Have rope and a hook? Make a grapple hook to swing across chasms or climb great heights. Have a pole, wire, and a hook? Make a fishing rod. Also make food more scarce and capable of spoiling so one has to produce or find food for long rests. Have ink, quill, and paper? Forge documents or write letters.
I could hang out on this point for ages! I'm convinced there's not a kid anywhere, who at some point didn't fantasize about having a grappling hook heheh. We've all got that somewhere deep down right? Sorry I forgot that video links here don't rescale when embedded, guess we got that rope in full glory. Environmental interactivity is clearly more involved than just having a ton of procedural animations, but I'd start with those, because it's fairly straightforward if not necessarily easy. Like just pouring zots into the mocap.
I was trying to think of stuff we haven't really seen before in games of this sort. I was impressed by little things like versatile quarterstaffs or spear and shield in BG3. Taking those sorts of ideas further, if you have a pole, perhaps you can use it to increase your jump distance or avoid environmental hazards on the ground by vaulting?
Remember that scene in Tremors where they have to vault from rock to rock to avoid getting eaten by the sandworms?
That's a whole vignette to play off right there. Everything about this scene honestly, including the party banter... lol
