The Block Game I Want (The One I Deserve?)

When I was a kid, sandboxy block games were all the rage. But, you basically had to choose between Minecraft and Shitty Knockoffs of Minecraft.1 A few of them were fairly high quality and creative. But, generally, "Minecraft clone" meant "derivative slop." So far as I can tell, this is no longer the case. If you want to play "Minecraft but it's good at being a survival game," you can play Vintage Story. If you want to play "Minecraft but it's good at being an RPG," you can play Hytale. If you prefer "Minecraft but it's a space exploration game made of hexagons," that is being diligently created by Some Guy on the Internet. But, personally, I have always wanted "Minecraft but it's a small - scale colony sim." Minecraft sorta tries to do this. You have NPCs and you can build houses for them, but there's no real reason to. You can trade with them. But, if you're a casual player, there's little reason to. If you're serious about it, you inevitably build a Horrifying Villager Factory Farm,…