Not really DrWoland. There are some similarities, but there are some major differences. The stated goal of the game is to be the closest thing to a simulator of medieval life that is out there... while maintaining a fun game aspect.
It is very crafting focused, and eventually will get minigames back for crafting (faster times and such.) Crafting and gathering is time and tool based. That is to say, everything you do has a timer on it, and some things require the right tool. The initial materials require no tools, and in that way it is similar to minecraft, but you can't even attempt to do something like punch through stone... it just doesn't work. Crafting buildings is basically different, as you build a construction site, then need to add materials to the spot, then actually do the building. The entire world is terraformable (although there is some discussion on the current tunnel and decay methods for lowering outcrops of stone, and possibly quarry systems coming to make it more readily terraformable with the right tools.) The official game forces you to limit what you can craft... 64 man steam based variants can allow up to everything craftable by a single person with enough free time.
In addition, the skill system and quality system affect your results. When you are more skilled, and using a better tool, you tend to get better results. At really high skill levels you sometimes get a bonus of reduced time to perform your action. In some cases the results are the same no matter what (you dig up the same ground no matter how good you are at digging, or how amazing your shovel is.) In these cases a better tool still has a benefit, as it is more durable.
Night is very dark, and lights are possibly even more important for continued work than in Minecraft. Enemies tend to be far more dangerous than the average Minecraft fight, especially in lower tier armor.
The construction system builds upon itself in a much more complex way, and even has elements with require gathering efforts from your flower picking friends. In fact, steel requires a gathering based character to get some of the materials. In fact, a single building can easily take a dozen people a few days of dedicated work to build (at the high end buildings.) It also has a road system, with benefits, and siege systems are planned for those areas not actually part of a claim.
It does have many similarities, such as free roaming, physics based combat (although mount and blade is a better comparison here,) a plant growth system, and tamable animals. There are also differences, like a recall ability, skill paths that define what weapons and armor go well together and what crafting synergizes, the ability to claim land and buildings for use either as a guild or a single person, a faith system that can provide benefits to others and titles... as well as being the source of reducing death penalties or criminal ratings, mentoring (to improve a newer player's skill-- an older player with mentoring can basically teach in a school, a multi-guild alliance system (nations, kings, etc.,) and ground that drops down and slides... so there is no super cliff anywhere, but a more reasonable terrain setup.
I suppose you could call it a far more realistic medieval variant of minecraft with plans to become a full blown MMO, and with some new ideas... although no sorcery *Sorry, Merlin you are not.* I did post a link to a video on my Microsoft drive in the Saighdear forums, and I think you can still access those, even if games are not supported as a Saighdear official branch anymore.
» Edited on: 2015-01-02 12:24:23