I'm not saying story is a bad thing. It's not, but it seems like a lot of devs focus so heavily on coming up with an engaging story and good visuals that they forget to actually make the game fun to play.
I think about some of the games I've played over the years, and a lot of my favorites either had fairly limited or even downright absurd plots that basically boil down to an excuse to make the gameplay loop happen.
Just a random musing.
Yeah, playing Halls of Torment right now... And it's Vampire Survivors. Straight-up. Still sold a million copies, and still is a great game.
I played a half-dozen Slay The Spire clones, called that because they just ape the deckbuilder system of STS. Because that system, too, works. Maybe a dozen "Metroidvania" titles, too, named so because they copy the gameplay loop of Metroid, and Castlevania.
I've probably played two dozen "souls-like" games, 3rd-person hack-and-slashers with dodge-rolling-and-stamina elements. Because that one also works.
And don't get me started on turn based party based "Attack, Magic, Item, Flee" menu combat systems and gameplay loops! I've probably a thousand JRPGs in my library.
It's easy to get a good gameplay loop. Just take a successful game's loop. Everyone does it. No one gets sued over it.