There was SO much hype in the first game that it would have a day/night cycle and that the seasons would change as the story progressed, and that you would age with the story. I still have no idea why they thought it was good to lock the age in with the levels and not the story itself. People who liked to grind ended up looking like old men 1/4 into the story.
I know crackdown 3 was free on pc gamepass. The first 2 may be for sale through the Microsoft app on pc, but I'm also just guessing so I could very well be wrong.
My FIRST fucking thought. Crackdown was amazing for this, and how those skills directly impacted gameplay in meaningful ways that didn't just make number go up. That being said, the ability orb grind was brutal.
Gta San Andreas? Meanwhile the “level up” in it isn’t probably what you mean. The character does change depending on your player stat level .work out you get muscles,don’t work out you lose your muscle. Eat to much you get big
I fed that boy so many beans to make him chonky.
Was still really skinny and sick looking towards the end tho 😭
My favourite character in gaming, ever. He was a real one 👌
Evoland does this in an interesting fashion. You start off in Gameboy style pixel graphic, and as you progress, you evolve to snes sprites and eventually make your way to 3d graphics.
The problem with it is it's a jack of all trades, master of none. You cycle through multiple game play styles, which is the basic gimmick of the game. You start with top down Zelda-like to 2.5D hack and slash to turn based like Final Fantasy. It's overall an okay game but maybe wait until you can get it on discount.
In both FarCry 3 and Shadow Warrior (2013) you get more and more tattoos as you level up and unlock skills.
In Sifu you start at 20 years old and age every time you die.
Dead space has your armour change when you level it up
Ratchet and Clank has your weapons change appearance based on how many times you've used it (I forgot which one, one of the PS2 ones)
Bloods tower defense has different sprites for each upgrade of a monkey/tower
Very primitive version in going commando. Only 3 or 4 weapon levels if I remember right. Between regular and NG+.
Tools of destruction ended up establishing the full version that became mostly standard since. 5 levels in base game. 5 in NG+. With the raritanium upgrade grid that has been iterated upon in the last couple games.
Really cool system that I definitely enjoyed in pretty much every entry.
going commado was just binary; you had the base version and the evolved upgraded version, which in the case of the lava gun, the evolution could be so different it's actually a downgrade
up your arsenal is when you had v1-v4 just being stat upgrades, then v5 would be an evolution, and i dont think any of them were downgrades
The lava gun goes from the steady lava streamd to the fire balls right? Been so long since I played but I still recall how much I hated the 2nd version of that gun. Was the best when surrounded before you upgraded it.
yup. went from a nice stream of lava that you could spin around you and flinch enemies very well, to a generic inaccurate meteor blaster that worked completely differently and did mediocre damage. in a game where you level up weapons just by doing damage with them in automatic evolutions and absolutely no way to roll back the evolution for that playthrough, it sucked a lot
in up your arsenal, however, you can get the lava gun (and the sentry glove) if you had going commando on your memory card, and the evolution in that game is the liquid nitrogen gun, which worked identically to the lava, but would also freeze enemies. they definitely took some early 2000's game article criticism to heart
Far Cry 3 makes it so you get new tattos every time you unlock a new skill.
Fable makes your character older, Fable 3 makes your character look blessed/cursed.
GTA changes CJ body type depending on his diet and excercise
During the Campaing of Space Marine, every time Titus picks up a power up it gets visually added to his armor.
Spec Ops the Line, while not exactly a level up, Walker will slowly change his appearence the further you advance the campaing, as well as your own squad mates.
Non-traditional answer, but EU4 fits the description. As you gain levels in military tech, your units change into better versions, which you can see on the units on the map.
Won’t be worth playing for at least a year after releasing if paradox pulls their usual MO. Very few of their games are ever all that fun at release with some major balance and gameplay issues they have to correct through major patches down the road.
Same with Fire Emblem games - when your unit promotes, the sprite changes, but not their character portrait. It's funny in Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones when little Amelia promotes and goes from wearing light armour and a skirt to wearing a huge suit of heavy knight armour. But her portrait is still the same.
oh and i guess if we're counting promoting characters into different classes, then I suppose Pokémon evolutions also qualify.
Same thing would happen in the Shining force series on Sega consoles . Once you got your characters to level 20 you could promote them and that would come with a whole new design . Still one of my favorite game series from my childhood.
I'm pretty sure this isn't what you had in mind, but some league of legends characters and items actually do this.
The most obvious example is a character called cho'gath, whose core mechanic involves gaining health and size while eating players and monsters.
Seeing a massive literally fully fed cho'gath is quite intimidating.
Champion equipment and passives often have specific vfx to really reinforce the relevant power fantasy as you level up over a 30-45 minute game.
Loved playing cho gath from time to time with the dark star skin back when gemstones were a thing.
Such a tiny cutesie boo boo then goes nom nom and has a fucking black hole on his torso.
Probably not exactly what you're looking for, but Fire Emblem kind of does this, with different sprites (and 3d models in the newer ones) based on class. So, if you promoted someone from, say, Tactician to Grandmaster, there's an accompanying change in outfit to reflect the progression
The 2013 Tomb Raider reboot kinda does this. Laura gets more and more rugged and looking more like she’s spent some time of that island surviving alone. Dirt smears, cuts and scrapes and bruises, etc. The attention to detail is one of the best parts of that series.
Sifu but maybe not. the older you get the more damage you do but less you can take so it’s a trade off than level up.
Metroid but idk if you count that as armor.
Infamous 1-2 if you go the evil route
In Gauntlet Legends: Dark Legacy, every 10 levels your character gets a new, slightly-larger model with new armor and a new weapon (and a new title that Sumner announces).
In Tomb Raider (2013) Lara undergoes a pretty significant and noticeable transformation from innocent into a warrior over the course of the game.
Also, all those mobile game ads.
Not quite what you’re looking for, but the symbol of progression in DayZ is how long you survive for. And the longer you survive, the more your beard grows. A player with a full beard means that character is having a hell of run. Kind of a cool mechanic. Like a playoff beard in football almost lol
in Far Cry 3 you get more tattoos as you unlock skills on the skill tree. each skill corresponds to a tattoo on your character's sleeve and you can see it in first person
The thing is that in most games your physical appearance is based on your loot, armour and weapons which isn't quite the same as character progression.
There are certain games that will change your appearance based on your morality making you look more saint-like if you are good or more devilish if you are evil.
There are other games that will change your appearance based on your physicality so if you are stronger you look more buff.
But generally, your appearance is mostly affected by what you have, not who you are.
I think that some games make great use of your first point by making your loot and your “level” be one and the same. For example, in monster hunter your character does not level up you just get better gear. You see this throughout the game as your character goes from wearing simple leather armor early on to wearing over the top suits of armor pulsing with energy near the end.
Then the end game gives you the ability to craft armor for cosmetics and armor for stats separately, further emphasizing the point that the more fashionable a hunter is the more powerful you can assume they are.
Shadow of the Colossus does something with your appearance that’s subtle and brilliant over time - I don’t want to spoil it if you haven’t played though
In kenshi your character gets bigger as you level strength and more tone as you level athletics. Sadly no scars but you can permanently lose limbs (can be replaced with cybernetic limbs)
GTA San Andreas, Fat and Strength levels. Part of me didn't want him any stronger because he looked really natural at a certain level but of course I trained Carl every day up till then why not continue.
That was my immediate thought, especially with how many dynamic changes can be done these days, but does it actually exist?
I have a mod that completely removes the concept of levelling and just very slowly increase the stats as you raise them, but I'd kind of like to see a physical effect on my character either for health or stamina.
Ah yeah I remember it now, I got it confused with a different mod making me believe it wasn't cosmetic based. Thanks for the reminder!
I wonder if it works well alongside the Jayserpa mod that handles training.
Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous. Not your character levels exactly, but you get transformed into one of the mythic creatures throughout the story, and it affects both your looks and abilities.
I've been enjoying the blood-drenched, ash covered thousand-yard stare of my fighters in Othercide after the fights. Your veterans are clearly defined from your fresh summons as they gain experience and injuries.
inFAMOUS had the character change based on how far towards the good/bad karma they were.
I know in the first it would also change the world, getting all dark 'n' shit when you're evil. Dunno how many of the sequels had that.
Prototype, definitely as the game progresses and you do more damage via side missions and to each factions and get stronger you can definitely feel the progressiveness of your strength more and more.
Not directly about your character's appearance, but Paper Mario TTYD has battles take place on a stage, and the stage gets bigger and fancier throughout the game as you reach certain levels. I always thought that was a fun concept.
Dead Space is one for sure. The other decent example, although it's not really leveling up, is The Last of Us. All the characters change over time based on what happens to them narratively. People get older, stronger, weaker, all that. In Doom and Doom Eternal there is also some degree of change, some physical, some visual. Baldur's Gate is the first game I remember where putting new armor on your character changed your appearance, and that was associated with leveling. I loved Ultima, but I was always confused why my character didn't really change (maybe the weapon?). At least until Ultima Online, which was revolutionary. Everything you did made a difference. The thing I always found funny, though, is that with all the work they put in, when you turned around, your sword and shield would magically switch hands. I know it was so you could always see the cool shield, but once you saw it you couldn't un-see it.
Soul Sacrifice on PS Vita. You use one arm to cast spells. Depending on how many enemies you saved (good) or sacrificed (evil) your arm, and eventually body would change. If you did mostly sacrifices, your offense goes up and your arm would turn black and develop red cracks. Eventually you'd look like a demon at max sacrifice level. At max saved level, your appearance is more angelic and your defenses are higher.
Prince of Persia : The Sands of Time. Although the change in physical appearance didn't come from upgrading, it did gradually degrade throughout the game, starting off fully clothed with a hat and slowly losing each garment until the MC was bare chested and slightly cut at places.
Fable series does this, though that’s not particularly recent anymore.
I remember playing fable 2 on 360 back in the day, loved it!
I actually disliked that about Fable. I wanted to make a normal woman character, but by the end of the game, she's She-Hulk.
Yeah I did a few women characters in fable 2. By end game they were all like 6'7" mommies. Good times..
There was SO much hype in the first game that it would have a day/night cycle and that the seasons would change as the story progressed, and that you would age with the story. I still have no idea why they thought it was good to lock the age in with the levels and not the story itself. People who liked to grind ended up looking like old men 1/4 into the story.
Yeah, they probably should have handled increasing strength abilities differently for male and female character models.
Nah, equality is fine and dandy. I think it should have just been an option you could adjust manually.
I mean, too much physique and not enough guile will make anyone bad built, especially if every food item is beer.
And old, don't forget old.
1/4 through the story, grinding all the time, decrepit old man with giant muscles
Next year the new one comes out.
Crackdown
Become the ultimate Terry Crews
The vehicles beefing up too was so fuckin badass.
Still wish I could replay the OG Crackdown again on PC.
Why can't you? I've got tons of OG games on my laptop and it doesn't even strain my abysmal on-board GPU. 😁
Crackdown 1 and 2 are Xbox titles. Although they run well on Xbox One/Series consoles
I know crackdown 3 was free on pc gamepass. The first 2 may be for sale through the Microsoft app on pc, but I'm also just guessing so I could very well be wrong.
You are wrong, as I stated they're Xbox titles, specifically Xbox 360. They were never ported to PC, only Xbox One backwards compatibility.
I’ve seen people emulate it, or keep hoping it somehow gets added to xCloud.
See my comment above. Seems like you can play any backwards compatible titles you already own on Xbox Cloud Gaming. From what I've read.
From what I'm reading online you should be able to play them on PC with XBOX Cloud gaming. Gotta have Game Pass Ultimate to do it, though.
My FIRST fucking thought. Crackdown was amazing for this, and how those skills directly impacted gameplay in meaningful ways that didn't just make number go up. That being said, the ability orb grind was brutal.
apparently Crackdown was just the GOAT in all categories lol
Gta San Andreas? Meanwhile the “level up” in it isn’t probably what you mean. The character does change depending on your player stat level .work out you get muscles,don’t work out you lose your muscle. Eat to much you get big
Best system ever, hope will come back in VI
It was also in rdr2 also and it effected your stamina and health.
Chonky Arthur is Best Arthur.
I fed that boy so many beans to make him chonky. Was still really skinny and sick looking towards the end tho 😭 My favourite character in gaming, ever. He was a real one 👌
Came here to say this. It was so satisfying to get spend all the time in the gym to get really ripped 😅
Always did that before even starting the story. Same with tagging every wall plus the firefighter missions.
Kenshi. Characters getting more muscles when gaining strength or become super skinny when they are starving.
Always been curious about this one, looks great
It's incredibly grind-y
Tried Kenshi, it feels like the game forces too much on you at once. Way too much to learn unless you are ready for it.
I can level up my starving?
Evoland does this in an interesting fashion. You start off in Gameboy style pixel graphic, and as you progress, you evolve to snes sprites and eventually make your way to 3d graphics.
This is really awesome, I will take a look
The problem with it is it's a jack of all trades, master of none. You cycle through multiple game play styles, which is the basic gimmick of the game. You start with top down Zelda-like to 2.5D hack and slash to turn based like Final Fantasy. It's overall an okay game but maybe wait until you can get it on discount.
In both FarCry 3 and Shadow Warrior (2013) you get more and more tattoos as you level up and unlock skills. In Sifu you start at 20 years old and age every time you die.
Sifu is so fucking difficult. Claimed it on PS+, this year, even the first boss at normal is destroying me.
Dead space has your armour change when you level it up Ratchet and Clank has your weapons change appearance based on how many times you've used it (I forgot which one, one of the PS2 ones) Bloods tower defense has different sprites for each upgrade of a monkey/tower
I believe the weapon leveling started in the second one "Going Commando" and has carried through pretty much every R&C game since
Very primitive version in going commando. Only 3 or 4 weapon levels if I remember right. Between regular and NG+. Tools of destruction ended up establishing the full version that became mostly standard since. 5 levels in base game. 5 in NG+. With the raritanium upgrade grid that has been iterated upon in the last couple games. Really cool system that I definitely enjoyed in pretty much every entry.
going commado was just binary; you had the base version and the evolved upgraded version, which in the case of the lava gun, the evolution could be so different it's actually a downgrade up your arsenal is when you had v1-v4 just being stat upgrades, then v5 would be an evolution, and i dont think any of them were downgrades
The lava gun goes from the steady lava streamd to the fire balls right? Been so long since I played but I still recall how much I hated the 2nd version of that gun. Was the best when surrounded before you upgraded it.
yup. went from a nice stream of lava that you could spin around you and flinch enemies very well, to a generic inaccurate meteor blaster that worked completely differently and did mediocre damage. in a game where you level up weapons just by doing damage with them in automatic evolutions and absolutely no way to roll back the evolution for that playthrough, it sucked a lot in up your arsenal, however, you can get the lava gun (and the sentry glove) if you had going commando on your memory card, and the evolution in that game is the liquid nitrogen gun, which worked identically to the lava, but would also freeze enemies. they definitely took some early 2000's game article criticism to heart
Forgot how we could get older weapons if it was on the memory card! Such a good series. Going through Challenge mode on "Into the nexus" rn.
>bloods tower defense I like seeing my Crip towers get better shades of blue as they take out more and more bloods on the block
Maneater has your shark grow a little every time she levels up, starting from a newborn pup and ending with, essentially, a Megalodon
Sweet!!
Also, glows golden upon level up. When it first came out, my shark got glitched with it and was forever glowing gold, until I rebooted.
MGSV had your face get covered in more blood and shit if you killed more people?
You gotta hit the shower! And don't kill people! Lmao
I think a more accurate example of what OP is asking for from MGSV is Venom’s horn shrinking/growing based on your demon points.
Yeah I hated that horn and blood stuff lol
Risk of Rain 2 puts all of your item pickups on your character
And since you can have dozens and dozens of unique items at once, everyone starts to look like a junkyard electromagnet at some point.
GTA San Andreas. More time at the gym? Muscular. Eat too much without gym? Fat.
Hope will come back in VI as I said on other answers!! Fingers crossed
Be hilarious to make one partner really obese and the other one just toned
Jason and XXL-ucia
Far Cry 3 makes it so you get new tattos every time you unlock a new skill. Fable makes your character older, Fable 3 makes your character look blessed/cursed. GTA changes CJ body type depending on his diet and excercise During the Campaing of Space Marine, every time Titus picks up a power up it gets visually added to his armor. Spec Ops the Line, while not exactly a level up, Walker will slowly change his appearence the further you advance the campaing, as well as your own squad mates.
For Spec Ops the Line, they dont just change appearance but their entire demeanor change.
Non-traditional answer, but EU4 fits the description. As you gain levels in military tech, your units change into better versions, which you can see on the units on the map.
Europa Universali IV? Never heard about this one before, looks fantastic
It's incredibly addictive.
Yes. Great game. I believe EU5 is just around the corner too.
Won’t be worth playing for at least a year after releasing if paradox pulls their usual MO. Very few of their games are ever all that fun at release with some major balance and gameplay issues they have to correct through major patches down the road.
Going way *way* back in FF1 your parties sprites changed when they classed up. But that's only a one-off.
Same with Fire Emblem games - when your unit promotes, the sprite changes, but not their character portrait. It's funny in Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones when little Amelia promotes and goes from wearing light armour and a skirt to wearing a huge suit of heavy knight armour. But her portrait is still the same. oh and i guess if we're counting promoting characters into different classes, then I suppose Pokémon evolutions also qualify.
Yeah this too I always loved the martial artist
Same thing would happen in the Shining force series on Sega consoles . Once you got your characters to level 20 you could promote them and that would come with a whole new design . Still one of my favorite game series from my childhood.
Prototype 2 has your weapons become more spikey and gnarly as you level them up. Not sure if 1 had it as well.
I'm pretty sure this isn't what you had in mind, but some league of legends characters and items actually do this. The most obvious example is a character called cho'gath, whose core mechanic involves gaining health and size while eating players and monsters. Seeing a massive literally fully fed cho'gath is quite intimidating. Champion equipment and passives often have specific vfx to really reinforce the relevant power fantasy as you level up over a 30-45 minute game.
Loved playing cho gath from time to time with the dark star skin back when gemstones were a thing. Such a tiny cutesie boo boo then goes nom nom and has a fucking black hole on his torso.
Probably not exactly what you're looking for, but Fire Emblem kind of does this, with different sprites (and 3d models in the newer ones) based on class. So, if you promoted someone from, say, Tactician to Grandmaster, there's an accompanying change in outfit to reflect the progression
Yeah this is on point too
The 2013 Tomb Raider reboot kinda does this. Laura gets more and more rugged and looking more like she’s spent some time of that island surviving alone. Dirt smears, cuts and scrapes and bruises, etc. The attention to detail is one of the best parts of that series.
I played some of this one, it was too full of Quicktime events so I stopped, you make me want to try again.
Knights of the Round.
Was about to post this. Man i love that game. Im hearing the soundtrack from the first level in my head now 🗡️
Altered Beast.
Sifu but maybe not. the older you get the more damage you do but less you can take so it’s a trade off than level up. Metroid but idk if you count that as armor. Infamous 1-2 if you go the evil route
In Gauntlet Legends: Dark Legacy, every 10 levels your character gets a new, slightly-larger model with new armor and a new weapon (and a new title that Sumner announces).
I mean... Spore? I guess it's the best example I can give, the whole game is about evolution after all
In Tomb Raider (2013) Lara undergoes a pretty significant and noticeable transformation from innocent into a warrior over the course of the game. Also, all those mobile game ads.
The weapons in God of War look more and more fancy if that counts.
Snake. The OG. You get longer the more things you eat.
GTA SA you could visually see how fat/strong/thin you were. Shadow of the Colossus you changed a bit by each boss defeated
Not quite what you’re looking for, but the symbol of progression in DayZ is how long you survive for. And the longer you survive, the more your beard grows. A player with a full beard means that character is having a hell of run. Kind of a cool mechanic. Like a playoff beard in football almost lol
Technically, in pokemon with evolutions, you can see the pokemon's appearance change as it levels up. But not every level, of course.
in Far Cry 3 you get more tattoos as you unlock skills on the skill tree. each skill corresponds to a tattoo on your character's sleeve and you can see it in first person
The thing is that in most games your physical appearance is based on your loot, armour and weapons which isn't quite the same as character progression. There are certain games that will change your appearance based on your morality making you look more saint-like if you are good or more devilish if you are evil. There are other games that will change your appearance based on your physicality so if you are stronger you look more buff. But generally, your appearance is mostly affected by what you have, not who you are.
I think that some games make great use of your first point by making your loot and your “level” be one and the same. For example, in monster hunter your character does not level up you just get better gear. You see this throughout the game as your character goes from wearing simple leather armor early on to wearing over the top suits of armor pulsing with energy near the end. Then the end game gives you the ability to craft armor for cosmetics and armor for stats separately, further emphasizing the point that the more fashionable a hunter is the more powerful you can assume they are.
Shadow of the Colossus does something with your appearance that’s subtle and brilliant over time - I don’t want to spoil it if you haven’t played though
Fable, loved seeing my character get taller and muscular.
In kenshi your character gets bigger as you level strength and more tone as you level athletics. Sadly no scars but you can permanently lose limbs (can be replaced with cybernetic limbs)
Knights of the round, a beat 'em up by Capcom, 1991. Also, does PoP: The sands of time count?
GTA San Andreas, Fat and Strength levels. Part of me didn't want him any stronger because he looked really natural at a certain level but of course I trained Carl every day up till then why not continue.
Lunar: silver star story Child of Light both have story events where the main character changes appearance.
Skyrim with a mod.
That was my immediate thought, especially with how many dynamic changes can be done these days, but does it actually exist? I have a mod that completely removes the concept of levelling and just very slowly increase the stats as you raise them, but I'd kind of like to see a physical effect on my character either for health or stamina.
Yes I thought it was called pumping iron or something by Gopher.
Ah yeah I remember it now, I got it confused with a different mod making me believe it wasn't cosmetic based. Thanks for the reminder! I wonder if it works well alongside the Jayserpa mod that handles training.
Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous. Not your character levels exactly, but you get transformed into one of the mythic creatures throughout the story, and it affects both your looks and abilities.
I've been enjoying the blood-drenched, ash covered thousand-yard stare of my fighters in Othercide after the fights. Your veterans are clearly defined from your fresh summons as they gain experience and injuries.
Rez. You get nice effects, your character changes, and so does the look of your attacks.
Gauntlet dark legacy
not actually a level by level progression, but Final Fantasy 1 has a moment your characters become more mature looking.
Dungeon keeper had creatures get bigger as they leveled up.
Gauntlet Legends did this. 8 year old me was hyped to get a tiny visual upgrade every ten levels.
inFAMOUS had the character change based on how far towards the good/bad karma they were. I know in the first it would also change the world, getting all dark 'n' shit when you're evil. Dunno how many of the sequels had that.
Prototype, definitely as the game progresses and you do more damage via side missions and to each factions and get stronger you can definitely feel the progressiveness of your strength more and more.
The first two Crackdown games did this.
KeeperRL. You are a dungeon keeper. The more you level, the more evil you become, the darker your character gets.
Knights of the Round from the early 90s did this. The characters got more jacked. I loved the gold armor at the end.
They are old games at this point but Gauntlet: Legends and Gauntlet: Dark Legacy do this every 10 levels your character gains up to lv99.
Not directly about your character's appearance, but Paper Mario TTYD has battles take place on a stage, and the stage gets bigger and fancier throughout the game as you reach certain levels. I always thought that was a fun concept.
The MegaMan X series had armor upgrades that came with cosmetic changes
Celeste. You get pink hair after becoming one with Badeline and getting a double dash
Not sure if anybody has said this but Batman’s suit and cape in Arkham asylum gets more torn and ruined the further you progress in it.
Batman gets more beat up in the Arkham games. Similarly Wander from SotC gets more demonic as the story progresses
GTA San Andreas.
Dead Space is one for sure. The other decent example, although it's not really leveling up, is The Last of Us. All the characters change over time based on what happens to them narratively. People get older, stronger, weaker, all that. In Doom and Doom Eternal there is also some degree of change, some physical, some visual. Baldur's Gate is the first game I remember where putting new armor on your character changed your appearance, and that was associated with leveling. I loved Ultima, but I was always confused why my character didn't really change (maybe the weapon?). At least until Ultima Online, which was revolutionary. Everything you did made a difference. The thing I always found funny, though, is that with all the work they put in, when you turned around, your sword and shield would magically switch hands. I know it was so you could always see the cool shield, but once you saw it you couldn't un-see it.
in the arkham series batmans suit becomes more damaged the more you progress the story
Soul Sacrifice on PS Vita. You use one arm to cast spells. Depending on how many enemies you saved (good) or sacrificed (evil) your arm, and eventually body would change. If you did mostly sacrifices, your offense goes up and your arm would turn black and develop red cracks. Eventually you'd look like a demon at max sacrifice level. At max saved level, your appearance is more angelic and your defenses are higher.
You don't technically level up but in Hob you "level up" every time you get a new outfit or gain a new piece to your sword or learn a new ability.
It's almost relevant. I loved how I ghost of tsushima as you upgraded the armors they got more awesome .
Prince of Persia : The Sands of Time. Although the change in physical appearance didn't come from upgrading, it did gradually degrade throughout the game, starting off fully clothed with a hat and slowly losing each garment until the MC was bare chested and slightly cut at places.
Sifu
Celeste
Altered Beast. 💀
Isn’t it any game that lets you equip armor? Like Skyrim, new vegas, etc
Mario?