A game that I enjoy is Stardew Valley. I think that the game’s architecture focuses mainly on the loops for skill development. There players develop various skills, from farming, moving around the map, mining, and beating monsters, to becoming familiar with what NPCs like and where they are, etc. There is a major arc for the 100% perfection achievement, but I think that the achievement itself is less about evocative content and is less advocated to the players, and the players will also only know this “goal” till the later stages of the game. Instead, it acts as a driving force to let players explore everything in the valley and around, including the stories and narratives of the NPCs. It also includes micro parallel arcs, such as various difficulty levels for the monsters in different mines, collecting different objects to achieve perfection, catching different fish, etc., and parallel arcs with game music, etc.
