I agree with you on most of those, though personally didn’t find much soul in Horizon Forbidden West or God of War Ragnarok. Likely just a taste thing.

As you said, people shouldn’t focus on AAA games as much as they do. Anyone who knows gaming in the modern day can fairly accurately predict that AAA games will be shit on launch, and will only sometimes improve to something playable eventually. Meanwhile, indie and AA games tend to be at least enjoyable at launch, and often don’t have the bullshit gambling or microtransaction scams that AAA games have. Oh, and they also have soul, which a corporation shitting out a new game every year will never be able to replicate.

Honestly, the last AAA game that I enjoyed was Helldivers 2, and I’ll still boo it for its warbond system, even though you can grind for the in-game currency.

Night In The Woods. If you haven’t played it, I’d recommend it. The characters are so well written, and some of the things they touch on hit me on a very, very personal level. And the music complements it all perfectly. It manages to have silly moments and serious moments with the same characters that all manage to fit and mesh together so well, and their relationships and lives all feel real and evolving throughout the story.