Demon's Souls has my vote, largely for its defiance against current trends. For example, in an era in which developers create easy tutorials, casual modes, quick reloads after game death, and so on to hold gamers' hands, From Software spit on all of that with no difficulty selection, death penalties, and a tutorial that aimed to kill you.
In current gaming, many developers try to distinguish between single-player and multiplayer (in the form of separate modes). Demon's Souls, on the other hand, managed to create a single-player game that includes multiplayer elements (messages, cooperation, and invasion), while largely remaining a single-player experience.
Lastly, Demon's Souls is one of the few games in this generation (outside of some great indie titles) that used a minimalistic presentation. For example, in many RPGs today, you'll see extensive dialogue, cutscenes, codices, and so on to give the player information about the story, world, and characters. In contrast, Demon's Souls simply tried to show you (rather than tell) with its scenery, sparse characters, ambiance, and music. People often say that Demon's Souls had no lore or story, but I just think that it left much of it for the player to imagine as he or she explores the game's world.
While I enjoyed Dark Souls (especially for its world design and ambitious covenant mp elements), it will never replace that wonder and amazement that I experienced when I first played Demon's Souls (It was my choice of game of the year in 2009, over Uncharted 2 and Dragon Age: Origins, despite enjoying both of those games).
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