Nicolas NgFeb 7, 2021, 9:18 PM
Honestly, I'll always point at Nier: Automata for doing that like nothing else. It's got a well-deserved reputation for being really, really weird with some of the strangest sequences to prove a point. The game ties in quite a few game mechanics with the story. Things like being able to straight up disable the HUD by removing an item or having the interface getting completely messed up because it reflects what's going on in the story itself. The thing that sells it though, is the true ending. I can't say what it is but it is something that you have to play to truly experience. Watching it on Youtube doesn't do it justice at all
The other would have to be Stelaris. Naughty Dog uses games as a way to their story with game mechanics really well. Stellaris on the other hand uses its game mechanics for the player to create their own story. There's enough freedom in the game to find yourself the leader of an interstellar federation fending off extradimensional threats or being the Galactic Empire and carting around a planet-destroying superweapon to bully the other empires. They do it really well by using a library of random events to keep things interesting like new planets having a subterranean race hidden inside and stuff. It's another way video games are can tell stories, just the other way