Look into Dwarf Fortress. The world generation is incredibly complex and realistic. The community-driven wiki is helpful as always[1]. Not only is the physical world generation impressive, the generated history and lore is amazing as well.
I wonder if this game would be more compelling if they wrote a renderer that wasn't limited to the resolution of a text font?
I'm sure the current DF fanbase isn't interested and might even be repelled. But I also think it might open it up to a new audience that otherwise hasn't/wouldn't consider it.
Have you heard of Armok Vision? It's a 3D visualizer being developed by modders so that you can view your fortress in 3D (I think even in real-time).[1]
[1] http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Advanced_world...