Connie Willis is a SF author I love. Her short stories are very political in regards of gender and sexuality, then you have her long time-travel books and her short romantic-comedy novels.

Aliette de Bodard also has many nice stories (I have only read some of the Xuya ones)

I really liked St. John Mandel books! I will have to watch the TV adaptation

The problem with these games (like Stellaris, which is also on offer and I would recommend with the same warning) is that the base game lacks many interesting features, which you only get if you buy all the DLCs.