Not to be blunt, but there are no ‘ethical’ companies. But at each of those companies, there are good people and good devs who don’t agree with the unethical decisions their management has made.
If there is a game you strongly feel you would enjoy, you can get it knowing you’ll be supporting at least some good people.
All that being said I do still draw a line and there are some microtransaction-hells I refuse to touch.
These are all a little broad. Hand drawn like darkest dungeon, Hades, or like Cuphead? 3D as in realistic or low poly?
Art style should go hand in hand with game thematics. Celeste’s precise platforming goes well with it’s pixel art style, and if they made another version with very high fidelity 3D graphics it would likely hinder gameplay. Likewise, Hollow Knight would lose much of its charm if it went 8 bit pixel art.
All that being said, low poly art can look really good but can also feel really cheap. The same for low bit pixel art. Those aren’t deal breakers for me, but if I was judging purely based on art direction, I would (probably) vote those out.
Edit: Almost forgot, I’d probably lean towards hand drawn for most desirable as it can look very, very good and is usually highly unique.
Age of Empires 2.
I like the mix of challenges the enemy factions bring, the randomness of the levels, and the flexibility of how I build up my army.