This is how I would do it:
- Start from scratch. Write the engine in C#
- Editor.exe is the games entrance point
- Take inspiration from other games (e.g. Noita) and GDC talks about game juice / game design
- Make use of rather easy-to-implement shader effects (FXAA, SSAO, Bloom, etc).
- Make modding stupidly easy. All game content is a mod to the engine. Everything that can be formulated in json should be in json
- Lower art fidelity so that any programmer can add decently looking one (i.e. Equilinox level detail), ensure art consistency

...or you come help me make Vintage Story :P
I still need to get a Clonk Style elevator into my game. Btw. happy to give out game keys for clonk oldbies. If anything, you can look at how I made modding easy. Vintage Story is my full time job now btw. Plenty of sales to continue development for a few more years.

Also keep in mind that building Scenarios/Objects from scratch is complicated for people who just begin with programming.

In Clonk Endeavour, the introduction (why is there no good english word for "Einstieg" D:) into c4script is extremly easy. You press "New" or "Duplicate" and already have a working Object/Scenario that you can play around with. The GUI is minimalized to only what is needed in the beginning.