Will we ever get Minecraft 2? While the Minecraft movie is exploding at the box office, the idea of a full, official sequel from Microsoft and Mojang seems unlikely. But Dundee-based developer 4J Studios, best known for porting the sandbox game smash hit to consoles and handhelds, is delivering a game that might well be considered a successor. Reforj is 4J’s own original take on the format, built in collaboration with Minecraft YouTuber Joseph ‘Stampy’ Garrett, and starting from today you can sign up to get involved with its brand new playtest.
Unlike the hypothetical successor pondered and then dismissed by Minecraft’s original creator Markus ‘Notch’ Persson, Reforj is a very real challenger to the world’s most popular sandbox game. It’s built in the studio’s proprietary Elements Engine and starts with the same block-based structure – but quickly diverges from there. While the cubic fundamentals are still very apparent, each segment can be more dramatically reshaped, trimmed down to various thicknesses, or shaved into angles or curves as you please, giving much more nuance to the resultant landscapes and structures.
That intuitive and powerful sculpting system already has my attention; it feels like the most impactful change a potential Minecraft successor could implement. Of course, beyond that, you can still expect all the open-world exploration and creativity that the building and crafting genre is known for; 4J even teases the ability to “unlock the secrets of a lost civilization that spans multiple worlds” as you progress.
Along with introducing the changes the developer felt Minecraft needed after working on the console port, Reforj is being built with a focus on community feedback. “This game is so different from anything we’ve done before,” 4J chairman and co-founder Chris van der Kuyl says. “Not only is it based on a brand-new technology that we spent four or five years building from scratch, but it’s a community-driven game. It’s a game where we think we know the direction of travel, but until the community sees it we won’t know.”
With that in mind, the next stage of development involves opening Reforj up to a wider player base to get more responses on the current state of the game. The game’s pre-alpha is set to begin on Wednesday April 30, and you can fill out a form now for a chance to be invited to join the pool of testers.
Reforj playtest signups are live now. The pre-alpha will begin Wednesday April 30. If you’re eager to try it for yourself, just head here to register your interest.
Alternatively, we’ve got all the best Minecraft mods if you’re looking to take Mojang’s behemoth to the next level, along with our pick of the best building games on PC in 2025.
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