def gen_maze_helper(self, x, y):

    if x + 1 > c.COLS or y + 1 > c.ROWS or x < 0 or y < 0 or self.maze[x][y].visited:
        return False
    else:
        self.maze[x][y].visited = True
        self.draw_maze(c.SCREEN, c.COLS, c.ROWS, False)
        pygame.display.flip() // i assume it is so slow because update gets called so much

    if (
            self.gen_maze_helper(x + 1, y)
            or self.gen_maze_helper(x - 1, y)
            or self.gen_maze_helper(x, y + 1)
            or self.gen_maze_helper(x, y - 1)
    ):
        print("test")

def draw_maze(self, screen, cols, rows, done):
    for i in range(cols):
        for j in range(rows):
            self.maze[i][j].draw(screen)
        if not done:
            pygame.time.delay(25)
            pygame.display.update()
    # this is for the original "animation" - it can be done every cell but gets too slow if there are 100+ cells

The logic is a mess and in progress so please dont focus on that – the main issue is the the slow update or the drawing. I had to once row at a time instead of one cell at a time because it was too slow