Minecraft

What hackers pick instead

• LuantiFree, fully open-source sandbox game and engine where people build, play multiplayer games and write their own mods. Critics say it is not as good as Minecraft and its controls feel rough.23recommend
• No Man's Sky CosmosPeople recommend it as a cheap, chill sandbox with an ambitious universe that has grown a lot since launch. Critics say it feels sparse after a few dozen hours.22recommend
• VoxilePraised for good-looking, ray-traced voxel visuals and unusual technology; the common caveat is that it resembles Minecraft, which critics find not groundbreaking.16recommend
• TerrariaRecommended as a fun, timeless game with many options that people still enjoy years after first playing it. Critics mention a lingering bug.14recommend
• Garry's ModPeople recommend Garry's Mod for its open-ended sandbox play, with mods and maps still being made years later and a lasting influence on culture and games.12recommend

Every quote

The 40 most detailed of 450 comments. Each links to the original.

1. its a very dead game on its own. they are still very intentional about adding and changing the tools by which you make your own fun though.

   Mixed · May 2026 · in “SANA-WM, a 2.6B open-source world model for 1-minute 720p video”

2. Java Minecraft doesn't have microtransactions, skinning your character is a matter of changing a file, and the plugin/mod support is huge.

   Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Minecraft: Java Edition now uses SDL3”

3. I couldn't run either version in Windows 11 without also signing into the MS store, so I decided Java version was better than nothing.

   Mixed · Dec 2025 · in “After Windows Update, Password icon invisible, click where it used to be”

4. it was kind of an ordeal to migrate it from Mojang to MS back then and I had to actually involve support, but in the end it worked

   Mixed · Jul 2026 · in “PlayStation can delete all your digital games after 3 years of inactivity (EU)”

5. set them up a Minecraft or ARK or whatever survival-crafter game server, and they can invite and play with their friends on it

   Recommends · Nov 2025 · in “Ask HN: How would you set up a child’s first Linux computer?”

6. Unlike dwarf fortress, minecraft is fun and engaging from minute zero, and exposes its systems to you naturally over time.

   Recommends · Aug 2026 · in “Dwarf Fortress is getting the mother of all magic updates”

7. the wider Minecraft community based on a constellation of public and semi-public servers. This is a lot more like Roblox.

   Mixed · Nov 2025 · in “Roblox is a problem but it's a symptom of something worse”

8. those other games haven't become remotely close to the popularity of Minecraft, so Notch clearly did something right

   Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Bonsai: A Voxel Engine, from scratch”

9. It's really amazing how much Minecraft is becoming more and more a game engine on it's own rather than just a game.

   Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Minecraft: Java Edition now uses SDL3”

10. It took over 8 hours to figure out how to get it stop constantly asking my kids for my master MS account password.

    Mixed · Mar 2026 · in “Apple Introduces MacBook Neo”

11. Java would still be dominant in the content creation community and therefore still be the lifeblood of the game.

    Recommends · Feb 2026 · in “Minecraft Java is switching from OpenGL to Vulkan”

12. I like Minecraft, I play it occasionally, but I guess it's a game that has much more staying power than average.

    Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “Today's Layoffs”

13. It's also more fun on a server with friends, where it can be more about hanging out and doing something together

    Recommends · Oct 2026 · in “Mike Tomlin spent 12 years building a Minecraft city”

14. If every single Minecraft player loaded into only a single Minecraft world, it would still be as fun as it is.

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “No Man's Sky Cosmos”

15. it does not push the player towards any of its game systems, which allows the player to make up their own fun

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “No Man's Sky Cosmos”

16. There's a whole community that plays on private servers and uses extensions for stuff like access control

    Recommends · Feb 2026 · in “Minecraft Java is switching from OpenGL to Vulkan”

17. Most people on this website can run a Minecraft server themselves for their kids and their kids' friends.

    Recommends · Nov 2025 · in “Roblox is a problem but it's a symptom of something worse”

18. they've also introduced their unified login garbage that has almost made me give up Minecraft completely

    Mixed · Mar 2026 · in “The gold standard of optimization: A look under the hood of RollerCoaster Tycoon”

19. If this had been minecraft, I'd have had to pay for the game again because I didn't convert my account.

    Mixed · Jul 2026 · in “Minecraft Java raises recommended memory to 16GB ahead of Vulkan transition”

20. But it's consistent, and people have pushed it to the limit and created some truly beautiful artwork.

    Mixed · Jan 2026 · in “Max Payne – two decades later – Graphics Critique”

21. the original experience (Java version, private servers, 100% free content) is still extremely popular

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Microsoft Fire IdTech Team at Id Software”

22. Minecraft at least engages their brains and can genuinely be used as a good tool for creative outlet

    Recommends · Feb 2026 · in “TikTok's 'Addictive Design' Found to Be Illegal in Europe”

23. Playing Minecraft with friends at a lan party in a social room is better than playing it at home.

    Recommends · Jun 2026 · in “The room the economy can't see”

24. isn't it much better to spin them a Minecraft server or such for friends they know from real life

    Recommends · Nov 2025 · in “Roblox CEO interview about child safety didn't go well”

25. This will probably hold the position Pac Man holds to us. Single biggest culture-marker perhaps.

    Mixed · Jan 2026 · in “The Great Gatsby is the most misunderstood novel”

26. they did the same thing with my Minecraft login that I had purchased before the EULA was in place; I've avoided their services like the plague since then

    Criticizes · Dec 2025 · in “Google is 'gradually rolling out' option to change your gmail.com address”

27. hundred thousands if not millions of people who lost their Minecraft account due to the way Microsoft handled multiple successive account migrations

    Criticizes · Jul 2026 · in “PlayStation can delete all your digital games after 3 years of inactivity (EU)”

28. Their account recovery flow directs you to call on the phone and then when you call on the phone, it directs you to use the account recovery flow.

    Criticizes · Jan 2026 · in “Microsoft kills official way to activate Windows 11/10 without internet”

29. They took a fun, harmless, and free game so that they could profit from it and they've been working at making it increasingly harmful ever since.

    Criticizes · Nov 2025 · in “Roblox is a problem but it's a symptom of something worse”

30. Setting up a child to play Minecraft through Microsoft was like setting up a web server with firewalls and reverse proxy... only less sensible.

    Criticizes · Jul 2026 · in “Google will expand age checks on Android worldwide till the end of the year”

31. milk every last microtransaction and merchandising cent out of the property rather than actually listening to anyone and improving the game(s)

    Criticizes · Jun 2026 · in “Minecraft: Java Edition 26.2, the first version with Vulkan 1.2”

32. If you failed to do either before their deadline, then your "lifetime" Minecraft account is completely dead with no possibility of recovery.

    Criticizes · Jul 2026 · in “PlayStation can delete all your digital games after 3 years of inactivity (EU)”

33. They already took that step too far - they broke ToS and closed all MC accounts that weren't linked to a MS account within the timeframe.

    Criticizes · Jul 2026 · in “Resetting Xbox”

34. I tried to simply purchase some Minecraft thinggy for my kid and Microsoft sent me through what seemed to be a 70 step process

    Criticizes · Aug 2026 · in “Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc”

35. I'm unreasonably salty about this (given the monetary loss is not high and I got a lot of playtime out of the game back then)

    Criticizes · Jul 2026 · in “PlayStation can delete all your digital games after 3 years of inactivity (EU)”

36. Java Edition has taken an extremely conservative path, practically nothing else in the gaming industry held on to legacy hardware this long.

    Recommends · Feb 2026 · in “Minecraft Java is switching from OpenGL to Vulkan”

37. Minecraft and Factorio (both great games with fantastic communities), by that measure, have unreasonable hardware requirements

    Mixed · Nov 2025 · in “Steam Machine”

38. social spaces (minecraft, Fortnite) and competitive multiplayer; they can be consumed for far longer than they hold any value

    Mixed · Oct 2026

39. all my favorite ones have really been in that genre in some way: Factorio, Dwarf Fortress, Cities Skylines, even Minecraft

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “The Life and Times of Maxis, Part 1: SimEverything”

40. the totality of adding a bunch of stuff has been to destroy the simplicity that was one of the draws of the original game

    Mixed · May 2026 · in “Incident with Pull Requests, Issues, Git Operations and API Requests”