I appreciate games like the Anno series in the core niche of city or empire-building. I went looking for city building game lists on YT and there are some promising games coming up, and there are some series with promising sequels.

Age of Empires is being revived with the classic, well-proven look and feel, with upgraded graphics and new campaigns. Settlers is being revived with the classic gameplay (I hope) and not the AoE style gameplay.

There are several other games expected to be released this year or next and look like excellent candidates for being top-of-the-line strategy and city-building games. I hope at least some of them live up to the promos and hype.