All OP's notes of the Game sound like good things about the Game for me:
- Barbarians and AI are challenging? I constantly hear the opposite from People, or mainly "non-challenging AI Players". It's nice to see it's a subjective thing, bc "Challenging" or "Good" AI are relative terms, and don't have the same meaning for 2 individual peoples with different playstyles.
- Civ VI way more complicated than Civ V: That's why I love it so much! I found Civ5 to be very bland and mostly offering surface level mechanics. As a non-military focused player myself I think Civ5 offers little outside that. The blandness of the Game is especially noticeable in slower paced Games. Compared to Civ6, which is so rich in mechanics and depth that you can literally play any style you want. Besides, Civ6 is just Civ5, but better and richer, and more polished.
Anyway, I think you just got too used to the very simplistic Civ5, and that's why Civ6 seems so complicated to you. I never hear Civ4 Players, who made the step directly to Civ6 skipping 5, say something like that. Bc Civ6 is a lot more like Civ4 in that regard, and prior Games (Thus, Civ5 is the Outlier here, not Civ6). If you haven't already, give it some more tries. Don't play with Gathering Storm or Rise and Fall just now (they just add more complicated stuff that you might struggle with at first), just try base Game, Settler Difficulty, Score Victory (for no rushed gameplay), and explore the Game. Also, as People here suggested, play with Rome, it's the best Civ for starters, and the 1st one I played in Civ6 myself too. I'm sure you'll later on appreciate all the effort that went into the Game and all its details if you give it its time.
