Minetest
Minetest
Discover this open world, open source, Minecraft play-alike with giant maps and oodles of nifty features.
If you've never played Minecraft, you're missing out. Yes, the game was hyped to ridiculous levels during its glory days, and some players spent arguably an unhealthy amount of time in their fantasy worlds building enormous and highly intricate constructions, but it was still something very special. Minecraft was created on the fly using algorithms, creating a giant, procedurally generated world, in which you were plonked at a random point with no particular goals or equipment; you just had to explore and survive with what you could find.
For the first few minutes of Minecraft, you wonder what the point is. It feels empty and lonely, but then you start collecting items, crafting (combining things together to make other things), exploring the various landscapes (beaches, jungles, arctic tundras, and mountainous highlands), and finding non-player characters in villages. Before you know it, you've crafted a robust set of armor, developed some powerful weapons to protect yourself, and even built a house. Every change you make to the world is saved, so it starts to feel like a real, living and breathing place. Exploring caves full of nasty critters becomes a terrifying experience.
Now, Minecraft was (and still is) a great game, but it's not open source and free software – which is a bit of a downer for many FOSS purists. Fortunately, however, you have an alternative in the form of Minetest [1] (formerly Minetest-c55, named after the online handle of one of its lead developers). Minetest has been in development since 2010. Although its most recent version is 0.4.16, suggesting that it's still in the early stages of development, it's very much playable and loaded with cool features. On top of that, you can play with others online and even extend the game using modifications written in Lua. (For a text mode alternative, see the "Dwarf Fortress" box.)
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

News
-
ONLYOFFICE v9 Embraces AI
Like nearly all office suites on the market (except LibreOffice), ONLYOFFICE has decided to go the AI route.
-
Two Local Privilege Escalation Flaws Discovered in Linux
Qualys researchers have discovered two local privilege escalation vulnerabilities that allow hackers to gain root privileges on major Linux distributions.
-
New TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro Powered by AMD Ryzen AI 300
The TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 14 Gen10 offers serious power that is ready for your business, development, or entertainment needs.
-
Danish Ministry of Digital Affairs Transitions to Linux
Another major organization has decided to kick Microsoft Windows and Office to the curb in favor of Linux.
-
Linux Mint 20 Reaches EOL
With Linux Mint 20 at its end of life, the time has arrived to upgrade to Linux Mint 22.
-
TuxCare Announces Support for AlmaLinux 9.2
Thanks to TuxCare, AlmaLinux 9.2 (and soon version 9.6) now enjoys years of ongoing patching and compliance.
-
Go-Based Botnet Attacking IoT Devices
Using an SSH credential brute-force attack, the Go-based PumaBot is exploiting IoT devices everywhere.
-
Plasma 6.5 Promises Better Memory Optimization
With the stable Plasma 6.4 on the horizon, KDE has a few new tricks up its sleeve for Plasma 6.5.
-
KaOS 2025.05 Officially Qt5 Free
If you're a fan of independent Linux distributions, the team behind KaOS is proud to announce the latest iteration that includes kernel 6.14 and KDE's Plasma 6.3.5.
-
Linux Kernel 6.15 Now Available
The latest Linux kernel is now available with several new features/improvements and the usual bug fixes.