I'm not the guy you're responding to but...

Over the last 10 years, my favorite simulation games have been Factorio, Tropico (4 and 6), OpenTTD, and Two-point Hospital.

I'm still an old blowhard and think Tropico 1 is still the best. It was so tough that you had to become a fascist every time. Which made it a harder game but also a much sharper commentary.

The Tropico games are a perfectly pleasant place to start. They get progressively easier and more casual.

The Anno games are my all around favorite. 1404 is my favorite, but honestly 1800 is probably the best.

Banished spawned an entire genre unto itself even as it hasn't aged gracefully. These survival sims have a lot more "bite" to them. Try Planetbase for a more streamlined experience. Timberborn if you like physics. Also have heard good things about Farthest Frontier.

And then there's Frostpunk which is an all-around amazing experience. The theming and mood rivals any first-person cinematic shooter.

The DRM on Anno 1800 is dreadful. Avoid at all costs.

> Banished spawned an entire genre unto itself

Reading the Wikipedia description[1] makes it sound like a slightly tarted up Settlers, not anything genre-defining. What have I missed?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banished_(video_game)

Your people in Banished die. A lot. So unlike most other economic sims, building your city is not the primary goal, population survival is. And you have to balance population and resources pretty intimately.

Calling Banished a tarted up Settlers would be similar to calling Dark Souls a tarted up Zelda game.

Check out Oxygen Not Included

Captain of Industry is pretty good fun.

Factorio, Satisfactory, Dyson Sphere Program, and Oxygen Not Included are all amazing.