You're absolutely right, and I didn't think of it from that perspective.
I love that episode in particular, but I relate primarily to Finn and his ways of solving problems. I didn't really think of it from Jake's point of view.
I think I have a few ideas that I can throw at that wall.
one of them being sneaking around, trying to avoid the monsters without harming them. Another one could be kind of like Slime Rancher, where you just have to understand and identify the dangers of the individual enemies and that way you can avoid them without harming them.
Risk of Rain itself is a great example of a procedural looter with a list of some 200+ items that greatly impact your character.
An electric ukulele adds electricity to your attacks, wings give you a double jump, shoulder mounted mortars and rocket launchers that proc randomly on attacks.
The original is a 2d sidescroller, and the sequel 3d. Some of the most impactful items are ones that give you movement bonuses because of the environment they're both set in.
In a VR environment, I don't think movement is the most important aspect to make powers and items feel particularly impactful.
That's why I think items like the battle moon idea, or neat physical weapons like a flail or a bow-and-arrow or something for the player to interact with using their 'hands' is a way to make more compelling VR environment items.
this is just a list of the top five best items, which doesn't necessarily mean most interesting.
Separately, there is a list of all the items in the game in this article, which I think might offer some great inspiration.
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2019/05/20/risk-of-rain-2-items-equipment-guide...
(I'd ignore the numbers and percentages because they're arbitrary and unique to the balance of the game. But the ideas are pretty solid.)