it sounds like you want an internal voxel grid and for all the art and animations to respect that grid. I don’t have any recs but I’m posting in solidarity because I feel the same way about pixel art games

super mario advance was my first mario. looking back, its good when sequels try new things. and the mario franchise is better for what doki doki brought in

mario level design is just so good that way

thanks for the suggestion! I have started before and it didnt click. maybe I just wasn’t in the mood. I think I’ll give it another chance next time I get the arpg itch, if I don’t just pick up tl2 again

I fell hard into diablo 3 when it launched on ps4. that’s my baseline and I haven’t found any that play as well on controller.

torchlight 2 on console comes close (very annoyed I can’t play this way on pc).

path of exile is also okay, but I can’t stand the drop rates and market. ftp cosmetics bug me, but online markets ruin a game.

I’ve also dabbled in a few others, mostly with poor controller support or clunky combat that just doesn’t feel good to me.

overall though, I’m just tired of sorting loot. love the grind, love finding loot, hate sorting. games like backpack hero tell us some people love that aspect, but I’d like to see more options with unlimited storage and a good sort/search menu

I can’t contribute to this specifically, but I love this topic and would love to see something like an indie alternatives community. personally I’m still hooked on civ vi and can’t find anything that scratches the itch (paradox and sega aren’t good alternatives to 2k)

oh that’s clever

kiss launcher has tags

maybe a different structure could work where main linux community is for noobs and we have some kind of seasoned linux community