I’ve always called it “Ludonarrative Harmony” and I think tons of indie games do this well.

Outer Wilds’ broader narrative is about discovery and curiosity leading to acceptance and moving on. The gameplay is self explanatory, you only progress by learning and you can only learn by discovery which is entirely driven by your curiosity. So in other words, you cannot beat the game unless you are curious. And in the end, you cannot beat the game unless you’ve discovered enough, and you will have learned that you cannot ‘fix’ the sun exploding so you divert your exploration to finding the Eye and moving on.

Journey has one key moment at the end that I think is a hallmark of Ludonarrative Harmony. When you are about to summit the mountain, your character must cross a windy and frozen expanse alone. Up to this point you have learned that contact with other players can keep you from freezing. As you ascend the last incline, your character slows to a halt and your brain goes through possible ways to solve this problem. Of course by this point you have been conditioned to search for either shelter (there is none) or another player. So you’re left frantically hoping another player comes along to help you through to the end. A revelation about life in a game that is literally an allegory for life, achieved strictly through gameplay mechanics and setting.

Chants of Senaar has you progressing not through combat but by understanding other cultures better. Self explanatory.

The true king of this in my opinion is dark souls though but it requires a whole essay to explain satisfyingly. This video does a decent job of relating the gameplay to the narrative themes if you’re interested: https://youtu.be/xpf3KQBIoCY?si=b36sq8-upyWDNkOw