Thematic levels and designs Game Mechanics

For game systems as a whole you have to think about how X or Y fits into your system. The feel and behavior of the game should game mechanic wise be different from other games, give a unique flavor to your game with how said game mechanics interact.

Why do this?

After looking at the tower mechanics, open world and crafting a lot of Triple A games do where the games become a "hey this character in said environment with these kind of powers with the same kind of system" becomes boring. Yes you know what you're getting yourself into but at the end of the day it has the same flavor as everything else for what you're getting unless you're Spider Man where some kind of flavor change can happen.

What if I want the same systems?

If you desire said systems then I would advise making other unique ways of tackling problems. In Deus Ex you're able to hack and it's much different from other games with how hacking works, heck even lock picking works differently from each Elder Scrolls game. It would've been just simple to keep the lock system the same or for the Dues to copy other games for said hacking systems.

Even Bioshock keeps said systems on theme and flavored to it's gameplay compared to many, many other modern games.

What are some ideas to make said same systems different?

I have a number of different ideas but the general rule is this;

A. add a twist

B. add a mini game to said system

C. Add depth

A would be

What if crafting took time, this way in a game where you're limited on time you have to think about what you're crafting, in a pay 2 win game it'd an eye roll but in a zombie horror game it's nerve wrecking as the zombies close in.

B would be

A card game like Shovel Knight with the King guy

Bioshock, etc. It's that kind of stuff.

C would be

Minecraft with it's crafting table and having to think about what you could craft in such a limited space.

Use a combination of A, B and C to make different results as well.

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