Buttless_Boy says: Not really sandboxy or non-linear except that you can run around the linearly arranged levels as long as you want and flush toilets and break stuff. A minor pioneer of first-person non-linearity. Also a great game. My list, my rules!

Buttless_Boy says: Um, duh? Arguably the high-point of the Guns 'n Conversation genre, and actually featuring both a somewhat nonlinear storyline AND sandbox tomfoolery! Hell yes, you should play this. Go do it now.

Buttless_Boy says: Loading Darklands for the first time is like deciding to run away to a new country where you only half speak the language, and everyone's trying to kill you. In other words, totally sweet. And utterly non-linear in that old-school, no tutorial way.

Buttless_Boy says: Sometimes you wanna play Arcanum, sometimes you wanna play Diablo 2, and sometimes you get drunk and want to play them both at the same time. Divine Divinity is the closest you'll get without two computers and four hands.

Buttless_Boy says: Or you could play this, but you really shouldn't if you could play Divine Divinity instead. Or Diablo 2. Or Arcanum. Or any other game on this list. Except Gothic 2, yuck.

Buttless_Boy says: Star Control 2 is the father of all great space sandbox games. There's a freeware clone you should play instead, but buy it anyway because it's fucking wonderful.

Buttless_Boy says: This looks like a pretty neat game, but I can't play it because GOG is a butt and it doesn't work on my computer. Anyway, it's a big open sandbox-ish world to run around in, or so I'm told by people who can play it.

Buttless_Boy says: I don't like this game much. It's yet another D&D sandbox, it's okay, if you like D&D or loved the Icewind Dale games you'll probably like it, but make sure you get the unofficial patch 'cause it's buggy as all hell.

Buttless_Boy says: Thanks for reading! If you have any recommendations, please, let me know. I'm always looking for new sandboxes, and I know I'm missing a lot of classics. Tell me about them.