>>382858
To get depth you need things like placement, terrain, distance, line of sight, cover, and so on. Without a clear visual element to that the specifics get lost very quickly and the bookkeeping and sheer amount of information you need to keep track of in a shared mental space is just absurd. Something that would be more intimidating than simply making some paper minis or spending $5 on a little metal adventurer to move around some graph paper.
A game can still be enjoyable and engaging without autistically simulated combat, and there's no reason that every game should need it. Most new players or people with no knowledge on the hobby will likely be overwhelmed and intimidated anyways. There's literally nothing else that comes close to the style of active that tabletop RPGs are. Vidya might capture some things similar, but even then, the dice and the numbers and the filling out paperwork about an imaginary person. It's weird, confusing shit to a retarded normalfag. If they even want to play seriously and regularly, the best thing you can do is run games that gradually and slowly introduce more and more mechanics and rules, instead of looking for dumbed down games.