God of War (2018)

Santa Monica Studio could have made God of War 4 and nobody would have complained. Instead they rebuilt the series from the ground up, switched mythologies from Greek to Norse, dropped the fixed camera for an over-the-shoulder single-shot presentation, and turned Kratos into a reluctant father hauling his son Atreus across the Nine Realms. It should not have worked as well as it did. The combat is slower and more deliberate than the original trilogy, the storytelling is genuinely excellent, and the world design rewards exploration in ways the earlier games never attempted. One of the best PS4 games made. The sequel Ragnarok continues directly from this ending, so play this one first.