8BitMMO vs Ylands
8BitMMO
8BitMMO is quite a different sort of 2D MMORPG mainly because it is a giant sandbox set in a persistent streaming world and partly because of its eye-catching retro look. Being a sandbox game, you can literally build anything you like be it your own city or a magnificent castle; a simple humble home or an expressive voxel art. You can even build dungeons for other players to raid in! To make things more interesting, the game also has a fun zombie mode in addition to the plethora of hats, clothings and other accessories to customize your character with, and the tons of enemies you can battle against alone or with a group of friends. You don't need to worry about griefers as well, since the game has a robust anti-griefing system in place to prevent the same, bad thing that had happened to you in Minecraft's multiplayer game to occur again.8BitMMO is completely free-to-play and is still under active development by its one full-time developer (hats off to you my friend), so if you'd like to show your support, be sure to buy some of the stuff in the game's in-game shop or simply submit your feedback and ideas. Either way would help!
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!