[legitster]

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.

[zimpenfish]

> 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)

[legitster]

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.

[massysett]

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