Thaolin

This is the answer IMO. Godot is lightweight, easy to use, and free with fully open sourced communities. Check out GDQuest for tutorials. The best part is that Godot uses a programming language called GDscript which is based on Python. I’ve learned so much about programming best practices using Godot that it translates to my day job now when I need to use python. I cannot recommend it enough as a hobbyist.

As an additional point, Godot 4 just released and it is really giving Unity a run for it’s money with features and capabilities.

I force most games into 45 or 60 of I can help it. I’ve never noticed bad performance while swimming so I loaded it up and played for a bit. I was locked to 60 with no issues. Definitely fixed whatever performance issues they had.

I’m pretty sure it just left early access so the small discount makes sense. It’s a stellar game and honestly much longer than you’d think with a game that screams casual.