What are some good examples of "Where the fuck do you go" kind of games?
We've all played them. Backtracking, not knowing where to go. Going back and forth. Name some of these games from your memory.
I'll start: Final Fantasy XIII-2, RE1
You want the absolute "guide damn it" example? Try playing the OG Dragon Quest games. They're nonlinear by nature and there's a spot in 2 (or was it 3) where you need to literally check an unmarked floor for an item. No indicator, save maybe a vague NPC dialogue in another part of the planet that didn't get adequately translated in English so you're truly aimless.
Reminds me that Nintendo had help lines you could call for stuff like Zelda secrets, and they may have intentionally added things like secret caves to incentivize that lucrative service.