For me, it's Insomniac Games. I love them. The first ever game I played from them was Spider Man 2018 and loved it. Excellent 9.0/10 game. I'm not into platformers but then played Ratchet & Clank 2016 and holy shit, a great 8.5/10 for me. Of course, Ratchet does have shooting/gunplay and melee combat so this made it great for me. I can't play just a strict platformer. Must have combat in it. Then I played Miles Morales and Rift Apart. Both were a 9.0/10 for me. Hyped and all in for Spider Man 2 and Wolverine!!! Hoping for a Rivet spin off game ala Miles Morales. And would love to see a full fledged remade Resistance trilogy since I never played them. Insomniac may never give me a masterpiece like Santa Monica's God of War 2018 for example but I'll easily take 4 games in that 8.5-9.0 range in 5 years over the single masterpiece in an entire generation.
After Insomniac, it's -
2. Guerrilla Games
They were non-existent for me until Horizon Zero Dawn. Never gave two shits about Killzone. Loved HZD and to a lesser extent HFW. Looking forward to seeing the expansion for HFW which has been heavily rumored.
3. Sucker Punch
Like Guerrilla Games, they were non-existent for me until Ghost of Tsushima. Loved Tsushima and can't wait for the sequel!!
4. Santa Monica Studio
Played the original GOW on PS2 but was never able to beat Ares and because of that, never played GOW 2 or GOW 3. Since the series was rebooted with 2018, I played and completed it. 9.5/10 and my 2018 goty. 2nd best game of the PS4/XBO generation for me. Hyped for Ragnarok but im also looking forward to seeing what Barlog is working on.
5. Naughty Dog
Would have been #1 but im not a fan of Druckmann as he's disappointed me with his last two games - Uncharted 4 and TLOUP2. I loved Lost Legacy which is my #1 Uncharted game but while credited, I know he barely had anything to do with the game as it was pretty much all Shaun Escayg and Kurt Margenau. No interest in the TLOU remaster even though I understand why they're doing it but I was expecting more and no interest in Factions. My wish is that the TLOU HBO series does so good and that Druckmann is so amazing to where a Hollywood studio makes him an offer he can't refuse and he leaves Naughty Dog and gaming for Hollywood. lol
Honorable Mention -
Housemarque. Loved Outland, Dead Nation, Alienation, Nex Machina and to a lesser extent, Matterfall. Returnal is easily my type of game except for one major issue - it's a fucking roguelike which I fucking hate so yeah, that was a $70 digital loss. Oh well. Hoping their next game is Returnal but not a rogue like in any way, shape or form. And side note - you gave me zombies, you gave me aliens but where the fuck are my dinosaurs??? Give me DinoNation!!! Seriously, how tough is it???
