i can tell you the one that surprised me the most: Yoku's Island Express! utterly adorable pinball metroidvania. you're a little dung beetle pushing a big ball around to deliver mail.

i find that there is so much focus on dark and dreary in the metroidvania genre, which makes sense considering the roots of the genre. me, i get enough of that in my daily life. i want colorful and full of curiosity. the ori games are good for that too, as is supraland, but i don't know of many more.