Wurm Online vs Ylands
Wurm Online
Wurm Online is a unique sandbox/adventure RPG that many has been touting as being the most realistic one ever. The game is not a solo survival game unlike Minecraft. Instead, you are given the opportunity to build your own settlement - literally from the ground up - and help it to grow. Being an MMO, you can enlist the help of other players to develop your settlement from being little more than a camp with a few shabby and lopsided huts into something that passing bandits might be eyeing hungrily at.There is also an adventure element in this game where you get to venture of into the wilderness to fight a variety of creatures to earn some loot and to level up. Players who enjoy clashing swords with their fellow players can even hop into a PvP world server to enjoy some open world PvP. That said, things will go by a bit slowly if you are playing the game alone though. Wurm Online is an MMO for a reason!
The game has nothing but a fun and great experience to offer to its players and best yet, it's free to play! You can opt for a premium membership if you like just so you can play on multiple servers but, as mentioned, the game can be enjoyed without having to spend a cent.
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!