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.
5: Stardew Valley- Just a super charming, fun game that doesn't demand anything from you
4: Disco Elysium- Basically redefined the RPG genre, and an absolutely heart wrenching game that doesn't dance around tough questions, but can also be charming and incredibly funny at times.
3: Hollow Knight- The dialectical synthesis of Dark Souls and Metroidvania, I took a long time to get good at the combat but it's an incredibly rewarding experience, the art style is adorable, and like Disco Elysium is can transition from tear jerking gut punches to bliss without it seeming jarring
2: Bloodborne- The best console game of the last generation period. I died probably 200 times in Central Yharman before beating Gascoigne and then probably died another 200 before I got past Rom, and I loved every microsecond of it. The visual style is nothing short of a masterpiece, and combat is deceptively deep with the wide range of attacks and gem setups. I still bring up bloodborne to do chalice dungeon Co-op with random people. Fantastic game
1: Fallout New Vegas-I could write a dissertation on why FNV is great. I could make a 9 hour youtube video essay on why it's so good. Yes, the game is riddled with bugs if you're playing unmodded/console, and the movement/combat is janky thanks to Bethesda's engine, but the story and writing, the RPG elements, the fantastic DLC makes replaying New Vegas a yearly tradition for me at this point. No game except maybe Bloodborne sank it's hooks in me like New Vegas did, and I hope one day open world RPGs shake off the shackles of Assassin's Creeds and Destinys and step into the shimmering, redemptive light of New Vegas
HONORABLE MENTIONS: Dark Souls 1 and 3, Sekiro, EU4, The Last of Us, The Binding of Isaac, The Outer Worlds, Skyrim, Assassin's Creed 4 (the only good one), Fallout 4 (yeah ik I still like it tho, just gotta stay away from the main story)