How do you follow up on a game like Minecraft? Well, if you’re 4J Studios and you’re responsible for porting the hugely popular sandbox crafting game to console, you make your own thing by setting out in your own direction. That project now has a name – Reforj – and it’s instantly recognizable yet definitely fresh, and looks like it’ll be the nearest any of us will get to playing Minecraft 2, at least for the foreseeable future.
That 4J Studios has been working on something like this has been known for a while now, with a few glimpses of its proprietary Elements Engine showing hints of what’s now announced. Reforj is a sandbox game filled with exploration, building, and survival, and it’s definitely doing its own thing in the cuboid space in which Minecraft also exists.
The comparisons to Mojang’s game are going to be inevitable, as it looks a little like the ray-traced mods that you might’ve seen occasionally pop up on Reddit and social media, with highly reflective ice and oceans giving it a more realistic look than its blocky counterpart generally does. Though details are thin on the ground just now, there are few nuggets of information that show that Reforj has some original ideas up its sleeve.
Reclaim the future. Rewrite the past. Reforj the world.
Announcing Reforj – an original game powered by our in-house Elements Engine.
Reforj is in the pre-alpha stage, and we’ll be working closely with the community to shape its progress. Follow @ReforjGame for updates! pic.twitter.com/xdRcSJ7mI9
— 4J Studios (@4JStudios) September 11, 2024
First of all is its framing. The game exhorts players to ”Reclaim the future. Rewrite the past. Reforj the world,” which to me implies that this is a game about rebuilding, not just creating stuff. I’d be hesitant to state that it’s toying with time travel, instead it feels more like this is a game set in a world where something has gone awry, with you putting things back together again, wiping the slate clean from whatever monstrosity has gone before.
The game also mentions a civilization you can discover that spans multiple worlds, which looks like you won’t be bound to a single map or seed for your adventures. Maybe all your different attempts and worlds live side-by-side in a multiverse, or maybe we’re looking at something akin to a voxel-filled No Man’s Sky. Either way, there are hints that this is looking to be something more than simply a Minecraft-a-like, with teases of a bigger narrative at play.
There’s no release date for Reforj just yet, with its Steam presence only mentioning that its launch is “to be announced.” You can head over to the game’s page in the meantime to add it to your wishlist, and check out a few screenshots for yourself.
Should you want something else to while away your time, our guides to the best building games and the best survival games will keep you in fine company for a long time to come.
You can also follow us on Google News for daily PC games news, reviews, and guides, or grab our PCGN deals tracker to net yourself some bargains.