Stonehearth vs Terraria
Stonehearth
Stonehearth is the game you'll want to play if you enjoy playing Minecraft because you can build your very own city. Although the game is basically a sandbox game like Minecraft, it has a building aspect that's much more similar to Craft the World... except that in Stonehearth, everything's in glorious 3D. In this game, you play as the leader of a small handful of adorable-looking pioneers who are looking for a new place to settle down. There isn't a lot of digging involved in Stonehearth though you still need to get your pioneers to collect resources from the environment or to plant and harvest their own.Like in Craft the World, you'll need to provide shelter for your people and equip them with the necessary equipment so they can fend off attacks during the night. However, when it comes to crafting, Stonehearth has a much more diverse and in-depth crafting system. The building system in this game is also pretty unique though it can be rather restrictive when compared to Minecraft since the most "building" you'll be doing is mainly houses for your villagers. Of course, let's not forget about the game's much better-looking graphics!
In some way, Stonehearth is more of a survival/town-building game than a pure sandbox game like Minecraft. However, it is perfect for players who enjoy having an entire town of minions to order around, and the satisfaction of leading and developing a tribe. For a price tag of $24.99 (on Steam), Stonehearth can be a bit on the costly side, but if this is the sort of game you're into, the game will always be worth the price. You can show your support to the indie developers behind this game as well... so there's that!
Terraria
Terraria is one of the biggest breakout indie game of 2011 and, like Minecraft, is still incredibly popular until today. However, despite the many similarities between Terraria and Minecraft which is mainly because they are both sandbox games, Terraria is a definitely much more fleshed out version of Minecraft without all the 3D voxels but with 2D pixels instead. The great thing about Terraria though is that it has more of everything that Minecraft has - more recipes, more enemies, more pets, more bosses... well, like we said, more everything. The depth in Terraria is simply astounding!Combat also feels action-packed in spite of being 2D and interestingly, the game provides an immersive storyline that you can follow... again, unlike in Minecraft where you literally have to create your own story if you want all of that. The game is cross-platform game and supports multiplayer as well.
In short though, we'd say that Terraria is more suited to adventure-based RPG gameplay rather than Minecraft but unfortunately, not everyone likes its 2D looks. So, if you're a fan of Minecraft and you don't really mind 2D games, you should definitely check out Terraria. You'll be blown away by the overwhelming size of the content!