Marathon 2: Durandal

This game isn't talked about in the same breath as many other greats, but its up there as a game that takes advantage of its medium to stand out. Without spoilers, some very unconventional stuff is going on with the protagonist of this shooter, involving time travel, alternate realities, and a dive into mind shattering insanity. This isn't shown through cut scenes, but using the building blocks the previous game had already used. I may be cheating in my "no cut scenes" qualification, as theres huge terminal entries that detail the story, but its often the format of these terminal messages, or their context, that is more important than the text. I won't say "House of Leaves", but some are cyphers, some are scrambled text, many are cryptic poems, and some may even be a manifestation of your protagonist's growing inner schism. The lore goes deep, and in many directions.

Levels are used to imply emotions, mental states, ect, and their order is cyclical if the player doesn't explore to break the cycle. Opining on the significance, or details, is spoiler-rife, and figuring it out (or at least your own interpretation) is half the fun.

And in the end, its in service of a story with a ludo narrative through line: You are an ultra capable warrior, thrown into the fray without warning or explanation, and asked to kill and die again and again, in a cycle you always feel on the verge of breaking. You are, in a word, Destiny; the point at the end, and the line leading to it. Heavy stuff for a 1995 MAC game thats famous for its duel-shotguns, and bright color pallet.

Gameplaywise, its a joy. The fact you need to find secrets to progress the main story, and just... all the platforming, hold it back from true greatness, as does some of the music, but its a highly manicured campaign. Ammo is always about right, situations and enemies often change, there's plenty of lore and cool art, and man, those duel shotguns. Did I mention they're T2 style?

All in all, this one feels very overlooked, but it is a relic that was a OS exclusive, so it makes sense. Its just not fair.