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What games have you played that beautifully marry their mechanics with narrative and/or aesthetic?
(sopuli.xyz)
Title.
You might've heard the fancy term ludonarrative dissonance, which describes something a lot of modern games suffer from. It's the way games often tell stories that don't fit within their gameplay loops. How a character can take 20 shots to the head in gameplay, and then die from a single wound in a cutscene. Or how in the story, characters can act like people who would never do the things they do do in gameplay.
This conflict doesn't actually ruin a game most of the time. But the pictured game is one which is renowned for showcasing what can be done when gameplay is used as a narrative device, reinforcing rather than conflicting with the story. Using every element of a game in concert.
I would say Hollow Knight. Every new ability you get is from the environment, which changes the environment after you get it. One great example is that the room where you get the double jump is gusty, which disappears once you get the double jump. Those gusts then affect a different area, and any more would be semi-spoilers. Regardless, the whole game is wonderful, especially if you love Metroidvanias.