I'm not sure that I understand. Are you asking for someone to make this for you? Are you asking for suggestions on an engine to use?

What exactly do you mean by "Items can have tags" and what kind of programming do you want to do with them?

Game Engine - Requirements
2D Top down view
Helpful communitty (Unity is not accepted due to this reason)
Can use your own sprites & sounds
Free
Can have as many maps & images as you want (Game Maker is not accepted due to this reason)
Items can have tags (for programming purposes)

So, I'm not sure what you've already tried, but I would recommend looking at RPGMaker: it's easy to use and the newer iterations can be expanded quite a bit with a relatively simple scripting language. I think someone's even working on a multi-player version.

You could also look into using something like Construct 2, but I've never used that so I'm not sure how easy it is to use or how flexible it can be.

What you're looking for is going to be relatively hard to find in a free engine. I also think that you're looking for something that is much more of a game-making-utility than an actual game engine (which is a term that is thrown around to mean a lot of different things).

If the community is all that is preventing you from using Unity, maybe you should give it some time, work with the tool, and ask when you need help. People tend to be much more accommodating of more exact questions than the vague alternatives. I also know that there are a ton of guides and tutorials for Unity, so you don't have to interact with the community too much.

2D Top down view

Have you tried to look at Torque 2D?

Helpful communitty (Unity is not accepted due to this reason)

Now that is subjective but perhaps you were just unlucky? Most community are actually helpful if one ask the right questions.

Can use your own sprites & sounds

Hmmmm... here I would suggest that you look at this Torque 2D as it looks like you want lots of flexibility with the engine.

Free

Once again look at Torque 2D

Actually the whole Torque 2D engine is under MIT and might be worth a look for you. Also I am not a super user of Torque 2D but I know from experience that the community is friendly. The engine is free and you can convert it if needed(you get all the source code also for free).

At least I gave you another option if needed and all for free :)

Oh and welcome to gamedev! :)

2D Top down view

Have you tried to look at Torque 2D?

Helpful communitty (Unity is not accepted due to this reason)

Now that is subjective but perhaps you were just unlucky? Most community are actually helpful if one ask the right questions.

Can use your own sprites & sounds

Hmmmm... here I would suggest that you look at this Torque 2D as it looks like you want lots of flexibility with the engine.

Free

Once again look at Torque 2D

Actually the whole Torque 2D engine is under MIT and might be worth a look for you. Also I am not a super user of Torque 2D but I know from experience that the community is friendly. The engine is free and you can convert it if needed(you get all the source code also for free).

At least I gave you another option if needed and all for free :)

Oh and welcome to gamedev! :)