I think a number of action games from the 360/ps3 era fit that, with Darksiders 1 and Prototype coming to mind. You get a small taste of full power right at the beginning, then lose it and slowly work back getting it

I think portal does a good job of giving you just enough clues to figure out what to do.

Satisfactory

A factory automation game where you start with just mining iron and copper, and you end up making your own creative mode in the end

Outer Wilds?

You are definitely dumped in, but learning is a mechanic. I think the pacing is good.

The two "Plague Tale" games.

I had never played a Farcry game before, and I asked my son which one I should start on and he recommended Farcry 3.

It eased me in and everything felt natural, and was the first thing I thought of when I read the post, so that's gotta be worth something.

I think "Rise of the Tomb Raider" did a particularly good job of this.

It's much more "on rails" than other games in this thread - but the mechanics, abilties and puzzles arrive at a comfortable enjoyable pace.

A great tutorial anf learning curve is what set the first Tomb Raider game apart from competitors, and I think the franchise has done well to maintain that across the many entries. Almost any entry in the Tomb Raider is a solid choice for this.

But "Rise" really stands out as an enjoyable experience with the right amount of challenge that feels really good to play, particularly late game when routinely pulling off epic movie heroic moves.

Edit: Rise of the Tomb Raider is sometimes just the "Dragon's Lair" formula perfected, but it works.

Witchfire.

There are conditions you must meet to go to the next level but meeting them doesn't force you to the next level.

Saints Row 3 does a very good job of introducing game mechanics.

It sometimes falters by dropping an overly hard optional mini-game in the player's path too early without clarifying that it is optitonal.

Otherwise, nearly a perfect game to play through and unlock interesting mechanics in a relatively smooth progression.

The "crew" mechanic does a very good job as an optional any-time challenege slider. When I'm having trouble, I can "phone a friend". (also works with actual friends - the multiplayer is great and drops into the same mechanical gameplay slots).

Saints Row IV also does this really well - but... it's really different. It jumps the shark early and then keeps jumping back over the shark, over and over again. If that sounds fun, you'll love it. But it's not everyone's cup of tea - and the game mechanics can come in uncomfortably fast if the player gets lucky in finding some unlocks before being prompted to seek them out.

Rogue Legacy is close, but it suffers from being too hard early on and maybe too easy in the late game.

Rogue Legacy 2 fixes those issues, and is really just a delight all the way through.

Rogue Legacy 2 also has accessibility settings available from the first moment of the game - so if something is throwing off my play through, I can just change it.

And the accessibility settings can be tuned in the opposite direction for bragging rights and increased challenge during replays (as a "new game plus" mechanic).

SteamWorld Dig 2 nails the learning curve for all the exploration mechanics. It's fun early, it's fun late, and it doesn't overstay it's welcome.

Edit: And the allocatable action point system provides many accessibility settings. Fall damage spoiling my play through? I move a build point into it and it goes away.