Games

LBreakout[1] is the best Arkanoid clone, period. There has been many attempts by Taito (or Square Enix by proxy) to reboot the franchise but each of their releases just flopped terribly because they keep removing features that people come back to Arkanoid for (the latest PC release, Eternal Battle, has no level editor). In similar vein is Apotris[2] (whose developer is being hunted by the Tetris Company like a fugitive the last few months) is the greatest iteration of Tetris IMO, and it is open-source and developed by a one-man team.

[1] https://lgames.sourceforge.io/LBreakoutHD/ [2] https://akouzoukos.com/apotris

Null Gravity Labyrinth for everyone who likes labyrinths

I'll toss 2 mobile games on the list. Desert Golf and Golf on Mars. No ads. No stupid paid trinket nonsense. Just a couple bucks for the game and a very chill and casual 2D golf game.

Void Stranger

Can of Wormholes

Superfighters (original web game) and Superfighters Deluxe (on steam)

Really good 2D platform brawler based around weapon drops.

the Skyrim total conversion mod, Enderal: Forgotten Stories, blew me away, and it's free if you own Skyrim. Even has its own installer and game page on Steam.

Where The Water Tastes Like Wine - Ever play ToeJam & Earl? This game has the same core game loop. You're on a treasure hunt, unlike ToeJam & Earl where you are trying to find spaceship parts. In Where The Water Tastes Like Wine, you meant to collect stories and then share stories with major NPCs. The stories that you collect and share, change over the course of the game. The soundtrack is also really good.

Splattercat did a video on the game.

This game isn't for everyone. It's a very, niche game.