Dude, Valheim and Terraria are both numbers. Don't think there's a single survival crafting game that isn't numbers. Your not beating any of the late game bosses in starter armor, even existing in the areas they reside requires bigger numbers. Not so say their aren't mechanics, but they both rely on enemies getting spongier to force you to make your gear (numbers) better. Basically if you can use gear to brute force a solution, it's numbers.

Ninja Garden is mechanics. Shooters are mechanics. Furi is mechanics. Your power level stays more or less the same, the enemies change but don't really get tankier, but they force new/different tactics. If you get upgrades it's mostly to bypass older enemies which you've already mowed down dozens of times.

This is all imo.

I think God Of War is similar in that you can do lots of side stuff pretty early and under leveled and if you are good enough you can pull it off, ofc it gets easier with better gear, but better gear is locked behind story progression