The classic Sierra City Building series started with Caesar I in 1992 and ended with Emperor in 2002 (apart from some mediocre reboots like Caesar IV in 2006). They came a long way, but in that decade of development they refined gameplay and really perfected the games' balance in Emperor. Graphically, it is one of the nicest isometric games as well. Very addicting gameplay. With the 2022 "Emperor resolution customiser", the game is also perfectly enjoyable on a large or wide screen. https://www.nexusmods.com/emperorriseofthemiddlekingdom/mods/1 I guess patches like these confirm the status of Emperor as a real classic.
I probably am a bit biased, because I spent my entire 1999 summer holiday on Caesar III, but this game has aged quite well, given that one applies the recently released Julius Open Source remake of Caesar III (needs original gog game files), accesible via https://github.com/bvschaik/julius or August Mod for additional game play options and fixes (like road blocks) accesible via the same weblink. Without the mod, playing the game was for me like a trip down memory lane, but not captivating enough for more than a few hours. Although the graphics are still nice, gameplay is a bit outdated and the resolution is too low for my current screen. With the August Mod, there are enough improvements though to make the game interesting and (almost) on par with more recent city builders. And it looks gorgeous on UWQHD, an entire map/city on my screen without scrolling. I am addicted again to this game :)
