Reviews - scurvy-platypus

People will inevitably look at this and compare it to Minecraft. Is it Minecraft? No.

Block Story has committed itself to its features. That might sound strange, so to give an example:
Minecraft has crafting, spells, and experience; so does Block Story. With Minecraft, you have to either look on the net for crafting recipes or experiment to discover them. Block Story has a recipe book built-in, so you know exactly what you need in order to make something.

Minecraft has spells that are completely random and unknowable, without use of a mod; Block Story has magic items you create, just like any other crafting tool. To be fair, at the time of this review Block Story does not have a "magic system" of the sort that Minecraft has. If this changes in the future, I would expect that Block Story's system would be reproducible and consistent, unlike Minecraft's random approach.

Both games have Experience Points. In Minecraft, they're used to power the random magic system. In Block Story, they're used to customise your character, allowing you to explicitly focus on those elements of gameplay that you find fun/interesting.

Yes, the block physics in Block Story are missing things like gravity, and water doesn't flow. But then again, you've got an unlimited height and depth, you've got skylands, and the ability to create coloured lights, coloured glass, and coloured snow.

Comparing Minecraft and Block Story is comparing apples and oranges. As a general game player, I hesitate to make the comparison. As a player of Minecraft since beta 1.5 though, I know that Block Story gives me the fun and open sandbox game that initially attracted me to Minecraft.

Do I think Block Story is better? It all depends on what you're looking for. I find I prefer the way that Block Story is developing, compared to how Minecraft has developed. Download the demo and try it out. Yes, it's rougher than Minecraft. But give Block Story a chance and you might be pleasantly surprised.