my take would be that if you donāt substantiate those underlying mechanics in the gameās overt presentation, theyāll just be sensed by the player anyway once muscle memory sinks in. after playing any game long enough to develop an impression of its āfeelā, i notice it completely affects the way i āreadā the screen. often, a kind of tunnel vision forms where i automatically discard much of the visual detail as it doesnāt communicate anything to the gameplay.
people said dark souls 2 felt weird and wondered if animations were to blame; i donāt think so. it would always be after taking myself out of the game loop a bit to equip a new armour set or something that Iād be like āhey, this looks good - i like the way my character moves now.ā only once i tuned in to the gameās actions and goals would the awkward, sludgy sensation seem apparent.
for this reason, i think Iāve developed a strong preference for games to be as direct as possible about expressing their programming. anything else feels dishonest, and ultimately pointless. so much of the āHDā graphical push rubbed me wrong because i could tell nothing about depth of field or bloom lighting was going to inform how i play, making it feel extravagant and wasteful.
all action games should just be Bare Geometry imo
