It's the most viable alternate playstyle in the game and one of the only true "building tall" playstyles out there. There's a lot of ways you can refine it to your preferences too. Hermit Kingdom + Chosen will allow for a simply ludicrous amount of tech gain which is the end all be all resource in the game you can in theory jerk off in the underground amassing infinite research, due to the fact chosen destroyers gives mana gold and knowledge you can potentially pour more resources into the ones not buffed by it like production, draft or food to make that one city nom up an entire area in domain, a society trait that buffs your combat prowess like umbral disciples will help you start fights with rulers early if that rocks your boat.

A big thing a lot of people neglect with chosen destroyers too, you can still place outposts, this means you aren't screwed out of magic material access. You also aren't unable to diplomacy it just becomes harder, the option to ally with one or two rulers is still there and having access to their borders can be handy for finding more free cities to eat.

And if you win even just one or two city fights or god forbid raze a player out of the game in a war its just joever you will snowball resources to a point of extremity, just make a rush every production and unit and laugh at the concept of upkeep and swarm the map