Don't disregard the amount of computation Minecraft does. It is not in the same league as the other games you mention. Even more so if you place blocks that require frequent updates (such as redstone logic).
However, I remember running it just fine on an old XP machine with a 32bit, single-core pentium III and 2GB of RAM. In addition, this game has been available on smartphones quite some (phone model) generations ago.
Actually, Minecraft is widely derided as being extremely wasteful with resources. And yet yeah, it still runs on my kids' 9-year-old laptop.