@vampiress OK!!... let me mention a few:

- Rock & Roll Racing (SNES)
- Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (DOS)
- Montezuma (ATARI)
- Quake II (DOS)

Bonus track:
- Prince of Persia I & II

I'm not into games anymore, but those really captivated me back then.

@vampiress I can think of random elements. I've played a reasonable amount of the Oblivion remaster recently and the power selection wheel is a much better UX than the Skyrim system, and I think one of the reasons I prefer Oblivion (also nostalgia). It's so much faster and less immersion breaking than looking through menus (as the Skyrim system feels to me).

Of course in some of your games looking through menus or remembering commands could be immersive for the kind of experience you're trying to build.

@vampiress
We can't forget the pip boy in fallout 3 - actively bad to use but somehow still charming and enjoyable b/c of the immersion.

In general I really enjoy when the ui allows keyboard shortcuts for repetitive tasks (pressing a few keys vs clicking and dragging to sell something, for example)

@vampiress I never played it to the end, but Uplink. The UI *was* the game.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uplink_(video_game)

@vampiress For me it was Neverwinter Nights (the first one.) It had this wonderful radial system where you would either right click or press on the number pad (I forget which button, 5 I guess?) and then you'd have items, actions, spells, etc all in there. I got so I could use the number pad to fire off a series of spells really fast in it. And, apparently, according to everyone else on the server, lag the server. 😆

You still also had the tradition interface. It wasn't one or the other after all. Between the two you could do anything fast and easy.

It's good for mouse, keyboard, and gamepads. Why it isn't more of a thing I don't know, but some games are starting to realize radials work and it's in a few today again at last.

@vampiress Flower on PS3

Any button is “go,” and the controller’s physical motion is the direction

@vampiress I feel I have to submit two answers because I feel like simulations have to be in a category by themselves, whereas non simulation games have a whole different philosophy.

Simulation - Elite Dangerous. It's idea of multiple consoles that you can access for different purposes but the primary flight controls are a breeze to use. It is a really really convincing simulation of what one would need to fly a spaceship.

Game - Console edition of Stellaris. I have played the heck out of that game for years and years and bought pretty much all of the expansions because the interface is just so accessible.

@vampiress

Flexbars from World of Warcraft, before they nerfed it.

@vampiress

Astroneer! I love how they integrate inventory physically on the character!

@vampiress Ultima VII is still my high water mark for a mouse-driven interface. left->interact, right->walk is a very comfy combo with a mouse. (unfortunately no longer true with trackpads). double-click to activate, single-click drag to move - it's extremely intuitive, and follows a lot of standard/expected GUI operating system UX design from the win 3.1 era.

i also admire its opinionated choice to go completely HUDless. few companies would be willing to do that today.

U8 has all of the above, except is a master class in failed implementation. the very same UI methods, but hobbled by extremely frustrating pixel hunts and an unpredictable map collision detection system. just walking through the map is an exercise in dodging trees.

@vampiress Superflight. Simple controls, minimal UI that can be made even more minimal in preferences

https://store.steampowered.com/app/732430/Superflight/