I am another who hated indoor riding back in the dumb trainer days. I remember trying to do interval workouts by gearing up/down on my drivetrain to increase/decrease resistance and absolutely hating it. I liked riding rollers a bit more because it forced me to stay engaged with the riding, but I could never do more than 30-45 minutes on them and that type of training without resistance has limited benefits.
Zwift and smart trainers were a game changer for me. I picked up a cheap Kickr Snap a few years ago and it works fine. I ride online 4-5 times a week during the winter, including a few group meetups with friends - we use Discord to chat. I got a 40" TV to run the game from my laptop, and a rocker plate for my trainer. I do training plans with various interval workouts and it's fun and engaging. I don't do any Zwift racing, but I do some of the group rides and that's fun too.
The Zwift hub looks like a decent direct-drive trainer option. It's currently $600 and comes with a free year of Zwift. A wheel-on Kickr Snap ($350) also works pretty well if you already have an on-bike power meter. The big downside to wheel-on smart trainers is that they don't work very well as power meters, so you have to calibrate it every time or you'll get really funky power readings. If you've got an on-bike power meter you can just pair that instead, and then you don't need to worry about calibrating the trainer.