Having mulled it over a bit, I guess I'll go with "Design a Unit".

No, I hadn't even heard of it before. It looks interesting. Thank you.

You're welcome.

Anyway, one of my favorite gimmicks comes up in the Elder Scrolls series: You can create your own spells. (Unfortunately, this feature is absent in Skyrim, but there are still 4 other massive games where I can play around with this feature.)

There's also Demon's Crest for the SNES and Shadowcaster for the PC, I haven't played the second game though, so I'm not sure if it fulfills both of your criteria, unlike DC.

Oh, this one is very good. It makes it feel like things are more alive and diverse like in real nature as opposed to Us vs. Them.

I don't recall how well this was done in STALKER but I recall having some moments of surprise when a few soliders of one faction stopped shooting as another faction had turned up but I didn't see them at first.

One word: detailed character creation. If I can´t adjust the eyebrow thickness, I don´t play the game.

For me it's Ancient civilizations. Give me Egypt, Greece or Rome and I will become instantly interested.

Another one, though I wouldn't really call it a gimmick:

LGBTQ characters in the game, even if it's a small thing. It's actually what pushed me into buying Timespinner at full price ($20) instead of waiting for a sale.

Also, having a female or non-binary main character helps, even if it's just a non-default option (as long as it's initially unlocked and the player isn't penalized for choosing this option).

Ultima 3's option to choose Other as a gender is a nice touch; shame it didn't appear later in the series (though you can play as a female character until Ultima 8 removed that choice).

I mentioned Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap. Aside from having transformations and (in the remake) the option to play as a girl (with a suitable change to the game's title), it features the option to switch between retro and modern graphice and audio (separately) at any time, with just the press of a button.

Same. And I'm referring specifically to designing your character's looks. The more in depth the character creation options, the longer I'll spend molding my character. It's completely normal for me to spend a good 45 minutes or more just tweaking and adjusting my character's looks. Then, once I actually start the game, I'll obsess over any imperfection I find. It's very common for me to either start all over because some adjustment I made doesn't look right, or, if they're available, use mods to make ongoing adjustments to my character. It doesn't help that most games that include advanced character creation don't usually look quite the same in creation as they do in game.

Turn based.

Doesn't matter if it's an RPG or a financial sim. I'm a deep thinker; let me take all the time I need.

This
and this
If there's an interactive train that goes through an RPG map on schedule rather than a basic teleport point, I might just die from excitement.

Also kinda this, but the opposite:
I love making the world feel the weight of my choices, and I don't want to be stuck with the consequences in a moralizing / patronizing way. If I fucked up, I want an option to turn things 270 degrees and fuck up even harder.

Also, I want NPC attitude to work the same way, as a function of major decisions. No buttering them up with gifts or anything, gimme RAW DRAMA drenched in digital blood and fangirl sweat.

(Unfortunately, many RPGs shoot themselves in the knee due to fundamental design limitations: there are only so many characters, and the game is "oldskool" so party composition is even more limited, presets are terrible, inventory needs to be strategically managed, and options like "betray your whole party and go pal around with the setting's villains" aren't really on the table even if they are in the code.)


Base building in RPGs, especially as something to actually invest labor into.

Day / night and seasons.

I consider turn based to be a core gameplay feature rather than a gimmick; it's not just something you can easily add or remove to an already existing game without having to completely redesign it.

In fact, I consider turn based to be the sort of thing that could be genre defining; if this feature is added or removed, the resulting game might not be in the same genre anymore.

IIRC Diablo was originally going to be a turn based game.

LGBTQ options always make me smile. They're a nice surprise as long as handled politely.

My major personal draws?

Rhythm games and punishing difficulty.

I am a rhythm addict with a sprawling collection of musical games. I have things ranging from common (entire Guitar Hero series!) to indie (Crypt of the Necrodancer or In the Groove, anyone?) to "Wait, that's RHYTHM?!? (Brutal Legend, Elite Beat Agents...). I make a habit of playing every last game, too. Even the ones I wouldn't recommend are given a fair try. I am always happy to support a decent rhythm game.

I know you're thinking I'm a souls fan as soon as you heard "Punishing Difficulty". I actually snigger at anyone who thinks the Souls series is the end all be all of hard games. It's like they don't know about Nintendo Hard. I beat Battletoads back in the day. I have lost hours on Nethack and Rogue. Now I throw myself at things like Darkest Dungeon. When a game says it's hard I just have to take a look and see if it's actually, honestly tough.

Oddly I don't always like these two things combined. Thumper is an example of very tough + rhythm game. I gave it a shot in VR not too long ago. Nope. Didn't like it.

And when you play Diablo, it is very obvious. The action feels like a turn-based game, but with real-time automatic turnover of play.