Giving Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey a try.
Third-person survival type, but with the premise of being set 10,000,000 years ago in Africa (at least, that's where it starts), and you're slowly guiding the evolution of primates into humanity. Deveoping "skills" over generations that represent improved communication, motor functions, tool making, etc.
The opening sequence includes a line about "we're not going to help you much", and by god that's right. The tutorial is very basic, and there's no real guidance on what you're doing. You have to learn as you go, figuring out what you actually need to do - just like a primate that has yet to evolve. One key thing is that so much of it runs by audio cues, when to click a button, when to release a button, it all comes down to hearing the right audio cue or everything goes **** up.
Frustrating and engaging at the same time.