5: Sekiro - One of the best modern works of gothic horror in any medium (yes better than Bloodborne and Souls). A tight central narrative tied into a much deeper lore than is apparent at first glance. Also informed by Buddhist morality, which is pretty cool.
4: Ark - You can shoot a rocket launcher at robots from the back of a Giganotosaurus. What's not to love?
3: Spec Ops: The Line - A controversial game, but one of the only shooters in existence to actually critique the bloody imperialist power fantasy that all modern shooter games inherently are. It spat on Call of Duty and gave the finger to every ooh-rah Marine dipshit who thought they were buying another game to fellate themselves with.
2: Disco Elysium - self explanatory
1: Journey - Less a game and more an interactive therapy tool. Helped bring me out of a major depressive spiral way back when. Play it on mescaline and it becomes a spiritual experience. Also a playable deconstruction of The Hero's Journey story framework, which I just enjoyed aesthetically.
Skyrim/Terraria/Minecraft - the usual suspects
the witcher 3 - i love the story a lot. very good
Subnautica - best atmosphere of any game i've ever played. exploring this world is simply magical.
Outer worlds - very much like subnautica's exploration, it has a great atmosphere and soundtrack as well. but this game is a lot more, the story is fantastic, and it explores some really really interesting themes. only i'm not really allowed to talk about it so please just play the game.
Disco elysium - great writing. more like a good book or movie than a game, in the best possible way. very cool world and characters.
honorable mentions:
Kerbal space program - the most fun time learning you'll ever have. huge learning curve, and accomplishing your goals is so satisfying. singlehandedly responsible for me passing astronomy 101 class
slay the spire / binding of isaac / ftl- the kings of rogue lites, fantastic games to sink time into