Aspyr! I was a Mac user in an era that was 95% Windows, and Aspyr brought quality games over to our side of the pond. I remember they ported Alpha Centauri in particular, but there were lots of other ones too.

Also Bungie back in that era—they were Mac-exclusive and putting out the amazing Marathon series. I was heartbroken when I saw the trailer for the new “Marathon” game that looks nothing like the originals.

It’s a him. Mario.

This is probably not a terribly helpful answer, but on the iOS side, there is Apple Arcade, which is a huge library of “free” (aka included with the subscription) games that don’t have any ads or microtransactions. If there’s an Android equivalent, just give her that as her app store. You’d spend a set amount per month and keep her away from the predatory business models.

How could you do a Red Dead Redemption 3, though? Like, this article is all just “technically, it would be possible and could look nice”, but how could it work from a story point of view? The only thing I could think would be to go even farther back in time, because John Marston’s story is completely done, and we’ve seen as much of Arthur’s story as we need to.

I occasionally take the bus from NYC to a town in the Finger Lakes, and this is so true. I have been through so many towns that check off every one of these boxes.

I am loving this post and am bookmarking it for future games to play.

The one I want to recommend is a little out of left field: “Photopia”, a text adventure that is more than 20 years old but that I just found out about. It’s a nonlinear narrative game with two distinct voices, where you gradually piece together the story of, well, go in unspoiled and you’ll be happier. It’s not a long game, and there aren’t much by way of puzzles, but the writing is wonderful and the story hits hard.

You can play it for free online.