Ask HN: What game do you wish existed?

Star Control II is a collection of different interrelated minigame mechanics. You have spacewar-style combat, planet exploration resource collection, interactive storytelling with the communications with other races, resource and time management, ship and fleet customization, and exploration of the universe.

But some planets could require a side-scrolling platformer, instead of the top-down lander. Or you could put together a jRPG-style party and explore a settlement on a planet. You could play a Scumm-style adventure game on an abandoned space station. In addition to spacewar, you could have a bullet hell shooter for traversing an asteroid field. You could do economy management and trading, purchasing self-sealing stem bolts on Cardassia Prime and trading them for seal furs on Caladan. You could level up your crew to make them better at piloting ships in your fleet or participating in away missions. And of course we need procedural generation for the sake of replayability.

I've been around long enough to have played both Doom and Duke Nukem over a phone/modem. I remember with Duke Nukem especially, the ability to place laser tripmines plus chat made for a really thrilling experience, it was as much as about trying to decieve the other person into going the wrong way as it was having good aim.

I feel like Among Us, et al, of course has this trickery part, but I don't think I've seen the two combined. Kind of reminds me of Spy v. Spy from the olden days of Mad?

— third-person (like Kotor, The Witcher, etc.)

— open-world (like Skyrim, The Witcher, etc.)

— using unit targeting (not shooter) mechanics for spells (like Pillars of Eternity, Divinity: OS II, etc.)

— online co-op

I think the combination of Skyrim, The Witcher, and Pillars of Eternity would be perfect. Most games I've found hit 3 of the above criteria, but not all. I've always loved the idea of Skyrim's open world and lore, but prefer the 'dice roll' hit mechanic (as opposed to 'were you aiming at them when you acted?').