Master of Magic. It's basically the Civilization gameplay loop, but adds fantasy creatures, magic spells, hero units and loot. There's a recent remake but it just doesn't capture the same vibes as the original, at least for me.
I was going to suggest CrossCode, it has some great characters. And while the game is balls-hard on default settings it has many adjustable options to bring it in line with whatever your skill level may be.
When I played on PC the game looked good, but there were definitely places that could be improved. I recall facial animations looking a bit off. Not that I think a remaster is called for.
Epic never expected to make money on exclusives. They were using them as a loss-leader to force people to use their shitty store. Fortunately it looks like they've lost enough money to make them stop or at least cut back on their shenanigans.