Reviews reviews reviews.
Cameras are kind of a dime a dozen nowadays. They all accomplish nearly the same thing and most people would opt for a phone with a nice camera before thinking of a dslr or mirrorless camera.
So when a camera really sticks out as quality and unique in the reviews it’s usually a good sign. To me Fujifilm are making some of the best “affordable” cameras right now.
I mean an XT3 would fits a lot of your criteria and can be had on ebay for around 1k as a kit.
Disco Elysium. I mean it came out in 2019. But it still counts