The Last Of Us 2.
I love the open map type game that lets you explore without filler and lets the world tell the story for a bit, like finding the shotgun in the underground bank and reading about the people in the vault.
I also love the puzzles like finding the combination to safes, fighting the rat king and using all the shit you find in the room to frantically kill em also gave lots of old school feels.
Breath of the Wild, felt like a kid again with that one.
What I really want to bring up though is Sunset Overdrive. A very American Jet Set Radio. Interesting, colorful, punk rock and fun as fuck. Check it out.
Sunset Overdrive is maybe the most underrated game Insomniac ever made. and I think it comes down to the fact that it wasn't a PlayStation exclusive. People simply never cared for their Multiplat/non PlayStation games for some reason.
also speaking of JSR... I am so pumped for Bombrush Cyberfunk!
That is a weird question, but I get a very clear picture of when I "feel like a gamer again". It's when I'm playing more complicated sim/trading/turn based rpg games. I don't know why that is the first thing that came up. Maybe because I can only play those when I have a bunch of time to waste.
Maybe its of those menus reminding you its a game or something. I always feel having a hud in CRPGs or any type of RPG always is this reminder that you are in a game sometimes lol