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?
Pacific Drive is weird but really fun. It’s like DiRT meets CONTROL.
I don’t think it needs another. It stands alone as a testament to an interesting game design that shouldn’t be watered down.
I have yet to find another game that plays like Inscryption. It’s a deck builder, but wow, it has a story. Interestingly good game that I want more of.
While Elite Dangerous is part of a genre, it is a rare game that is actually meant for lots of controller/J HOTAS methods and has shockingly deep gameplay. You can tell it was really meant for adept players, a rare style of games these days. I doubt we will see one like it for awhile, just due to the needs of consumers, the game engine, and the capital required to build a game of that size again.
I personally though ED was quite shallow. Deeper than e.g. No Man’s Sky but still very “fake”. The economy is just a bunch of RNG, nothing real. I recently got into X4: Foundations which is much better IMHO. It really simulates the entire economy and production chains. You can carry out supply chain attacks on your enemies. It’s like a cross between ED and Stellaris.