It appears you cannot play SoT or MC without a MS account and I hate predatory ways Xbox accounts operate (e.g. forcing numbers into your nickname and having you pay to remove it - nickname change being a paid feature is always a 100% demonstration of irreversibly gluttonous greed). My friend likes the type of games though. We played DBD and Lethal Company together, but I’d like something non-horror. The cheaper the better. I looked into Vintage Story, but she’s not down due to it not being on Steam, as she feels like the reviews are curated to inflate positivity (a fair way to feel imo).
Any recommendations based on that?
If you’re down for some 🏴☠️🦜 there are ways to play Minecraft multiplayer without needing an account.
Otherwise, Minetest is your best bet. It looks and plays like an older version of Minecraft.
Vintage Story is an acquired taste, it’s actually not that similar to Minecraft as you would think. It’s a hardcore survival game where everything takes a lot of time. You’ll spend many hours before you’re even able to mine stone and you need to manage your resources properly.