I’m starting to find that HUDs in games clutter the screen and take away from being fully immersed in the game. I like games that force you to pay attention to what’s going on in the game and not numbers/markers on the edges of the display. What are some of your favorite games to play with no HUD? Here are a few of mine:
Astroneer - this game has tool tips on screen but that’s about it. There isn’t even an inventory, all objects are interactive and you can physically place them on your backpack.
Battlefield 1 - super gritty and immersive, but playing without a HUD really puts you at a disadvantage online.
Red Dead Redemption 2 - I liked that you could hide the HUD, but the mini-map was a tap on the d-pad away if you get lost. It was a super immersive experience!
Grand Theft Auto 5 - maybe not designed to be played without the HUD, once you get used to the layout of the city this becomes a lot easier, and you focus more on landmarks to navigate and again this really increased immersion. Sometimes finding things in missions wasn’t obvious and required consulting the map but otherwise this was enjoyable.
An oldie but goldie: Grim Fandango
You drive your character like a tank, up moves him forward from his perspective, though there might be a setting to change that, it’s been years.
When you walk around the environment, Manny will turn his head to look at interactive objects, then you have “interact”, “examine”, or “pickup”.
The inventory screen is a close up of his jacket, where he reaches in a pulls something out. Hit the “next item” keyboard shortcut and he puts that object back into his jacket, and pulls out the next item.
Example of inventory screen: https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/grim-fandango/images/a/a3/MarkedCard.jpg
The remaster of Grim Fandango does make the control scheme more modern (movement direction is camera relative), though you can switch to tank controls if you want.