master of orion 2 should be on this list even though its maybe older than 2 or 3 years
It's an outer space 4x game (explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate? i think that's what 4x stands for :/ )
fallout and fallout 2 are RPGs set in a post-nuclear-apocalypse california (and parts of southern oregon in fallout 2). Both have you setting out to find a key bit of technology to save your vault/tribe, and both also set you against an army bent on taking over the world (after you finally retrieve the aforementioned item). Both are also packed with subquests, and how you complete them changes what happens to the different towns after the game is over.
plus you can supposedly get married and pimp out your wife in 2 :/