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?
You can try playing Minetest, it’s not a game on its own. More like a game engine. One of the most popular games for it is Mineclone 2. Though you will likely need to run your own server if you want to play the game online with a friend.