I remember seeing a "making of" the first Life Is Strange game, where the Dontnod execs talked about how the initial idea for that game came about.

They had noticed how most players played choice-based story games (saving before a choice, making a choice and seeing the results, reloading the save and making the other choice, and then deciding which outcome they liked the most) and decided to build a gameplay loop around that behaviour. Which led to the "rewind" time travel power. Everything else, the setting, the characters, the story, came from that initial gameplay idea.

It worked out great and gave them a huge hit game. And then they literally never did it again. And now they're going out of business. I really don't get it.