Some of these might be a bit outside the scope you're looking for but these are some articles I've found interesting:
Super Mario Bros. vs. Super Mario Bros. vs. Super Mario Bros. - Nathan Altice
When SimCity got serious: the story of Maxis Business Simulations and SimRefinery - Phil Salvador
The Secret Developers of the Video Game Industry - Matt Leone
Square's PlayOnline Game Launching Service Showed Us a Better Internet Is Possible - Dia Lacina
Bookshelf, Bookcase, Bookcase-Like: A Case Study in Game Storage Design - Marco Arnaudo
Collision Detection is Hard: The Story of Alf - Nicole Express

from my mgs2 review:
HG101 interview with Agness Kaku
there's also a lot of other great HG101 interviews, some of which I'm sure have been lost to time
How Videogames Express Ideas - Matthew Weise
Driving Off the Map: A Formal Analysis of Metal Gear Solid 2
there's also a tim rogers interview with kojima that I reference in that review but I don't want to relink all seven pages
Trevor Strunk's work is not something I've dived into outside of a few No Cartridge episodes here and there but I've heard his book Story Mode: Video Games and the Interplay Between Consoles and Culture is very good

long-form video essays are generally too self-indulgent for me but I'm using this Monster Hunter 2 Dos retrospective by Jakob for an upcoming review, as I find the dissection of its immersive mechanics rather profound. I have numerous things I disagree with him on and his solemn affect can be irritating but it sheds light on a game truly apart from anything else in the medium

also some good interview channels:
Cutscenes
Archipel

shouting out my favorite gaming-related video essay: WHAT'S THE POINT IN LIVING? by Curly Brace

Oh this is actually a much better way to layout this listtype than what I was doing, thanks.

Possibly not exactly what you're looking for, but this on Untitled Goose Game is my favourite piece of video games writing: https://www.thechatner.com/p/i-am-the-horrible-goose-that-lives?s=09

"'Kentucky Route Zero' Pays Off on Nine Years of Hope and Doubt" - Austin Walker https://www.vice.com/en/article/bvgjma/kentucky-route-zero-pays-off-on-nine-years-of-hope-and-doubt-review

"Outer Wilds: Death, Inevitability, and Ray Bradbury" - Jacob Geller https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-yTZFi-_eY&t=810s

idk if it counts, but Shmuplations is a tremendous resource for translated interviews

Just saw the Mario 64 link- I think the Guardian Heroes Interview with Tetsuhiko Kikuchi is nice piece about the relationship between developers and players.

The History of Gradius - Complete Series by ChrisB Crisps - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qk7-X8ZxP7I

I'm not sure if this is exactly highbrow essay material but it's a good overview of the Gradius series going over its development and legacy over the years from an underrated youtuber. He has also made other series retrospectives.

Too many to list but I love everything Carolyn Petit writes and her piece on TLoU2 was fantastic: https://carolynpetit.medium.com/broken-people-broken-worlds-thoughts-on-the-last-of-us-part-ii-a012de5d2acf

https://bulletpointsmonthly.com/2020/08/08/all-their-engines-by-tara-hillegeist

"I Had a Dream" - Chris Crawford
https://youtu.be/CBrj4S24074

How to Survive in Gamedev for Eleven Years Without a Hit - https://youtu.be/JmwbYl6f11c

Best list in this website BY A VERY LONG SHOT!!!! Thank you so much!!!! ❤

PS: You're only taking suggestions in english? I do know a bunch of links of good discussions in pt-BR and spanish.

More than happy to take suggestions in any language!

A Maze of Murderscapes - Metroid II

I spent a bit of time doing research for That Dragon, Cancer, and found this article:

That Dragon, Cancer—Exploring End of Life Through an Unwinnable Video Game

I also found a Masters Thesis discussing the role of death in video games, and taking close examinations at three games in particular (Spiritfarer, A Mortician's Tale, and That Dragon, Cancer) to analyze how they handled death differently:

Representation of Death in Independent Videogames: Providing a Space for Meaningful Death Reflection

Hope this is what you're looking for!

These are all great suggestions Drax, thank you

No problem if the writing is just about general games vs. an individual title! The games are just used to add new entires to the list. Thank you for your suggestions.