I can’t speak to the others, but I have a couple 8bitdo controllers and they’re fantastic. If the aliexpress listing is legit, I’d go with that one, no question.
I’ve never heard of the other two brands, but cursory googling doesn’t sound promising for them.
You sound a lot like me, and probably get annoyed with a lot of grindy mechanics. Especially when you have limited time to play games.
Sea of Stars and Chained Echoes will really scratch that Chronotrigger itch.
Outer Wilds is also incredible (don’t read spoilers, just go in blind). It’s mini space exploration with cartoon-arcadey newtonian physics.
Sword & Sworcery is also great, and a good point-and-click adventure with an amazing soundtrack. I’d almost argue it’s better on a tablet or largeish phone through. It’s very touch input focused, which is OK with a mouse, but I think is better with a finger (as intended)
Others I enjoy :
Kentucky Route Zero (point and click with a wild vibe)
Firewatch (walking Sim with pretty low poly art)
Dishonored 1 & 2 (gritty fps with stealth and magic)
Inside (short puzzle platformer)
Abzu (undersea exploration, relatively chill, but I never completed it)
The Invincible (more recent than the rest, a very pretty walking sim in a retro-future sci-fi setting (Stanislaw Lem) that kept me pretty engrossed and occasionally worried)
Horizon: Zero Dawn. (Absolutely adored this world and story. Story mode combat was good, but I just used cheats for a lot of the basic pickup/crafting stuff. Yes, I can take 30 minutes to run around and gather basic materials, but I don’t have that kind of time irl.)
Yeah, they’re a skip to endgame content. But they’re not any kind of “instant win.”
The couple types of pvp aren’t tied to your character level, and the most difficult raid content is best run with a group that you practice with. If you’ve never played, simply grabbing the game and one of those packages isn’t going to give you an immediate edge.
XIV is sort of a single player game with a bunch of coop boss fights.
And, not to be cliche, but you can play through the entire first two arcs (A Realm Reborn and Heavensward) completely free, with no real limitations. The only things locked out of the free tier are the more social aspects, and any content above level 60. A handful of jobs are locked, but there is a ridiculous amount of content available for free.
I’ve played a few other mmos and hated them all. XIV is something weirdly different. And the overwhelming majority of the community is chill and friendly.