[brundolf]

Designers figured out that it's hard to make physics-based gameplay that's fun and interesting and doesn't break the game in various ways. Physics-driven games in the HL2 style are then almost their own genre - it has to be a conscious design choice - so most games don't try to make complex physics core to gameplay, they just use it as window-dressing. There's a lot of impressive window-dressing these days! But I don't think that's what you're talking about

Zelda Breath of the Wild is a recent example where the designers went all-in on physics-based gameplay and did an amazingly impressive job with it. But the hard part wasn't the technology, it was everything else.

[georgeecollins]

Also realistic physics is very hard on multiplayer. The more detailed the simulation the more data you have to keep in sync.

[RunSet]

These are practically ancient in internet time but they are good examples of physics-based gameplay.

https://jet.ro/dismount/

[Rodeoclash]

Seeing that just dredged up some ancient memories