3 from the top 12 are sandbox, not a raving review for how well-liked they are. I for one don't like sandboxes because they are mostly shitty and empty patting for a nonexisting story or progress. And to add salt to injury, if you lose your save, for whatever reason or a code change makes it necessary to replay all of it, it only makes for a miserable experience.
Hat that problem with "Lust Age" hat fun playing it in the first version. But then a new version got out, saves got reked, and I needed to replay it. Even with the new "easy"-mode the dev made it was just unbearable.