I can’t speak to the others, but I have a couple 8bitdo controllers and they’re fantastic. If the aliexpress listing is legit, I’d go with that one, no question.

I’ve never heard of the other two brands, but cursory googling doesn’t sound promising for them.

Fair. I did stray from the “rpg” theme on… Most of my responses.

Will look up Spirit of the North though! It sounds right up my alley

For real. Its high time I replay it, too. Been long enough that I just remember general themes.

You sound a lot like me, and probably get annoyed with a lot of grindy mechanics. Especially when you have limited time to play games.

Sea of Stars and Chained Echoes will really scratch that Chronotrigger itch.

Outer Wilds is also incredible (don’t read spoilers, just go in blind). It’s mini space exploration with cartoon-arcadey newtonian physics.

Sword & Sworcery is also great, and a good point-and-click adventure with an amazing soundtrack. I’d almost argue it’s better on a tablet or largeish phone through. It’s very touch input focused, which is OK with a mouse, but I think is better with a finger (as intended)

Others I enjoy :

• Kentucky Route Zero (point and click with a wild vibe)
• Firewatch (walking Sim with pretty low poly art)
• Dishonored 1 & 2 (gritty fps with stealth and magic)
• Inside (short puzzle platformer)
• Abzu (undersea exploration, relatively chill, but I never completed it)
• The Invincible (more recent than the rest, a very pretty walking sim in a retro-future sci-fi setting (Stanislaw Lem) that kept me pretty engrossed and occasionally worried)
• Horizon: Zero Dawn. (Absolutely adored this world and story. Story mode combat was good, but I just used cheats for a lot of the basic pickup/crafting stuff. Yes, I can take 30 minutes to run around and gather basic materials, but I don’t have that kind of time irl.)

Worked for me, too. Thanks friendly stranger :)