gabal

I participate in a book club bit other then that I don't do any challenges with number of books. I prefer quality over quantity.

Thanks for the list, a few games really caught my eye.

Here is my contribution - Tametsi

A minesweeper which has hand-crafted levels so you can always solve it with logic instead of relying on luck when you are out of logical moves.

Death's Door has many souls-like elements but losing currency on death isn't one of them. That could be what you are looking for.

I see in your comments that you like rogue-lites - I found Curse of the Dead Gods scratches that Hades itch as combat is similar and I'm playing it right now while waiting a release of Hades 2...

I can't recommend a YouTube channel First 5 enough for just such questions. It does reviews of games that are worth your time, not your money. And while it operates on even smaller length then 20 hours I think you will be able to find some good recommendations there.

https://youtube.com/@FirstFive

Opis Magnum is the most accessible one of all Zachtronics games. I really enjoyed it.

Slipways are great, a 4X campaign condensed into an hour-long session.

Against The Storm is brilliant. I recently started the progression again on a new profile so I can experience new campaign map mechanic as it was meant to be played.

GNU Terry Pratchett

The city grew a bit too in last 46 centuries since pyramids were built.

Angry upvote

I think he said he was a contractor for army but didn't go into any more details. He was also in prison for smuggling immigrants across border if I recall correctly.

Apple fought hard against two-button mouse if I recall correctly.