Why did you include great in new/innovative?

I think the ship builder fits all of that despite your wording. It was new, it was fun, it achieved awesome results. The amount of interesting ships people built was crazy. It plays a pretty big part of the game, and finishing some unique skills out there was cool.

Possibly killing off your spouse or main companion was wild. I can't recall having the possibility happen in a game like this before. That messed me up for a bit.

The looping gameplay with insane universes was innovative. A bit tedious to achieve but still neat

At best I can agree it's not the most innovative, but bit apparently some people did. I think hifirush or Shadow of doubt should be there. But that's just me.