Games like Papers please are outliers, not representative for today's gaming market. Back in the day you'd have AAA teams constantly trying to innovate (classic examples Bullfrog Lionhead Looking glass Westwood Black isle and so on and so on). Nowadays AAA teams simply rehash old concepts, focus being put on milking existing franchises and marketing, artistic freedom sacrificed in the name of pandering to the lowest common denominator. Games today are generally worse because of that.