Gaming

I think Terraria? Especially with the years it's had to grow and improve.

Witcher 3. They very well combined open world with story telling, with tons of side quests, many of which affect the story. The characters aren't one dimensional. For example Bloody Barron is a low life, but also draws sympathy as he pays for his sins from the past. The world is also unforgiving, many times you have to make a decision between shitty option and even shit tier option. The graphics and characters are also very detailed. All of that creates a great atmosphere.

If you haven't played it, you should give it a try.

Celeste has just perfect controls and pacing. I still think about it. I wasn't as touched by the story as others but many were. I'm still playing Super Mario World and find it so impressive and charming.

I have always been a fan of stealth games. Dishonored (especially the first) scratched the itch perfectly! It's atmospheric. It's not open world, but each level has its own area to explore that is filled to the brim with stories, sometimes a small side quest etc. I also love how you get to influence the ending.

Bioshock I think, loved it so much. Excellent writing and graphic design. Wish the remaster had improved the visuals more tho

Outer Wilds

Dragon Age. I literally fell in love with Alistair while studying for my masters, so it must have been an excellent storyline for an RPG. I also played it through in full twice because it turned out my initial character choice made my perfect ending impossible..

To The Moon

Firstly, it's fairly short, which I appreciate in a game that's primarily story-driven. Secondly, the story is damn near perfect. When I got to the reveal towards the end I actually sobbed (quietly, in a manly way). No other game has ever affected me that way.

Super Mario RPG for SNES. ... I'm old

Hollow knight. The gameplay, the smoothness of the controls, but also the universe, the atmosphere, the fantastic music. Absolutely wonderful game.

Perfection is overrated. Most of my favorite gaming experiences are with games of which I would be able to cite plenty of flaws.

I like games with sharp edges.

That said, there are a lot of good games being mentioned in these comments.

Guild Wars, especially for the PvP mode. I loved the visual feeling of the game, it felt sharper and less cartoony than a WoW.

Some classes were kind of novel too at the time.

And the feature I loved was the limited skillset you had to chose : you could be lvl 20 (max) and know 30 spells but you could only pick 5 in your active bar. It made for so many interesting builds and combinations !