Interesting idea: How about #paradox make another Grand-Strategy game similar to HoI4 with a little bit of Victoria 2, EU4, CK3, Stellaris, etc, but more complex and in the 21^st century called "Restarter"?

The game would start in a devastated World(Nuclear War, Solar Storm, Asteroid impact, Pandemic, Alien attack whatever is the reason) the starting point is a collapsed society with a few pockets of order left in an ocean of wild anarchy.

The objective is to start in a pocket of surviving order and rebuild a nation from there while other pockets of order try to rebuild their own nations.

There would be issues with expansion and colonization through the wastelands while it would be easier to just conquer and subjugate other pockets of civilization. Wastelands would need to be decontaminated and colonized in expensive endeavors, costing resources and population before they could start to contribute with overall production.

Population would not automatically increase unless subsidized by the Ruling Party to do so, reflecting current trends of depopulation by lack of reproduction. Culture could be shifted to encourage reproduction with a cost. To keep the population stable or increasing it would be necessary to have more resources available for civilian population, otherwise the reproduction decreases.

There could be a "disorder" factor that could be affected by overextension and lack of logistical infrastructure for the population. Ideology of the new society in relation to the ruling party would also affect stability. Like a ruling party being collectivist while society being libertarian would increase disorder and cause peripheral colonies/vassals/states to start separatist movements.

Lack of electricity would strongly limit development of each district or province. All electrical development would be VERY slow without electrical components that would be made in a factory or imported through trade. In the case of an EMP disaster(that could come specially from Nuclear War or Solar Storms), all(or at least most) electrical infrastructure in the World would be gone by the start of the game.

The spread of conspiracy theories could also be a factor to increase disorder and decrease stability, forcing the Ruling Party to take measures that can succeed or fail in fighting said conspiracies.

To develop an army too large(or develop nuclear technology above a enrichment threshold) would cause neighbors to have casus belli against you.

Those are just a few suggestions I would like to see Paradox Developers to at least think about.