I've played a bunch of them a bit, and nothing comes close. Some of it probably has to do with timing - a true sandbox game when there was a cultural match wit

I've played a bunch of them a bit, and nothing comes close. Some of it probably has to do with timing - a true sandbox game when there was a cultural match with the desire for that environment. Nowadays if you had a game with glitches that allowed people to steal your items outside of intended game mechanics, there would be an uproar on Twitter and punishing 1-star steam reviews. Back then it was infuriating, but part of the atmosphere. The night was dark and full of terrors, so to speak. Also the actual concept of real-estate, with a real house and your own vendors, was really next-level stuff for immersion. Exploits like duping that ruined the economy weren't beneficial to the atmosphere though, and actually broke immersion. Nostalgia holds up a lot of it though I'm sure. Just like anything else, playing it again now probably wouldn't bring back the same experience.