Looking for advice on making a core gameplay mechanic obscure but discoverable
Context:
I'm making a game inspired by papers please and recent real world events. Almost all gameplay takes place through a terminal where you receive requests for access to websites and have to approve or deny based on a growing list of criteria starting with OS age attestation tokens. Over the course of each day you are exposed to different news articles, briefings, and interactions with 'VIPs' during which you can save pieces of information as evidence. Eventually you're given the option to go home to family or stay late at the office connect these pieces of information into 'threads'. Your ability to identify information, save it, and integrate it into the bigger picture of what is happening in the background is key to obtaining some of the endings.
Problem:
How to first introduce this mechanic to the player without bashing them over the head with it so to speak. Ideally I would like to implement this in such a way that the player can feel like they have discovered something while also keeping it accessible.
Any thoughts are appreciated!