I've been trying to avoid this place but the wider internet is filled with casual echo chambers, absolutely disgusting clueless normies dominate even more than here, and I also got banned from a place or two for rightfully calling people retards
So, 2000-2024?
Almost nothing, everything worthwhile is multiplatform or was at some point ported to PC (e.g Ninja Gaiden, Dark Souls, Resident Evil 4, Devil May Cry, Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners), or is otherwise sellout retard-pandering shit (e.g TLOU, Gears of War, FF7 Remake), or "good for what it is but not really worth the time" (Bloodborne, Ghost of Tsushima). There is only one console game on my radar from this timeframe I await to come to PC (or I otherwise lack the resources to emulate) and that is the obscure little AA PS3 production "Dead Nation", which is only notable as a co-op game. For the most part, you'll find decent quality in the PS2, but even then that was a slight decline over the 90s. Some gems though. The Xbox has almost nothing good exclusive to offer, that was the sellout PC dev machine. If you want good quality console games you have to mostly look to the 90s, particularly the PS1 and to a lesser extent the SNES. Sega consoles if you like arcade shit. N64 not so much but it has a small selection of good titles, most ported to the PC already.
Here, I'll give you my top ten PS2 games, in no particular order & excluding ports from PC:
Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams (Hack & Slash lite RPG)
Devil May Cry 1 (Hack & Slash)
Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven (Stealth)
Final Fantasy X or X-2 (JRPG)
Resident Evil 4 (Third Person Shooter)
Manhunt (Stealth)
GUN (Open World Third Person Shooter)
Metal Gear Solid 3 (Action-Stealth)
Need for Speed: Underground 2 (Racing)
GTA: Vice City or San Andreas (Open World Mayhem)
Honorable Mentions for The Punisher and Hitman: Blood Money
Don't play the Final Fantasy games. While still variably good on their own merit they're a drop in standards from the 90s FF games (did you expect otherwise? 90s is king).
Metal Gear Solid 3 is better than you might think or have heard, if you're unfamiliar with the series. The gameplay, when it is actually there, is quite solid, good depth.
The original Devil May Cry is still the best DMC game, don't listen to cucks that claim otherwise. As an overall package it rocks. And it oozes quality non-cringey style by comparison.
Need for Speed UG2 will probably always be my favorite racing game for all its many nuances. Just be sure to play on hard mode and enable manual gear shifting so you don't fall asleep (racing games aren't very engaging. This is one of few that broke the mold).
GUN is better than Red Dead Redemption shit if you favor gameplay over cinematics, though it told a solid story in its own right. Its only crime is it was short (12 hours maybe, not bad at all. Not 40 hours of cinematics and otherwise retarded gameplay like RDR2).
Manhunt is simply a must-play stealth game, though is let down by lock-on shooting garbage in the latter third (you can force manual aiming, but the execution isn't ideal).
Onimusha: DoD is a wonderful, unique game. A bit weird stylistically, even for a Japanese game, but no big deal. Is let down by a singular, somewhat major thing (chain critical spam), but all around worth playing. Fun RPG elements, engaging puzzles, pretty good flawed combat, level design isn't half bad, quirky as hell story, some pretty good music.
Those two GTA games were the last good games in the series. Well, probably the ONLY good games in the series, and I started with the original. I can't really stomach them these days though, as my standards have been even more refined over the years. Maybe with mods but I've looked into it and not much progress seems to have been made in regards to gameplay. Typical graphics whoring shit.
Tenchu 3 was quite a step up mechanically & technically from the 90s games, but lost a significant touch of style, especially the music which in the first game is an absolute masterpiece. Still a must-play stealth game and probably the best game in the series regardless. A rare case of PS2 incline over PS1, even if two steps forward one back.
Resident Evil 4 is Resident Evil 4. If you haven't played it yet you must have been living under a rock.
A common theme with almost all these games is REALISM over abstract gameplay and concepts. But as I mentioned before, it wasn't overbearing/gameplay didn't become redundant until the next generation. PS2 is still good in my book.
