I can think of a handful of games that, despite being games that I’ve enjoyed, never really became part of a “genre”. Do you have any like this, and if so, which?
Are they games that you’d like to see another entrant to the genre to? Would you recommend the original game as one to keep playing?
Dig or Die made an attempt and went in a pretty interesting direction with simulated structural stress and water physics that even included pressure. Unfortunately development died pretty early on and the structure mechanics and combat were incredibly punishing.