OSX games similar to Minecraft/Don't Starve
April 4, 2014 2:22 PM   Subscribe

I like games like Minecraft and Don't Starve, but I'm bored with both of them. Can you suggest games that feature exploration, survival, crafting, and decent graphics, without a ton of fighting or shooting? (I'm on OSX, so that limits things.)

I have read this question, but didn't really find anything in it. I also tried 7 Days to Die, because it sounded interesting, but that taught me that I don't think I have the patience for early release games that aren't fully fleshed out.
posted by mudpuppie to Computers & Internet (10 answers total) 15 users marked this as a favorite
 
(mods forgive me if this isn't cool)
You may enjoy Planets3 which is nearly at its stretch goal for an OSX version. It is a lot of the exploring/crafting elements of Minecraft with a more RPG/Sci-fi element.
posted by munchingzombie at 2:29 PM on April 4, 2014 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Thanks, but I'm looking for games I can play this weekend, not games that may possibly be available at some point in the future provided that enough people donate on kickstarter.
posted by mudpuppie at 2:33 PM on April 4, 2014 [2 favorites]


Munchingzombie - that is exactly the kind of thing I have been wanting, so thanks for posting it.

OP - Have you tried 'Rust' or '7 Days To Die'? Both varying levels of survival and crafting, both on Steam. Both will require that you run for your life quite a lot though.

Starmade is also pretty cool - still early days for it, but it's kind of like Minecraft in space.
posted by Pecinpah at 2:46 PM on April 4, 2014


I think Pecinpah is referring to Starbound. It might be an "early access" game still but I have watched my boyfriend spend hours upon HOURS playing it online with his brother, so I think it's currently adequate and I could recommend it.
posted by foxfirefey at 2:52 PM on April 4, 2014


Starbound looks cool. But Star-Made looks awesome! I can't wait to go home and download it. Thanks for posting it Pecinpah.
posted by munchingzombie at 3:00 PM on April 4, 2014


Seconding Starbound - it's still in active development but they've done their last (planned) save wipe and it has a ton of features and exploration. Mod support is also excellent. I don't particularly enjoy slashing-difficulty in my exploration games, so I got some mods that give me super damage and super armor; the combat system is currently being revamped.

Have you tried Terraria? It's also a 2D sidescrolling explore-and-craft game by the same people. Very different games (and Terraria is "done") but some similar mechanisms and feel.

Aquaria is a beautiful game with a lot of exploration and crafting. There is combat, but it's pretty forgiving and you can use multiple fighting styles (like stealth-and-distance tactics). There is apparently a Mac version of it - it's also shown up in several Humble Bundles.

If you're up for flash games, there are a couple that come to mind, including Glean and Glean 2. Mining Games are often an explore/craft type game. Did you ever play the older Motherload game?

I recently played some of Astrox and it's a pretty fun space explore/sim with super-simple combat, a little grindy to start, but it reminds me a lot of the older (Windows) game Freelancer (oh man, was that game fun with the story mode turned off!).
posted by bookdragoness at 3:09 PM on April 4, 2014 [1 favorite]


How about Banished? It's a building/survival game where you control a group of exiled families who need to form a village in the wilderness before winter comes.

You can supposedly play the Windows version using this OS X wrapper although YMMV.
posted by bcwinters at 4:12 PM on April 4, 2014 [2 favorites]


Response by poster: Thanks, bcwinters. I bought Skyrim a few days ago and tried to install with a wrapper, but didn't have any luck. That video looks like a good tutorial, and I'll give it another shot.
posted by mudpuppie at 4:18 PM on April 4, 2014


Mudpuppie, I found skyrim in a cider wrapper via torrent. I tried it out, you know "for science", and enjoyed it so much I went to Steam and paid for a copy. It worked without a hitch.
posted by humboldt32 at 9:05 PM on April 4, 2014


A Dark Room.

I'm going to throw this out there, because it meets your criteria, except for having decent graphics—it doesn't have any graphics, actually, it's a text-based game that turns into a roguelike. Despite this, it engages the emotions in a pretty remarkable way, and makes some intriguing comments on the survival genre. It's also fairly quick. I finished it in 3 days of playing in my off time, despite the fact that I missed something critical about the combat mechanics early on.
posted by BrashTech at 7:49 AM on April 5, 2014


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