Probably Elden Ring. I don’t like many AAA games, so that wins by default. I am a big fan of Armored Core though, and the upcoming sequel is definitely in AAA territory. I’ll probably change my answer after I get a chance to play it.

The Mass Effect trilogy

If I’m feeling shooty, borderlands 3 or halo infinite on PC (my nostalgia for the franchises are too strong). I used to like GTA5 way back when, until it became purely a pay to win grind.

If I’m feeling like a story, I keep going back to skyrim after all these years. Also Last of Us, Spider-man, and the Jedi Outcast series.

If I’m feeling like some brain dead fun, I HIGHLY recommend a lesser appreciated gem: Orcs Must Die 3

If im feeling like spicy gaming, I have a highly modified version of skyrim for that too :)

Red Dead Redemption 2 actually uses it’s AAA budget to fill out an open world with stuff

Witcher 3 was great, kept me so busy. The Uncharted series are some of my favorites, and the Horizon series are too. The set pieces in Uncharted blew me away, and I really liked the world they built in the Horizon games. The Metal Gear series has always been special to me, since it’s always been there as I’ve gotten older.

Depends. If we are talking from forever. Crash bandicoot trilogy, mass effect trilogy, uncharted series, Witcher 3, ratchet and clank and Jak and daxter trilogies, borderlands 2, mirrors edge. There are too many games that have been amazing

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Mass Effect series for me. Great story where choices matter. And the characters are just so wonderful, ending the game felt like saying goodbye to friends.

The Mass Effect series, specifically Mass Effect 2. The atmosphere, the scale, the characters. It’s the kind of thing where a AAA budget really bring to life things that AA or indie would have had to cut down.

Fallout 4. I have a lot of problems with the story, worldbuilding, and endless minor nitpicky complaints about this game. However it is an amazing accomplishment and when it does something right, it does it very right. The game is the foundation of mods that make it amazing, and while the game didn’t create the mods, they wouldn’t exist without the game. To me Fallout 4 is “I played this game for 800 hours and there’s nothing to do!” kind of complaining.

DOOM (2016). Wow. What a game. It took the mantle of the most iconic FPS in history and made it’s mark. DOOM (2016) is to the original DOOM what Fury Road is to Road Warrior. It distilled what everybody liked and remembered (or thought they remembered) from the original and pumped it up to 11 with insane confidence.

The Witcher is a masterpiece, I also love Dragon Age and Mass Effect, these 2 are not really openworld but beautiful nonetheless and Bioware is amazing at storytelling.

I sadly don’t have the time nor energy to play open world games anymore so I like games with pretty linear narrative and progression but great story, like Uncharted, The Last of Us, and Bioshock.