Gonna be honest, I'm so far behind on my backlog that I haven't played nearly as many current-gen games as I did last-gen games. But of the ones I have played, either Elden Ring, Horizon Forbidden West, or the Resident Evil 4 remake would be at the top of what I actually have played so far.
While I'm not a huge fan of open-world games in general, both Elden Ring and HFW managed to do better than most other games in regards to having a compelling gameplay loop and actual rewarding exploration, rather than 90% of the game just being a checklist of tedious, repetitive objectives (though they couldn't completely avoid having repetitive content, since it's impossible to fill up those huge worlds in a way where everything is totally unique). And that Vegas mission in HFW was something special, to me, at least.
RE4 Remake, meanwhile, was one of the best survival horror games I've ever played. This recent string of RE remakes have been gold, and is to me how RE should have played decades ago. I struggled to enjoy old-school RE because of the tank controls, but going through RE2's police station and other levels in the remake not just with a fresh coat of pain but also with modernized controls was an amazing experience. RE2 remake was one of my top games of last generation, RE3 remake was solid as well, but RE4 took that formula and made it bigger and badder.
I imagine once the next mainline Mario game is released, that could take the crown, but that's probably a ways off.
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In accordance to the VGC forum rules, §8.5, I hereby exercise my right to demand to be left alone regarding the subject of the effects of the pandemic on video game sales (i.e., "COVID bump").
