To play devil's advocate there is quite a difference between words and visuals.
when you're reading a book, the book is able to control what you think to some degree,
when I type
"apple with a tiny hat on" then I tell you
"now imagine my frog with that same hat"
I am able to somewhat control what you're thinking. but I'm going out of my way to not mention what kind of hat.
that's where you're putting in the work, it's automatically personalized, this is a key advantage to books.
a visual medium is doing the same thing, but using it's own tools like composition, lighting, intentionally leaving
out detail to, again, make the viewer put in the work to make it personalized. both mediums have the same goal to
control what you're thinking to tell a story without you noticing: Here's a very well made comparison:
games have their own ways of communication, that's where game mechanics come in. the consequences of killable kids perk is just another
nonverbal communication that's impossible to do in any other medium, you can't program game mechanics in a book or a painting.
but it still has that same foundational intention to tell a story like books and art have.