Would OFF count under this?

I think I've found the Tunic of the Wilds in a chest in a mine in the Depths

Ok fine I'll play Tunic

The Witness is not a tunicwilds, but it is a tunicwildslike.

I have bought outer wilds for like four people and had this exchange with them and none of them have gotten into it 😭

ghost trick is also part of this genre

Clearly I'm gonna have to play Tunic, huh?

okay this is a sign, i WILL finally play the Outer Wilds dlc.

also, a game i just replayed but definitely still falls into this category is Hypnospace Outlaw. which if you've not played PLEASE DO!!

Her Story is another one, definitely recommend that too!!

also i am very ashamed to say ive never heard of Tunic before so that's going on the list..

adding Return of the Obra Dinn to the list

This is Oneshot

you can't have this conversation without la mulana >:V
environmental station alpha predates both these, anyways, but la mulana is the big one

Hm, I've seen so many folks compare Tunic to Outer Wilds, so I guess I gotta get around to playing it~

My problem is that as much as I want to watch people play Outer Wilds for the first time, streams are often intensely stressful for me. "Nooooo you discovered a shortcut last cycle, whyyyyy are you going the long way to [REDACTED]??? This is why you don't think anything else is left to explore in that location once you get there... "

I'll add "Before Your Eyes" to this genre as well

Tunic and... Outer Wilds? Or...? Need to finish the latter and start on the former.

I'd say 999 fits this pretty well.

games where the core mechanic is organically exploring and learning about the game and the feeling of discovery and figuring out secrets that have been hidden in plain sight all along and completely change how you experience the game world from then on

I feel like "escape room" already has this connotation! Or maybe "Knowledge Game"?

ive been led to believe that Nope is this but a movie, but i wouldnt know bc i havent watched it

Myst is maybe the OG for this

Fez.

I could see SOMA being a tunicwilds or tunicwildslike, and what the heck, maybe even the intro of Prey (2017), haha

Having just wrapped up one playthrough: The Talos Principle

Everhood is definitely one

I'm still maybe a couple years out from totally forgetting the spoilers of the outer wilds I watched. one day I will return!

really feeling OFF here

I've had people treat Hollow Knight this way but I'm not sure it is? I've only played four of the games on this list though: Tunic, Outer Wilds, Undertale, and Obra Dinn.

I’d say Rain World. It’s one of the games that genuinely got me into the preference of playing without even mechanical spoilers. Trying to figure out what the hell’s going on in that hellscape of a world and being forced to make split-second decisions absolutely is core to the experience IMO. It’s not the same without the raw feeling of pure TERROR.

Outer Worlds:
If someone tells you that all the writing sucks you miss out on the most important part of the narrative, getting mad at the awful endings

I'm in the finji chat and get to see people experiencing tunic for the first time all the time and it gives me energy

Does doki doki literature club count?

I'd argue there are examples of this outside of the videogame medium as well - for instance, if you haven't watched Aeon Flux yet (the animated series, not the movie which was thoroughly average) I strongly urge you to crack open the box set and dive in with absolutely zero pregaming whatsoever

Late to the party, but The Beginner's Guide might fit this genre also!