You could try Manor Lords (medieval village builder), or Songs of Syx (low-fantasy city builder that kind of converts into Total War (you can train your citizens in combat and then field massive armies to fight other cities)).

I recently had a great time with StarRupture (kind of like Space Engineers but with a very interesting world mechanic).

Also, less of a "watch the world evolve" and more like "I used to enjoy MMOs but hated the grind" - Crimson Desert offers a massive world where you can just relax and ride your horse, or farm, or fish. Or mow down dozens of enemies. You kind of have a growing camp, but it's not "I'm building my camp", it's "I'm doing quests and eventually my camp grows a level". It's basically "what if Skyrim but larger and with phenomenal graphics".