I 100%'d Expedition 33. Masterpiece of a game, NG++ has no appeal to me though, I preferred the french dub FWIW, I found American actors saying french words to be really offputting, but maybe that’s because I’m Canadian.

Now that’s done I’ve dusted off the PS5 for ** Death Stranding 2**. I just got to the place past the animal shelter to give a non-spoiler point in where I’m at. I really enjoyed the first game, mostly just the vibe, it’s a very cozy game for me. DS2 is mostly more of the same, which is pretty much what I want. They greatly expanded the combat, and made it a more important part of side quests. I’m not particularly excited or bothered by that, it is more fun, particularly stealth but I’m a bit disappointed they haven’t built up the trekking part of the game much, so far I don’t think I have unlocked any items that weren’t in the first game and isn’t combat focused but I’m hoping they mostly added to late game. I do really like that roads are not the pinnacle of development any more (I LIKE TRAINS!!). The UI is also a bit of a step down for me, but I can’t quite figure out why, it just feels a bit more awkward. I really like the added skill trees and the backpack modding, the new BTs are alright. The one thing I really really hated in the first game were the flashbacks to old wars, I despised these forced combat sequences and find them dull, thematically odd, and shows off the worst aspects of the game, I’m disappointed to see these are still in DS2 but with the better combat they are slightly more tolerable. Overall it’s a good sequel and I’m having a really fun time, but it is going in a direction that I think makes it less special. I find the themes are really interesting with the series as a whole, developing the wilderness is obviously a good thing, having lots of teamwork and cooperation is genuinely really good for the world of DS, but also the structures you make are ugly, contributing to something worse and somewhat annoying. It’s really interesting commentary imo and very nuanced which is a rare thing.

I recently discovered Celeste and love it so far. It’s a skilled platformer that doesn’t seem as punishing (edit) compared to other platformers that I’ve played, but still challenging enough to be satisfying. (edit: And the base story difficulty is not as bad as some other platformer games). The story is also really nice (overcoming depression and mental health stuff), not something I usually play but I was really engaged with it, and communicated in a nice simple way (not a ton of cutscenes like story-heavy games). edit: Celeste is similar to Hollow Knight, though I got stuck at a part of Hollow Knight and haven’t picked it back up in a while. Celeste is much easier than N++ and Super Meat Boy, IMO.

(I had intended to play it on my 4k TV, but I found that it has a significant delay that makes it hard, and I somehow didn’t notice it in other games. It’s much easier to play on my PC).

Also RE the OP’s mention of simple phone games, I really like “Simon Tatham’s Puzzles”: iOS, Android on Google Play and F-Droid. It’s a collection of simple puzzle games that I enjoy idly playing for a few minutes at a time.

I finished “Hardspace: Shipbreaker”. It was pretty fun! Much better story than most sim games.

I’m mow playing “Enderal”, a totally free full conversion of Skyrim. You need Skyrim, obviously, but everything is new. New world, story, questlines, skill trees, everything. So far it’s really, really good. Much better than Skyrim. It’s difficult, but there is no level scaling so you can actually revisit areas when you levelled up.