Minecraft not listed?

Try it, it’s pretty good

I’d also advocate for going in blindly and only looking up guides when you need them (for example when you seriously get into breeding) but do whatever you want.

(If you don’t play it blindly the first time, you’ll never get to play it blindly.)

(If you don’t have much time and are only playing locally or on your own server you also can boost xp gain, that helped me a bit for the later levels since I just didn’t have time for grinding.)

Personally I’d pick Palworld.

1. pretty unique concept (putting the best from dozens of games together as your base and continuing to expand from there)

2. very fun (I don’t seem to be alone with that opinion given how quickly it grew)

3. awarding a DLC (elden ring erdtree) of a game that has already been GotY is lame (and just awarding a DLC in general)

4. over 2.1 million simultaneous players

5. high flexibility, even for a sandbox game (ever wanted to attach a rocket launcher to your dinosaurs? to build a full fortress that basically can’t be taken? or do you prefer a cozy cabin? want to explore to get better? prefer to minmax your base instead? become a master of breeding? just grind money? etc)