I'm pretty sure I have my top 10 ordered, but after the top 5 or so it's pretty interchangeable.
10. Tales of Arise
In terms of saving the series, Arise absolutely did. It sold amazingly well, reviewed great, and is pretty well-liked. Also this is the first Tales game where the music stood out for me, instead of being fine but not great. It does have the Tales issues of a good opening, an up and down middle, and an ending that's a bit rushed and out of nowhere, and not enough time and focus is spent on the problems there. The characters are mostly good, but instead of developing a stronger group dynamic they focus on 3 duo groups, which helps in some cases and hurts others, mostly Law. Gameplay-wise, Arise has a very fun and fluid combat system with often terrible enemy and boss design, featuring bosses who are impossible to flinch and have way too much HP and are capable of one or two shotting characters. I don't rank it as a series high, but its on the right path.
9. Psychonauts 2
This is a game that does a great job of being true to it's routes as a PS2 era platformer, while evolving into a modern game that isn't janky by today's standards. The plaforming and powers do have some issues, but where the strengths lie is the story and how mental health and how we should live with it and treat it has changed in the 15 years since. Instead of invading people's minds without them knowing Raz makes sure they're okay with it, and these people are less treated as jokes or bad people, but often hurt or sympathetic who need more than what little support they got already. It's the only game I felt that got robbed awards wise, because this is a game that has more heart and love put into it than most other AAA type games.
8. Yakuza 7: Like a Dragon
This was a massive risk for the series, going from a brawler type action game to a strict job based RPG, and it mostly handles the transition well. It has some issues like job balance being out of wack where some are useless and others so good there's no need to change it, and there are some bad difficulty spikes, but right now it's good enough where the next game i feel they'll iron out the worst problems.
Story wise they had a massive task on their hands as well, moving on from former protagonist Kazuma Kiryu to the new character Ichiban, and despite what might be the slowest start of a Yakuza game, the story is up there for best in series. Ichiban is a fun character and I'm excited to see where he goes from this.
7. Persona 5: Strikers
Persona 5 is one of those "Great start, not so great finish" games, and Persona 5: Strikers is a direct sequel to it, focusing on the summer vacation after 5 ends. The story, while predictable, does have a nice balance of the first half giving a shine to the more notoriously neglected party members of Persona 5 and the second focuses more on the new characters of Strikers, but the game never loses that feeling and vibe of this bring a summer road trip between the Phantom Thieves, even when things get serious story wise.
Gameplay wise this is a weird mix of a Warriors game and a Persona game, so many people treated it just like the former and were overwhelmed or disappointed. If you like Warriors type games you won't be disappointed, but the game is much more about spacing, weaknesses, and party member switching, with an active combat system. It's nothing amazing or groundbreaking, but fun and once you get a hang of it it flows well.
6. Metroid Dread
This was a surprise announcement, and the future of the series arguably rested on this game doing well, which it thankfully did. It's the fastest selling and got great reviews, from new and old players alike. Gameplay wise this game feels the most smooth and natural of any of the 2D Metroid games, right away Samus just feels right and only gets more and more stronger in a good way. Sequence breaks are also possible and designed for, and they did the perfect balance of story, putting enough in to give us wanting more, but not too little where it would just be confusing.
My only big criticism is most of the areas look too same-y, where if they each had a theme I couldn't really tell you what it was except for 1 or 2 of them, and that's is where Super Metroid shines in comparison.
5. Shin Megami Tensei 5
This was a game that was announced forever ago, and finally released. Overall I'd put it at the top of SMT games, and there's a few modern developments that make the game really fun to play. Additionally, the maps have changed from confusing labyrinth type dungeons to more open world areas, with a lot of little areas to explore for various worthwhile rewards. Combat wise things feel really nice as well. Things are never frustratingly hard where you have no idea what to do, but you're never steamrolling through anything without a challenge either.
Story wise SMT has never been a huge in your face focus, but I really like what they did this time with a slow drip that builds up to an explosive climax. One problem SMT had previously with Law/Neutral/Chaos routes is Law and Chaos just ended up with crazy people yelling at you without a real reason to join them outside of completion's sake, and this time there's more of a solid reason to side with each logic, without one clear golden path.
4. Guardians of the Galaxy
If any game surprised me this year this was it. The trailers made it look unimpressive, E3 demo wasn't great, and The Avengers game was a mess which didn't help. But after it dropped on a sale I picked it up, and was honestly surprised at how good it was. It divorces itself from other Marvel properties to tell it's own standalone story, and it's really good. The characters are different enough from the Marvel versions to stand on their own as well, and in some cases like Gamora are vastly improved from their MCU versions.
Gameplay wise things work really well, like a more modern Mass Effect game. Things can get a little chaotic, but it feels nice and you're always just one fight away from getting something new, and it leads to a nice pace. Also there is so much cool world and level design you don't see in most games.
3. Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart
The remake of Ratchet 1 was good, but outside of that Ratchet had been mostly left alone since the PS3 era. This really does match series highs for gameplay, opting to switch between Ratchet and Clank and new character Rivet, due to dimensional shenanigans. Inventory stays the same between characters for quality of life more than anything else, and the haptics and 60fps+ray tracing on the PS5 really stand out here..
The only real issues I have is the weapons are not as diverse as I would like, and while they aren't bad, a lot of them do the same thing in a sense, compared to the more varied weapons of past games. Some of the weapons do stand out as best in series however.
2. Life is Strange: True Colors
The original Life is Strange is one of my favorite games of all time, with a good prequel to add to it. 2 was a letdown but not terrible, so I tried to temper my expectations when True Colors was announced, made by the same people who did Before the Storm. This focuses on one small town again, where a young woman named Alex visits and reconnects with her brother before tragedy happens which leads into a bigger mystery. Instead of 5 episodes released over time, this had the entire game come out at once, with a DLC chapter coming out later.
Despite the weird "Psychic power of empathy" they advertised it as, Alex's power is mostly mind reading when someone has strong emotions, with some emotional manipulation as well. The story is really well told and all of the characters feel developed and realistic, and I cannot recommend this game more if you want a narrative game where the choices might not matter as much as advertised, but what I feel is important is that you do have to stop and think for a second about a choice, and the weight and consequences they might carry.
1. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
This might honestly be one of my favorite games of all time, everything is done near perfectly. The story does time travel with hard sci-fi concepts and put so much work in to making everything work and be logically consistent, while delivering it's plot beats in a way a series like Lost or X-Files wishes it could do, you'll always be guessing and even if you're right, it will swing in with some new development that just makes sense later on.
The game is divided into a kind of exploratory visual novel segment, and a RTS level aspect. The former is amazing outside of 1-2 parts where it isn't super clear what to do, and the second is surprisingly engaging, as someone who does not normally like those games.
The big hurdle for this game is that it was Playstation only, but next March it is getting a Switch release, and if you have any interest in the game please let me sell you on it.
Honorable Mentions:
Mass Effect Trilogy
Skyward Sword HD
These two games did release this year as updated versions, but honestly as I had played them before and did like the little changes they did, I feel weird listing them when they were mostly just little changes that didn't add anything substantial. I'd recommend them in a heartbeat and would never fault someone else for putting them though.