I can tell from these 6 words the only game with a semblance of sandbox elements you can think of is Minecraft.

Since GTA 3.

GTA is both a narrative series and a sandbox game series but is primarily a sandbox series. In every GTA game you can just do whatever you want once you get past the first 1 or 2 boxed-in missions. I think GTA V is the one that takes the longest to get you going.

since Grand Theft Auto. The story missions were always designed to tutorialize the sandbox. They just started getting a lot of attention for being better stories than you usually get from AAA action games, especially in the ‘00s.