There are plenty of amazing games with no HUD whatsoever. First thing that comes to mind is Journey it literally has no HUD element, most games from thatgamecompany are minimal like that.
Also games by Josef Fares have almost no HUD, Brothers and the Hazelight Studios games similarly don't rely on the HUD much.
spoiler
He didn't die btw, he took over Ivankov's position in the level 5.5