Thank you, dear Patchpeople!!!
I was able to patch my new Kobo and it is so much more fun to use now. I hated the store recommendations (always wrong, stuff I'd never read, how do they do that?) and love to have the games back. I almost never play them but it's nice to have my Kobo be able to do what my first Kobo could do
So thank you everyone for your work, I really do appreciate it!