die, which means that you must be careful around dungeons, water and tall cliffs.

In the normal mode, resources are vital if you want to survive, but it takes time to gather them. Tools are needed to collect dirt, stone and various other minerals, all of which can then be used to craft objects. Pickaxes, shovels and all sorts of furniture are available, although the selection is still a bit restrained at the moment. The actual blocks can be used to erect buildings, although it takes time and dedication to do so.

In the technical department, the graphics are more or less the same as in Minecraft, although the textures are a bit weird in some cases. There are also plenty of glitches and bugs to watch out for, but that’s to be expected considering the early development stage. It’s worth noting that the game is very hungry for RAM, given the fact that all the block information is stored in your memory.

All things considered, the most exciting fact about Freeminer is that it’s free, unlike Minecraft. The project is constantly being updated and improved by many dedicated fans and developers, which means that this could turn into quite the sensation.