Probably not dying, in dark souls

Story. Not specifically campaign but something I can follow. Destiny I follow greatly because it’s something I’m interested in. CoD I’ve never understood for example. But doesn’t matter the game, a story is all you need. Unless your playing Animal Crossing.

Being able to fully mod guns on the fly in Crysis was the single best mechanic I have ever encountered in a shooter imo.

Paragon and Renegade in Mass Effect 2. Using L2 or R2 during cutscenes made them a lot more dynamic than just a set of dialogue choices and a timer (Witcher 3).

[quote]When you actually have to fly from planet to planet or sail from shore to shore. No fast travel, no nothing. Just you and the open sea. As long as the distances aren't absurdly long, of course. [/quote] ^Wyoming

When I see my character's legs when I aim down in an FPS

Titanfall 2's Grapple Hook

Titanfall 2 movement [spoiler]Feels like silk[/spoiler]

Fallout 4’s power armor, it was definitely an improvement over the previous games because everything felt different once you hopped into a suit of power armor, and it should.

Something to make traversal fun. I love running around the world in D1 and D2 because the mobility just feels right and has plenty of variation. From speed boosts on a jump, to utilizing slides to go under parts of the terrain, the drop in your stomach on a long fall, the landing animations combined with the heavy jolt of your legs absorbing the blow, and the way your character’s body reacts to movements in the air all combine to make a fluid moving experience that gives you great control once you have it as part of your muscle memory. But it’s not limited to that. Anthem’s flying mechanics incorporated with the gunplay are a blast and while they get you killed a lot before you learn how to incorporate them, once you make that mobility part of the fight it makes traversing the battlefield as much fun as traversing the world. Good running animations across the board. ME:A’s running animation with slight shifts in weight from left to right sending you a quarter step or so in that direction as well as natural speed boosts and dips were very subtle and flavored character movement in a commendable way. It felt like a human running. Same to be said for Argo’s movements in Shadow of the Colossus. You more requested how you wanted to move and the horse complied as it did. All the combined to make movement natural and just FEEL real. Prince of Persia’s wall running mechanics were great. Titanfall got in on it, though the first person perspective lost a little of the uniqueness. Still fun. Basically games that utilize movement in a way that is engaging and fun.

As dumb as this sounds, Bioware's "Combo" mechanic was one of my favorite things about the Mass Effect series and as soon as I found out it was in Anthem I was sold. From a multiplayer standpoint I like the idea of the primer and detonators combined with the health, shield and armor on enemies. I feel like it opens up way more possibilities for build diversities.

It was the destructible environments in Battlefield: Bad Company and Red Faction: Guerrilla. Being able to change the landscape of the battleground to create a tactical advantage for yourself or to escape certain death by blowing a hole through a wall was a revolutionary idea. I spent sooo much time playing Bad Company pvp just because each game was different with how people played around with the environment. If there was a popular spot for some sniper up on a hill behind a bush, you could blow up the bush. Pesto change-o, no more spot. Same for taking out bridges that granted easy access to your base and buildings with little sniper windows to shoot from.

Personally I love when a game has some unique methods for traversing. It usually makes it just fun to try and get creative with the mobility that they give you. Like in Warframe or Titanfall you might play differently from other shooters since the wall is something you can utilize to run around on and maybe pull off something you wouldn't be able to in BF4 or another shooter. Also, Spacelords is pretty good. I really should get back into it again. Just no one I know plays it.

In the Paper Mario games, the Steven Universe games, and presumably the other Mario RPGs, they have the best mechanic ever invented in a turn based game. Action commands! Action commands are simply manual inputs that you do after choosing your attack that have a variety of effects, ranging from improving damage, increasing defense, or possibly being the only way a move can function. For instance; Connie’s basic attack in SU:StL can deal double damage if you push A at just the right moment. I love it.

As I’m sure you know, I love Skullgirls. There’s a lot of reasons for this—polished mechanics, good story, cat puns, but one of the smaller things is simply the way the buttons are laid out. You have 6 attack buttons; 3 punches, and 3 kicks. It’s intuitive, and gives characters lots of variation. On a side note; small mechanics that I hate in fighting games; Auto combos. Why does every jamblasted fighting game need them nowadays!? Cross Tag, DBFZ, MvC: Infinite.. Just.. ARGH! I hate them! Whew. Okay. Glad I got that out.

Microtransactions

Good jumping.

Pretty much anything with randomized loot.