Honestly, the game I like the most that deserves the praise the most is so obsessively discussed by it’s own developer that I think they should speak for themselves: www.gridsagegames.com/cogmind/index.html
It’s really, truly underrated. No one talks about it, even when traditional Roguelikes come up, despite the absurd amount of effort poured into it.
Specifically the article about designing “information warfare” into the game way back in 2014 (it’s still being developed) is a great example of how much is going on in this little ASCII game: www.gridsagegames.com/…/information-warfare/
I guess what I could add is that surprisingly enough Cogmind actually has a story, a pretty dang extensive one, and the fact that it’s sort of just hiding away in places you might never see blew my mind.
Also, that despite having as much depth as Dwarf Fortress (just more focused depth), the interface and controls aren’t completely inscrutable. because thank god, it actually has mouse support.