Tunic

The plot of Tunic is revealed through gameplay, the backstory and context emerging only as the fox player character collects manual pages. This manual is written with the player as the reader. It does not explain what the fox player-character knows about the story or if they understand the constructed language.
A fox awakens on a shore, and begins to journey through the game world, which is filled with ruins. After collecting a weapon and shield and ringing two magical bells, the fox enters a temple and then a spiritual plane known as the Far Shore. There they encounter the spirit of a larger fox trapped in a crystal prison, referred to in the manual as the Heir. The fox leaves to collect the three crystal keys to the prison which can be found within dungeons across the land. If the fox is killed, the Heir revives them.
As the fox collects the crystal keys, they encounter glowing purple essence, which powers parts of the ruins, including the golden platforms, and is relayed by glowing black obelisks. While collecting the last key, the fox journeys through a mine—where purple essence seems to be taking over the world itself—into an underground factory where the souls of foxes are being forcibly confined into the obelisks. After collecting the Keys and freeing the Heir, the Heir attacks and kills the fox. The fox, now in spirit form, appears in a night-time version of the overworld, with many paths obstructed by the purple essence. Most enemies have disappeared and the land is instead populated by the souls of other foxes, who speak almost exclusively in the game's constructed writing system. The fox visits the six Graves of the Hero, which each return parts of the fox's spirit and restore them to life.
Collecting enough pages of the manual reveals that there had previously been a civilization of foxes, which looked for power from outside of reality. Seeking immortality, they found a way to entomb the souls of foxes from the past and future into obelisks as a source of power. A religion formed around the power and the Hero who found it, with the faithful exempt from their souls being used. This power was corrupted through overuse, causing the purple essence to begin to erode reality and loop time. One fox, the Heir, was trapped outside of the time loop, but acts as a beacon to draw in a replacement Heir, continuing the cycle.
If the restored fox defeats the Heir, they become imprisoned as the new Heir, and the game ends. The player is then given the options to quit, to restart from the beginning in a New Game Plus mode with most of their items, or else to restart from just before the battle. A second ending occurs instead if the player, before fighting the Heir, follows the "golden path". This requires them to collect the pages of the manual and solve the puzzle at the top of the mountain that uses the pages. Afterwards, when the player confronts the Heir, instead of fighting they show them the manual, showing how to break the cycle and freeing them. The Heir embraces the fox in gratitude, and as the credits roll the two are shown exploring the land together.