@lyncia oh! i know this dichotomy
i super-love big stompy mechs, even though i would never wish the universes where they exist on my worst enemies
as for games, battletech is pretty rad! it takes a liiitle to get into, but it's just generally a very good game with really satisfying mechanics
@lyncia oh also, these ones are pretty retro, but i also managed to find a lot of older mechwarrior games are free on archive.org, and i had a lot of fun with them
if you can play the original descent, mechwarrior 2, ghost bear's legacy, and mercenaries are all worth playing!
mercenaries especially has the neat thing like in battletech, where contracts you do let you upgrade your mechs, hire new mechwarriors, and change the opinions of all the factions involved
@lyncia oh! if you haven't played it yet, into the breach is also really good!
it's by the same people who made faster than light, and while it's pretty simple, it's a really dang solid game