That still doesn't excuse shitty gameplay, or like I said, an awfull basic gameplay loop. Gameplay loops don't have to be difficult. Take minecraft as an example. The basic gameplay loop there is simple. Mine, craft, repeat. That, in its most basic form, is it. But if you look at redfall as an example, it's using a tried and true method. Shoot, loot, upgrade, repeat. They don't do anything else with it though.
Minecraft adds enchantments, building, cool alternate equipment.
Redfall (to my knowledge) adds nothing. And it doesn't even have top-notch graphics. iirc Horizon: Zero Dawn looked prettier. So does Minecraft, but Minecraft is a complicated comparison that I won't go into here.
It's like you said, the best option out of a bunch of flawed ones. We've not found the "perfect" governing system yet, but here in the Netherlands things are quite good. We're slow to change, but when we do it often has quite good, long lasting impacts. In my personal opinion our system is better than most.