The Blockheads

Have you always wanted to play a sandbox/survival game that's almost the same as Minecraft but with a whole lot more crafting? If that's the case, then you'll love The Blockheads!

Featuring an isometric 2D look, the Blockheads is a game where you can venture off into the world to explore and possibly discover hidden treasures. You can also collect blocks, craft and build almost everything you can see in the game through the game's many upgradable workbenches. The game even allows you to go fishing and open a shop so you can sell your wares. However, like Minecraft, there are danger lurking at every corner so you may need to be vigilant and get a weapon as soon as you can.

Interestingly, unlike Minecraft, you actually need to take care of your Blockhead. This means making sure he or she gets enough rest or they will perform the actions you ask of them at a much slower speed. There are also hunger and happiness levels so be sure you keep an eye on that.

Block Story

Combining the popular sandbox/exploration genre with elements from an RPG, Block Story allows you to truly enjoy an adventure of a lifetime as you set off on your noble quest to save the world.

Complete a variety of quests, explore and discover wonderful new biomes, build strongholds to stake your claim on a piece of land, mine for materials to craft and/or upgrade your gear, and even battle challenging boss monsters for a chance at some glory and fame. You can also set up your own farm as well as tame and ride on the backs of magnificent creatures, including a ferocious dragon.

Not to mention, unlike its Steam/PC version, Block Story is free for your mobile! Yes, there may be some waiting time involved, ads and even in-game purchases, but all of these are just some of the things the developers have to add in just so we could enjoy the game for free. Of course, if you decide that you love the game and would like to show your support, you could always buy the full game.

Exploration Lite

If you simply want to play a game like Minecraft that's almost exactly like Minecraft, minus all the survival and the crafting, then you'll definitely enjoy playing Exploration Lite. In this game, you are able to build whatever you like by placing blocks of varying shapes, types and sizes without needing to mine for or craft them in the first place.

Similar to Minecraft's creative mode in many ways, you can also fly to make the whole building process easier. The world is even procedurally generated, so you basically have unlimited land to build on. However, if you would like to save the creations you've made, you might want to consider buying the full game since you can't do that for the Lite version of the app.

Growtopia

Looking for a more social Minecraft-like game? Well, do drop by Growtopia and join in all the fun! Simply pick a world you want to visit or even name a new world, and head on over so you can explore other people's creations or create your own.

Although it's a 2D sandbox game, Growtopia is a pretty unique game in the sense that instead of collecting blocks of stuff and crafting items out of these blocks, you collect "seeds". You have a chance of getting seeds by destroying blocks in any blocks in the game... and I do mean everything! These seeds can then be combined via a Splicing process (You just plant the first seed on the ground and add another seed to the planted one) to produce new items and potentially seeds.

So, from the basic building blocks...ahem, I mean "seeds" of dirt, dirt background and stone, you can combine to get items like signs, teleportation doors, and grass. The seeds for these items can in turn be used to produce even more variety of items! In some way, this app's crafting aspect is similar to an alchemy-type game. Due to the difficulty in discovering and crafting epic items, the game has a pretty robust trading system whereby players trade gems (game currency) for items or seeds that they want.

WorldCraft

Developed by PlayLabs, World Craft is another game that's almost exactly like Minecraft. There are 2 game modes you can play survival or creative mode in single player, or multiplayer. In survival mode, you'll need to survive off the land, and of course, through the night when the monsters come out to play, while exploring the world for better materials which you can then use to craft more durable and powerful items.

Creative mode, on the other hand, allows you almost complete freedom (the laws of physics still apply) to create whatever you want. For multiplayer, you'll be dropped into a lobby of sorts where you can choose to visit any one of the many player-created worlds listed.

Enjoyed WorldCraft? Well, you might want to check out WorldCraft 2 as well. It's just as fun!