Okay, so, the exact mechanics of this idea is still a little nebulous for the time being, since I don't want to make another Lemmings thing so soon. So the actual game may end up being a lot different. Since this idea is sort of broad, I can later apply it to the genre of my choosing (currently, it's a third-person shooter thing, though could easily be something else). I also mess around with the concept of time manipulation again, which I still don't think we've seen the last of after the success of the Prince of Persia games (and Blinx to a lesser extent).
You control a squad (or a clan or a bunch of dudes) of some kind. You have a series of tasks to perform, but they are highly dangerous due to the enemy's resources vastly outnumbering your own. In fact, the only way to achieve these missions is through various life-threatening exercises, such as experimenting with the enemy's defences, using units as bait to draw out the worst elements and various other techniques that will no doubt end in you losing one (or many) of your units for the sake of the mission. Upon achieving the mission objective, though, you can reverse time and regain all your lost units, while still succeeding with the mission - the goal of which may vary to things like a top secret item you need to recover (which you take with you when you go back in time) or learning an important code or password (which you can memorize before returning).
In order to pull these missions off, you need to get your commander (the player character, in other words) into the enemy base without him dying. The rest of the units, however, are entirely expendable, since you'll be getting them back once time resets. Of course, they're not aware of this (and won't ever be as long as you keep resetting time) and so will need some coaxing to perform anything too dangerous. They aren't die-happy fanatics, nor are they stupid, so you'll have to be inventive if you're putting them in harm's way for the greater good. So no simply strapping explosives onto them and getting them to run at enemy enclosures. Losses are always to be expected though, via the enemy's superior weaponry or traps or any other kind of security measure so don't think your success is based on how many of your units survive. In fact, you may need to repeat the mission a few times (by going back in time before achieving the objective) to get a sense of where all the dangers are. Since your troops won't remember, you can get them to obliviously set off any booby trap or hidden ambush without risking yourself.
The appeal of this game will be twofold: First, and most obvious, is that sense of sadistic fun that's been a staple of these kinds of management games since they first began. The second is that it will allow some really inventive (and cruel) level design: The designers will want to constantly challenge the player with apparently impossible situations to get through, where the only way to win the mission is to lose almost everything else in the process. It should still be difficult to solve even after you get all your subordinates to trip every kind of nasty surprise out there. As long as you play by the golden rule of always keeping your main character safe and out of harm's way (he's a bit of a cad), you can experiment with various tactics as often as it takes before making a run for the goal yourself. Your hapless troops are just going to have to bite the bullet a few times first. In the unfortunately literal sense, in most cases.
