Mount & Blade: Warband vs Salem
Mount & Blade: Warband
Mount & Blade: Warband is hailed as one of the best installments in the Mount & Blade game franchise. This time around, you play as an aspiring leader who has his sights aimed at the currently vacant throne of Calradia. Assemble your army of battle-hardened warriors and dive into the fray as you battle your way up to what you want! The game brings realism to medieval battlefields with a ton of improvements, ranging from the ability to turn thrown weapons into a make-shift close combat weapon when the enemy gets too close to the ability to pick up projectiles off the ground to be used as extra munitions. There plenty of new features as well. You can now marry a lady for political gain or simply because you like her; grant lands to your companions, turning them into your vassals; as well as its incredible multiplayer battles that support up to 64 players and has varying modes. The game's multiplayer aspect is also very well-balanced, so that players will be able to fight each other on a somewhat equal footing.Mount & Blade: Warband is the epitome of the Mount & Blade series and honestly, if you're a fan or even a newcomer looking to give the series a try, this is definitely the game to get. The game is available on both PC and consoles (PlayStation and Xbox).
Salem
Salem is an old-school and somewhat obscure (but fun) sandbox MMORPG that unlike Wurm Online has a stronger emphasis on its in-depth crafting system and survival aspect rather than building.Similar to Wurm Online though, Salem is not a voxel-based game, but you are still able to mold the game environment through resource gathering, mining and digging in a way that reminds me of the currently-shelved MMORPG, EverQuest Next: Landmark. Of course, although not exactly the focus of the game, you can still build your homestead and the process is quite similar to Wurm Online except that it occurs at a much higher speed.
Not to mention, the game world in Salem is simply humongous to the point where it feels like an actual world. Salem also borrowed some features from ArcheAge where open-world PvP is the norm, so you'll need to be vigilant at all times, but players who kill and steal for no reason will be labelled as criminals and can be punished.
However, as good as it is despite being an indie MMO and all, Salem does have its fair share of flaws due to its low development budget. So, we'd recommend you to take a look at Salem without carrying along any high expectations. It's a pretty good MMORPG like Minecraft, but if you're expecting a Minecraft clone, you may end up disappointing yourself.