Hmm, for you Bruce?
Steamworld Dig is a solid implementation of many elements, while being a distinct thing. Its also fairly short.
Ori and the Blind Forest is a very artistic take, that is a little longer. Very well made and one of the recent genre stand outs.
Both also have sequels that expand on the original and are often considered improvements on the original. But they are also longer games.
Yokus Island Express has a pinball based movement system in a Metroidvania style game.
Cave Story is a classic indie game thats been around for years. In fact it was initially released as a freeware version that is quite good and worth checking out. If you want the original freeware version, you can find instructions on it from the classic game club thread, or you can find Cave Story+ on Steam, Epic, GoG etc
One other thing to note: most aren‘t terribly long games in general, first time plays tend towards 6-10 hours for most games in the genre, though most are also very friendly to speedrunning and are a staple of that community, often being beatable sub 2 hour for experienced players.
Edit: I would be remiss if I did not suggest the one half of the namesake that is available on PC. Steam has the Castlevania Advanced collection, which is several games from the Castlevania series from the GBA era, that really helped solidify the genre from what Super Metroid and Castlevania Symphony of the Night established