With an artful aesthetic that seems like a cross between Tim Burton and classic Disney animation, it’s truly worth getting lost in (which is good, because finishing it will take you dozens of hours).
Left off of the original version of this list and its absence pointed out in the comments (as expected), Hollow Knight is one of the most successful and fanatically worshipped indie games of recent years, and deservedly so. It’s a sprawling Metroidvania adventure in which you play a cute little bone knight exploring a post-apocalyptic world in search of his past, facing impossibly complex environmental puzzles and fiendishly difficult combat. With an artful aesthetic that seems like a cross between Tim Burton and classic Disney animation, it’s truly worth getting lost in (which is good, because finishing it will take you dozens of hours).