Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth currently holds the crown for me

The next-gen only games I had the most fun playing was Hi-Fi Rush with Astro Bot behind it, but as far as the game that was the closest to me getting that "this feels like next-gen" moment, it's gotta be Returnal. Especially paired with the DualSense features and 3D audio headphones. Unforgettable experience.

FF VII Rebirth, followed by Clair Obscur at the moment.

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.

Hum gosh, I'm.still in the middle of playing many previous gen games at the moment so I can't really stake one current "new Gen" game in there.

I feel like DK Bananza will be just that early on ... But something tells me that opinion will change in the next year or so.

Maybe an unpopular opinion, but a current gen game that I enjoyed A LOT was Ghostwire: Tokyo.

And, of course, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. It's just that Ghostwire was my first contact with current gen.

I'm also in the boat of not having played that many current gen only games yet due to my ridiculous backlog, but I will give shoutouts to Stellar Blade, (epic stylish action) Donkey Kong Bananza, (extremely creative and tactile) Astro Bot, (also very creative) Split Fiction, (tons of variety and mechanical polish) Mario Kart World, (charm and fun out the wazoo) and Kunitsu-gami Path of the Goddess. (Very unique and original)

I'd Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 followed by Donkey Kong Bananza.

Spider-Man 2 was so fun and satisfying like its predecessors so that would be it. Astro Bot is amazing too. Lots of incredible level design and PlayStation goodness.

Lol, leave it to the old-school RPGs to lead the way! Not only are these two of the best games this gen but neither of them have DLC currently.