Kenshi vs Ylands
Kenshi
Kenshi is an open world, semi-sandbox, party-based RPG that offers players an completely open-ended gameplay rather than opting to force players to go through a storyline. You can be anyone you like in this game, be it an honest trader, an adventurer, a bandit or others. Scavenge important resources, including weapons and armor, from corpses and use them for your own. Recruit new companions from towns, build an outpost of your own, and grow it to accomodate more of your companions. Of course, as your little town thrives, bandits and jealous rivals will attack you and you'll need to make sure all your people have what they need to defend the town and repel the invaders.Sounds like fun? Well, it definitely is. However, Kenshi, being a pretty ambitious early access game, does have it fair share of flaws. The game still has plenty of glitches still and can be really hard to get into, especially at the beginning of the game where you literally have no idea what you need to do.
That said, the game is very unique because it has a pretty rare theme and its gameplay - a combination of party-based survival/ base building - is also oddly rare among the other games on the market. So, you might want to check this game out.
Ylands
Ylands is a sandbox adventure game that has a gameplay that's a lot like a massively expanded version of Minecraft with a lot more resources for you to gather, items to craft, and amazing things to build. Instead of being "just a game", Ylands is more like a platform, much like Roblox is, where players are given the tools to create whatever worlds or games they like, be it a fun go-kart racing game that's inspired from Lega Racers or even a watery world where epic pirate-themed naval battles can take place. The worlds are completely interactive as well and every action you do will modify, no matter how slightly, the game environment of that segment of the world you happen to be in. In fact, if you change a terrain and populate it with an entirely different diversity of flora and fauna, you can basically change the climate system there.Unlike Minecraft though, Ylands has opted for a more polygonal appearance which gave it the extra leverage it needed to overcome the painful dismissal and degratory label of being simply a "Minecraft clone" - which admittedly, Ylands is most definitely not. The game has so much going for it and players truly have all the freedom within the game's pretty wide parameters to literally create anything they like. Of course, the game also supports sharing, so you can let other players in Yland enjoy that (for example) crazy maze-running game you've just made!
Ylands is most certainly impressive to say the least. However, due to its indie origins, not many players know about the game, let alone buy it on Steam. So, if you really like Minecraft-like sandbox games, you simply must give this game a try, and if you've had a great time there, be sure to recommend it to your friends or even buy it for them as their Christmas/ birthday gift!