Minecraft has long seemed like a force that cannot be toppled – anything trying to imitate its blocky style, sense of adventure, and huge creative sandbox will surely pale in comparison. Well, Hytale’s making that theory a little less sturdy than it used to be, and there seems to be a flurry of other voxel crafting games on the horizon too. If Minecraft-style experiences are your bag, then Lay of the Land (which recently locked in an April release date) is definitely one example to keep an eye on.
The first thing that strikes you about Lay of the Land are the visuals – this thing looks properly gorgeous. There’s a sharpness and vibrancy to its blocks that just hit the perfect note, and its landscapes look as if they’ve been handcrafted. In reality, these are mostly procedural, with smart terrain tech that makes realistic-looking hills, rivers, and pathways.
Crafting – and in particular, creating some gorgeous looking buildings – is of course a huge focus here. As it should be, in all good Minecraft-likes. A Creative Mode will let you build to your heart’s content, otherwise you’ll be limited to what materials you can harvest and extract from the land around you. If you think you’ll be limited to straight edges and four-sided prefabs, you can think again too – tools for terrain manipulation, cylindrical rooms, and sloped or coned roofs are all present to make things even more detailed. When it comes to making new items, Lay of the Land tries to stay away from menus as much as possible, instead requiring you to place necessary ingredients and materials in one place and perform an action to craft the new relevant item.
The magic-based combat also looks like good fun, especially when you use it in tandem with the environment around you. Use some levitation abilities to pick up nearby objects and throw them at enemies, or collapse the ceiling of a cave to bury your opponents, there’s a lot of potential for surprising, emergent moments.
What makes Lay of the Land all the more impressive is that it’s been the passion project of a single developer for several years. ‘Tooley1998’, also known as Southern Cross Interactive on the game’s Steam page, has been uploading videos of their progress since September 2021. Now, they’ve confirmed when it’ll be launched.
Lay of the Land will come to Steam on Wednesday, April 8. There’s no word on price yet, but you can wishlist it right now to keep an eye out for when that information drops.
Of course Hytale is the main challenger to Minecraft’s throne, but I’m loving the recent flurry of pluckier, smaller, but no-less attractive spinoffs of the game’s formula. Whether it’s Lay of the Land, or something like Allumeria (which recently had a bit of a scare following a rogue Microsoft DMCA), there’s a lot out there right now for voxel fans.
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