Both correct!  About Europa Universalis,  I haven't played Victoria II normal anyway sequel of EU II, but I think that EU might be the best series to be introduced into Grand Strategy.

Anno 1602: Creation of a New World (US: 1602 A.D.)

The second game in the 'Anno' series on the list, and the first of the series released in general. A real classic among me, a good friend and my mother. In the past, we used to play this game all the time in multiplayer. As such, this is without a doubt, my most played multiplayer game of all time. In fact, my friend and me can still play this from time to time, and when he stops played Warcraft III for a second, we will.

While the objective is more or less the same, being a much older game than 'Anno 1404' earlier in the list, gameplay is much simpler. In 'Anno 1602's' case though, simpler really is even better. The seamlessness and ease of managing resources and goods to build your city is unparalleled. In another area, combat, the simpler nature is a godsend compared to the more bloated mechanics of later games. Combat is secondary or even tertiary in these games of course, and to be avoided if possible, because the objective is to just make a city as wealthy as possible and 'out-prosper' your rivals.

Interestingly enough, even though it's never mentioned in the game, the manual or the intro-cutscene, I'm pretty sure the game references the 'Golden Age' of my country judging by the architecture of the buildings, the nautical theme, the trading of spices and the exact year "1602" being an important one because it is the year the East-India Company was founded and started their trading operations. Though it has no bearing whatsoever on the excellence of the game or on the gameplay mechanics itself, for a Dutch person, that's a nice extra.

No one guessed Anno, seems like I need to push this series in your faces some more next year.
Next one's more famous though, let's see how that fares.

#7: In some way, this game added an extra zoom-level showing everything you created from high up, though in reality it's just a glorified main menu.

Pokemon X/Y

Yes, SimCity 4. Obviously I was talking about the Region View, which is used to select your cities, but it also shows some basic stats for each and of course you get to see the entire land you made.

And I second the other sentence. A meery Christmas to everyone!

Nobody's guessing my games

#9 - Splatoon (can't embedd the video for some reason)

https://youtu.be/k4k1NdUEUP4

Alright. First things first... Splatoon has very fundamental and obvious flaws. For example, why can't I leave lobbies!? Why can't I change weapons in a lobby or mid-match? Why can't we choose the mode or maps? And why do I have to see the Squid sisters every time I start the game? Voice chat? Some of these are justified. Like, you can't leave lobbies, but you can play a minigame while waiting (also, why has no other game done this before? It's such a simple yet important thing to do). Others are solved in a different way. In Squad battles, you can change weapons and leave the lobby at any time. Really dumb flaws, and no real excuse for them in an online based shooter in 2015.

But where Splatoon shines, well it shines, ok. First, gameplay is fresh, creative and innovative. There are probably 2 more games like it, and nobody knows them. It's simple in paper, but complex in execution. Shoot ink to make points; swim and recover ammo by transforming in a squid in your own ink; and start again. In combination with all the different weapons, maps, and gear, there are houndreds of different ways to play. Which brings me to my next point: weapons. Splatoon is a very balanced game, and weapon variety is amazing. There are multiple weapon types, each type with multiple kits. Long range and slow, short range and fast, snipers, buckets, burshes!? It's awesome.

Next, let's call it style. Each piece of clothes gives you some abilities, blah blah blah; have you seen how amazing it looks? Something I think I didn't mention in XCX is the looks your own characters get. It's... well, super stylish and just awesome. Not only that, but in the Splatoon world there are real bands and clothe brands, even it's own language. This is the ambition and love more games deserve. The music has an amazingly unique style (I'm reapeating myself...); the entire OST is awesome. The gear and in-game currency are also awesome, and something I have wanted in games for a really long time. The combination of all this... style is what makes me love this game so much. Not just the gameplay and mechanics, but also the shopping and overall style of the game.

Finally, singleplayer is actually pretty cool. But more importantly is the over-abundance of easter eggs and good dialogues. The Sunken Scrolls give a lot of backstory and weird lore bits that are super interesting to read about. Heck, they even give you the music sheets of the Inklings' "anthem", how awesome is that? By the way, the Inklings' design is awesome. And the ink coulors are really attractive. Lastly, the final boss is phenomenal. I love this game so much.

Hint #8 - The lore of this game is not told. You scan it, or you don't.

SimCity 4 as guessed by mZuzek

This is likely my second-most played game ever. In total I made multiple regions with dozens of cities each, one bigger than the next. I have been playing 'SimCity 4' with it's add-on for as long as the game is out and pretty much non-stop, I doubt there has ever been a full month I never at least started it up. Still, I only broke my record for biggest city I ever made a few years ago, maxing out at about 420,000 inhabitants, the record for my biggest region remains at about 1.5 million so far though.

The most literal translation of the city-building genre, it's predecessors even defined it, the objective is simply to make a big city. Infrastructure, zoning, utilities and recreation are all on the plate of the player, along with tax and budget management. The word 'ploppable', meaning to place down buildings and stuff, originates from this series. The game also gives the player the opportunity to create their own landscapes so their vision can be realized as realistically as possible.

After all these years, there still hasn't been a game in it's genre that bested SimCity 4 and the only game outside it's immediate predecessor that is even allowed to stand in it's shadow is 'Cities Skylines' (#41). The game has already been on many of my computers, and it seems like I will have to take the discs with me and install them on every new computer I'll have indefinitely. Not really a problem though.

Let's see if there's actually anyone looking when it's Christmas.

#6: This famous game, the second in the series, was developed by one man alone, while it's two expansions where created by a studio who made the third game, and released a spiritual successor on their own just recently.

#7: A game that is known to be hard, even though there are much harsher things out there, and things like the controls are somewhat unusual, but that doesn't change the fact that this is one of the most satisfying games to beat.

#6: Again, not a perfect game, especially when compared to another related game that came out over a decade ago, and online that's passable at best, but with all the news that came out hyping us up prior to and even after  release, some surprises that just shook the gaming community, and several ways to have fun whether you game seriously or not, it's one of the most addicting games I can think of.

#5: Not every game needs to tell you the whole backstory within the game itself, and sure it's a valid complaint, but the fact that there's no in-game story, yet is still one of the most colorful and unique games I've ever played in a genre most people would say has been done to death is quite the accomplishment.