Thank you for the lengthy reply, it was a fun read!
Slowly unfolding mechanics are nice, it is not enough to be overwhelming but I still feel like I'm making progress and learning new things. I also like discovering things and how to use them, although we might disagree on just how many mechanics to have at the very start.
I definitely get and share the love for build diversity, multiple valid strategies and ways to play…
Stories in incremental games are super cool, whether they are an explicitly narrative-heavy game or it's something more like Shark Game—not exactly super narrative-driven but those cute pixel arts of a shark starting to make a whole civilization down there complete with flavor text… there is definitely a story there. I also feel like Kittens Game kind of did it, I was imagining the civilization the kittens made from time to time, thinking about their progress…
Shark Game stands out because of the adorable art. I'll be honest, I'm a very visual person and good-looking games catch my attention very quickly. I definitely don't need the kind of graphics I need a NASA computer to render, it's more about the style, really… if you are a pure menu UI it can still be attractive to me!
Aside from "really active", I feel I at least somewhat agree with you on most of these points.