This. I wrestled with the same topic a couple years ago. Not only which to use, but once you choose a “common” one (say OpenGL), then actually getting pixels in

This. I wrestled with the same topic a couple years ago. Not only which to use, but once you choose a “common” one (say OpenGL), then actually getting pixels in a window is still different across platforms (hence things like SDL and GLFW). For me I settled on: 1) Learn WebGL in the browser. It’s a pretty good subset of OpenGL [ES] and an easy environment to experiment in. Then 2) learn a more “native” approach with good tooling support, such as Direct3D 11. (I wouldn’t get into D3D12 or Vulkan until you learn the basics pretty well). As others have mentioned, while the landscape is confusing, the concepts across them are pretty similar once you get a foothold.