Do games need more clones or more game mechanic curation?

Watched a movie recently

And it really got me thinking. Not because I disagreed with it. Without imitators and their clones, the art world would be like a bunch of lonely islands that don't even talk to each other, with nothing connecting them.

But these clones, you know, I see them as kind of exploiting whatever's hot at the moment. I'm talking about the general trend - like you can always make a clone of some weird logic game you played ages ago on the Amiga, just for kicks :-P But let's not kid ourselves, clones are made from titles that gain popularity. Once a Doom clone, today it's something like a Souls-like.

While I'm all in for the immortality these games achieve, I expected a bigger crowd in this gaming Valhalla.

To keep a book from being forgotten, all you need is a shelf (and no illiteracy).

To keep a movie, you need a medium and a player.

But a game? To preserve it, you need hardware, sometimes an emulator, sometimes manuals, especially if the game doesn't teach you how to play. And a lot of patience, especially with older games. Fortunately, there are game conservators in the world.

Games, but not necessarily mechanics. I have once written about a friend of mine's opinion that some modern games just lack what games from decades ago had.

Isn't it weird that every time a game brags about a day-night cycle and a daily schedule, which of course they developed from scratch because they couldn't just continue where Cure of the Temptress left off?

Everyone can list many such examples.

I also miss certain mechanics. (Or maybe it's just a longing for childhood?)

Games like Dune: adventures, where besides moving from place to place and having conversations, you eventually become a commander telepathically commanding your troops.

Or games like Soul Reaver, where Raziel moved between two worlds and jumped around looking for hidden passages.

Games like Settlers, where the player can just sit back and watch their peasants run around and carry resources :-)

Have such games been created since then? Maybe. Is it not worth preserving their mechanics from oblivion? Definitely! We need more spiritual successors like these! But the mechanics, not just the brands.

Which approach is closest to you?