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[Fbh]

Games:
-Elden Ring: From masterfully managed to adapt Dark Souls into an open world that was a blast to enjoy, filled with cool locations, great dungeons (something that IMO most Open World games still struggle with), awesome bosses and a variety of enemies, loot, spells and skills that put most other games to shame.
-TotK: While I have my fair share of issues with it, the way they implemented building and physics and made it a core element in this massive open world was really impressive. It's a game that felt like it was constantly challenging me to "break" it in a good way
-Chained Echoes: Somehow one German dude supported by some musicians and one support artist made a better JRPG than 90% of what big Japanese studios have been putting out for the past 2 decades.

Tech:
-Fast Loading: I think it's one of those things you get used to and forget about, but it's actually really nice. You don't truly appreciate it until you go back to older games on Ps4 and you are sometimes waiting 40+ seconds just to fast travel.
-60Fps in most games: Games just feel way better to play this way, everything looks more fluid and your inputs feel more responsive. IMO 60fps + good IQ >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Graphics.

Graphics:
Forbidden West: I still think in terms of presentation this gen peaked with Forbidden West, nothing comes close (well Demon Souls, but it's super linear levels): Great graphics, amazing character models and overall lots of detail, all running in a big open world setting at 60fps with pretty good image quality (dynamic resolution only goes to shit in a few cutscenes). Everything that's visually comparable either makes you play at 30fps or with Ps3 era image quality.

 

[SlimySnake]

I have been impressed with a lot of games this gen. The astrobot and demon souls dualsense implementation was excellent. Demon souls, forza, starfield, star wars and alan wake 2 all have great visuals, but i wouldnt say they wowed me.

I really appreciate the fast loading but i wouldnt call it a wow moment. Maybe on the very first sub 1 second fast travel in spidemran miles where the screen flashes for half a second and transports you to the other side of the map. But the rest, eh.

The following games were legit wow moments where i was like yes, this is next gen:

• Returnal was the first moment for me. Mostly because of the audio design and dual sense implementation mixed with the insane atmosphere. Just thick with fog and particle effects. It was the moment cerny's vision for the PS5 clicked with me. Games are about more than just graphics.
• Ratchet had some wow moments. The first city, the portal setpieces and blizar prime.
• Aloy in horizon FW still blows me away every time i go back to it. The way she's lit is so beautiful. the clouds in the DLC were a legit wow moment. Plainsong in day time wows me everytime i go back to it.
• Spiderman 2 when sandman throws you half way across the city. I dont think ive seen a one shot take like that even in movies.
• The zipping setpiece in Star Wars jedi survivor was very holy shit worthy. it was like Ratchets portal level on steroids.
• Every single Eikon Fight in FF16. Especially the titan and bahamut fights. I was grinning ear to ear when they took me to space. The boat setpiece was fucking insane because they kept going from one boat to another and i was like how are they are doing this? is this prerendered? or realtime? wtf is going on? the water looked cg and it was but the rest looked realtime. Amazing stuff.
• Lastly, Avatar's opening shot when you first enter pandora. Probably the only time ive said wow out loud instead of just thinking it. it was my KZSF moment of this gen. So glad they kept it till the game's release. Amazing to experience it in 4k hdr instead of youtube compressed feeds.

 

[hinch7]

On tech nothing has really floored me. Though if we're talking just games.. the sheer scale and expansive lands of Elden Ring. There are so many levels to them and intricately designed. The Aikon fights in FFXVI were so good too, been a while since I've played something that grand and frankly, ridiculous.

 

[xrnzaaas]

I love the loading times on PS5 and I've noticed this in both new PS5 games and BC PS4 games. Sadly it mostly applies to first party games and many third party titles still have me waiting 15-20+ seconds. Forza Motorsport on XSX was also dissapointing in that regard - loading everything takes time (I sometimes think it crashed or got stuck in loop when loading a track) and there are way too many menus to get through before the race.

There aren't many games that wowed me with their technical side. I loved the graphics in Ratchet & Clank and how smooth it was even in RT performance mode. Or maybe Gran Turismo 7, but I get annoyed with the performance drops on some tracks (I haven't played in months so maybe that's changed).

 

[XXL]

Baldurs Gate 3, loading times and a bunch of PSVR 2 games.

 

[Unknown?]

Ratchet was quite a bit better looking than the remake and wowed me. A lot of that is due to art style too though.

 

[DeathGuise]

Tears of The Kingdom
Signalis
Resident Evil 4
The extent and slope of Blizzard's decline

I think that's it

 

[Dr_Ifto]

Returnal, Ratchet and Demons Souls wowed me. FF16/7r2 in different ways. Baldurs gate 3 just wowed me on just the depth of the story you can go.

 

[Kataploom]

From a technical standpoint, I think R&C when I first saw it on the trailers, Also A Plague Tale: Requiem has amazing art and lighting. The Matrix demo too, apart from that, almost nothing from current gen really catches me enough, games look good enough that I just need good games, I'd be good with cross-gen looking game with great performance and IQ.

Games like Metaphor, Elden Ring and even Tales Of Arise (currently playing) wow me more visually than any "technically impressive" game out there.

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

Demon's Souls

 

[poppabk]

PC only so no true 'gens' for me but -
Flight Sim
Flight Sim in VR
Various driving games in VR
HL2 in VR (seriously if you didn't know it, you would think the game was made as a VR game, except maybe the driving sections)

 

[ReBurn]

Wowed? Not really. I'm enjoying the games but not much has broken new ground.

 

[MiguelItUp]

The Steam Deck - Awesome hardware that functions really well, the first time you use it there's definitely a wow factor
Demon's Souls Remake - The visuals were insane, especially with the right display. Easily some of the best I've seen, if not THE best IMO
Elden Ring - Just its sheer size and amount of game that was present
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - The physics and the amount of game that was present and could function on the Switch, pretty wild

 

[Laptop1991]

No, nothing this generation has wowed me so far, hopefully that will change!

 

[Rocco Schiavone]

The only thing that wowed me was the haptic feedback with the Dualsense while playing Astrobot.

 

[Sneakysnake]

PC gamer so "generation" is a weird term but since the launce of series X/Ps5, the PC games that impressed me (maybe not quite blown away but close) are cyberpunk, Alan Wake 2, Fortnite unreal 5 with nanite, lumen, and hardware raytracing turned on, windows flight sim. The only thing that had blowing me away are the previews for Hellblade 2 but that isn't out yet but it's almost certainly going to set the bar

 

[Lucifers Beard]

Elden Ring and that's it. I'll take incredible art style over fancy graphical features any day.

The game is also just fucking amazing and plays like a dream.

 

[ArtHands]

Playing next gen games like Returnal and Forbidden West everywhere on my Steam Deck.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Eikon battles in FF XVI are the only thing that wowed me so far, too bad that everything else about the game sucks.

Astro’s Playroom wowed me in a different way: it reminded me of Dreamcast + earlier where we’d get these fun, simple games with simple controls, often designed to use the unique features of the hardware/controller. Not these big bloated cinematic games with endless cutscenes, character progression systems, open world collectible/quest bullshit, etc.

 

[Calverz]

Resident evil 4 remake. Dead space remake. Returnal and Elden ring

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

Returnal is the best next gen game imo and there has been a few lookers

but you guys are chasing a dragon and don't want to listen to "diminishing returns" so good luck

I played it and deleted it after 7 hours, I was distracted by playing with the lady's watery buttocks.

 

[JimmyRustler]

Graphics? Hogwarts and Alan Wake 2 we’re pretty darn impressive.

 

[Clear]

Returnal is the best next gen game imo and there has been a few lookers

but you guys are chasing a dragon and don't want to listen to "diminishing returns" so good luck

Inclined to agree. Returnal was so good at achieving what it set out to do it really is a standout this gen.

Not the best looking game out there, but it plays so well and the narrative is really strong despite it keeping out of the way of the gameplay.

 

[Mortisfacio]

Visually: Phantom Liberty. Playing through dogtown on a 4090 is just insane and I think the best looking game still today

Overall: Elden Ring. The scale and world, coupled with classic From Soulslike was just great.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

We just gonna act like the Gameboy, Gameboy Advance, DS, 3DS, and Switch don't exist and Nintendo doesn't have almost 40 years of history making handhelds? I've seen some bad takes around here, but this is probably one of the worst.

I cannot play the games in play on Steam Deck on Nintendo handheld.

 

[ComputerBlue]

Not really, Returnal it’s pretty great but I don’t remember it making me wow.

Maybe looking over the skyline in Cyberpunk, but I don’t know if that counts because I initially played the PS4 version on PS5.

With every new gen things impress me far less, likely has something to do with aging as well but games just don’t push like they used to.

 

[Clear]

To be honest I think maybe the visual standout for me is still probably Death Stranding on PS5. Its last gen but the quality of the art and overall IQ was so good.

 

[violence]

RTX HDR
DLSS 2

 

[DonF]

Demon souls remake for sure, instant loading times, awesome graphics for a 60 fps game. It still blows me away. To me is the pinacle of ps5 to this day.

disclaimer, I havent played horizon forbiden west

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

Demon souls remake for sure, instant loading times, awesome graphics for a 60 fps game. It still blows me away. To me is the pinacle of ps5 to this day.

disclaimer, I havent played horizon forbiden west

THIS

 

[Josemayuste]

Off the top of my head and without any order of preference:

Tears of the Kingdom
Outer Wilds
Elden Ring

 

[TexMex]

PS5 launch day between Astro and Demons Souls.

That initial week with everyone discovering Elden Ring together.

 

[I'm nobody]

I grew a foot shorter lol




Yes vr games want more and hope GTA on psvr 2

 

[aclar00]

Unfortunately, the Unreal 5 PS5 demo is what has wowed me the most.

 

[Sethbacca]

I cannot play the games in play on Steam Deck on Nintendo handheld.

That wasn't the assertion that I was replying to though. The assertion was that Valve had done more for handhelds than Nintendo, which is an absolute trash take.

Do modern PC based handhelds have more utility than aging Nintendo hardware? The answer to that one is an obvious yes.

 

[Crayon]

I think most of these ponderings are born from imagination atrophying with age. No offense, it happens.

 

[Black_Stride]

The extent and slope of Blizzard's decline

This Blizzard?

The Blizzard that had 1 billion dollars in Revenue?

 

[semiconscious]

Does Elden Ring count cause that thing blew me away.

yeah, next gen, last gen, whatever. so far, it's the only game released since this generation started that's genuinely impressed me...

 

[cinnamonandgravy]

was amazed that re4 remake somehow managed to feel more sluggish/less responsive than the gamecube original with tank controls.

demon souls on ps5 wowed me graphically. massive step up from the ps3 version.

sometimes i stop in death stranding and think to myself, "...nice" (pc, 4k120).

havent played cyberjank yet. might as well wait for a 5090 and try to pathtrace it.

 

[The Stig]

Not sure what defines a generation in my case, but

I'm a PC gamer, and to _me_ Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 is in the top 3 gaming/sim related things ever. In a good VR headset and a stick/yoke there's basically nothing else like it (Except perhaps DCS which is doing its own thing).

Also:
- Latest generation QD-OLED/WOLED on a snappy W11 computer
- DLSS and the AI revolution
- Raytracing/Path-tracing finally in a playable fully working state. We've come a long way back since my Amiga 500 days..

Good times.

I love this

 

[Beechos]

Only the matrix demo has wowed me.

Quick resume is fucking badass. I can have a couple games in rotation where I can just resume where I left off. No more going having to go through splash screens is amazing.

 

[anothertech]

Dragons Dogma 2 and Stellar Blade on my PS Portal. Fuck ya.

 

[PSYGN]

Graphically only two games come to mind:

• Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
• Matrix demo

 

[hussar16]

2nd plains area of avatar 2 blew me away .first next gen pop moment for me

 

[unlurkified]

2nd plains area of avatar 2 blew me away .first next gen pop moment for me

Been wavering on this game since it came out. Is it worth a play through just for the spectacle cuz the gameplay looks very mediocre.

 

[CLW]

Eve’s booty

 

[Gameplay Gods Bless]

I know there have been a few similar threads recently, but I guess with this one I’m looking for people’s specific high moments for this gen (to get recommendations) rather than general complaining which is absolutely called for. This gen definitely hasn’t hit as high as previous ones (can anything ever top moments like the MGS2 tanker or Bioshock’s intro?) but there have been a few specific ‘wow’ moments for me:

-A few updates of last gen games have been really impressive. Playing Fallout 4 at 4K60ish with PC ultra settings and a 100 fov on Series X was great. Gears 5 at 4K60 was also awesome. Finally being able to experience open world games like Days Gone at 60fps felt like a new experience for me.

-For current-gen games the list is admittedly short. Moments of Ratchet and Clank (certain vistas like the first main city area of course the era swapping level) and Horizon FW and a lot of Burning Shores were jaw dropping for me.

Anything else I’m missing?

Path Traced Cyberpunk, Path Traced Alan Wake, Path Traced DESORDRE, Flight Sim, Ratchet and Clank.

 

[Hoddi]

Most modern games already look very good so I'm not complaining. But I wouldn't say any of them have blown me away from a graphical perspective. There's DeS and the Matrix demo and that's about it.

It's those other less obvious things that I like about gaming nowadays. High resolutions and refresh rates and HDR and ultrawide monitors have all made games far more enjoyable nowadays even if they don't always look very different from last gen games. I really hope that ultrawide becomes the next sales gimmick for TVs now that 8k is a dud because it genuinely makes a big difference.

 

[March Climber]

Most recently? Teardown.

 

[hybrid_birth]

Last of us Part 1 PS5 remake and Avatar both wowed me personally.