New Co-Op Open-World Game on Steam Gives Minecraft a Run for Its Money

Nothing comes close to Minecraft, but many voxel-style sandbox games certainly try. Very few ultimately feel like they understand why players fell in love with Minecraft in the first place. Sure, it’s partially a case of “right release at the right time,” but the unforgettable sense of discovery, the feeling that options are endless, the chaos created in co-op gameplay, and a very particular sense of progression—all in its blocky/voxel world—all contribute. Still, there’s a certain X factor that’s hard to replicate, but new Steam game Taival seems to understand what makes Minecraft tick + brings in its own X-factor.

There are plenty of Steam games that adopt Minecraft‘s aesthetic or blocks, not to even mention whole games that adopt the entire formula, but it’s strange that there hasn’t been more Minecraft-like games that seriously took off. That’s because most Minecraft-like games (Minelikes? Craftlikes?) are arguably too similar. Soulslike games, of which there are successful and popular titles outside FromSoft’s catalog, know to bring in their own X factor. Games like Cube World and Hytale do just that by focusing on deepening combat, exploration, or RPG mechanics, but Taival is going in another X-factor direction: deepening cooperative gameplay and focusing more on narrative.

Taival is a Minecraft Rival That Goes Left When Other Games Go Right

Taival Wants You to Explore Its Open World

There’s no doubt that Taival is inspired by Minecraft, as it shares that identifiable voxel/block presentation, but it’s certainly not a Minecraft clone or copy/paste game. For example, crafting is not focused on as much as exploration (because that ties to co-op gameplay and narrative). In Taival, players discover a shapeshifting creature called the Henki, which evolves throughout the journey by absorbing forms from creatures found across the game’s handcrafted world. Some transform the Henki into mounts for traversal, while others focus on combat or utility abilities that directly impact how players approach exploration and encounters. Instead of a “craft stronger and stronger gear” gameplay loop, which is more common in survival sandbox games, the gameplay loop is attached to the growth of a player’s Henki.

The world itself is more curated than most procedurally generated sandbox games. According to the Steam page, Taival features seamlessly connected handcrafted realms where encounters are procedurally generated (random encounters, bosses, loot, side activities, etc.). The idea behind the design is simple: random encounters in a handcrafted world reward exploration, which the dev wants to push more. It’s not all that different from the dynamic encounters in Red Dead‘s open world, but in a Minecraft world, as a crude comparison.

Taival Experiments With Co-Op More Than Other Co-Op Games

There was a time when very few local co-op games were released, but luckily, studios like Hazelight have proven with It Takes Two and Split Fiction that the demand for them is there. That said, few games have really tried to change much about co-op because there’s honestly not much to change. Taival still found something novel to do here, as it supports four-player local split-screen and online co-op simultaneously, which is surprisingly rare now. This makes it easier to play with the person you love to do local with, as well as friends you do not live with, and that combination makes a great game night/double date/what have you.

As players explore and complete quests (which yes, Taival does have some loose RPG features), they can also vote on shared dialogue decisions and influence quest outcomes together. It’s this awesome weird hodgepodge of Minecraft, Red Dead-esque world design (very crude), expansive co-op like Hazelight and beyond, and the shared influence on quests and narrative a la the Dark Pictures games. But all together that makes Taival, which is the most important part. Survival crafting games typically focus on resource gathering/basebuilding, but it’s very obvious how Taival departs from that/Minecraft’s formula. Still, it’s worth keeping in mind that anyone burning out on Minecraft can find something to lvoe about Taival.

Why Taival Looks Like a Strong Minecraft Alternative (In a Nutshell)

• Handcrafted voxel-style world focused on exploration instead of pure survival-crafting gameplay
• Random encounters in said handcrafted world
• Henki companion for unique progression
• Light RPG elements and quest systems
• Four-player co-op with split-screen and online support simultaneously
• Focus on Narrative + cooperative gameplay experimentation
• Key Details:
  • Main Quest is 10+ Hours, 50+ Hours for Completionists on Top
  • Launching in Early Access on Steam. PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch 2 to follow.
  • Built in Unity
  • Release Window: 2026

Overall, Taival seems to have a very specific target audience: players who want the atmosphere and creativity of Minecraft, with said creativity applied to both mechanical elements and gameplay, and other modern features layered on top. Taival is only listed as coming soon on Steam, but hopefully, that’s truly sooner rather than later.

Taival is Betting on Itself

In a contracting game industry, where sequels, reboots, and safe plays are common, it’s worth celebrating those who are willing to bet on themselves. That is exactly what Taival‘s development studio, Bonobo Software, is doing. It has worked on Taival silent for the last three years, and the early access version of the game is already playable. Yet, such things are expensive especially before any costs can be recouped. In that spirit, Bonobo Software has launched a Kickstarter for Taival requesting 1 Euro (a little over $1 USD).

$1 is obviously not going to recoup anything, but it purely exists to support the studio and its vision. If you like what you see about Taival, if you like the vision, then consider donating yourself at the link above. And if you can’t, sharing is caring—as the old saying goes.