That's all nice, but is that what you really look forward to as a gamer? Do games like Amid Evil or Dusk excite you? I don't think so. It's great that they exist and they are fun to play, but they are a different world as an experience when compared to something truly groundbreaking we used to get.
Indie approach works much better in different areas like music for example. You can offer "AAA" quality
without compromises, you just cater to a different audience. But you can't make an indie movie like Terminator 2. I think it's the same with gaming industry.
Indie approach sounds much healthier, of course. That AAA bullshit we hear about is pure evil sometimes. But you just CAN'T do some things with few people and without money today. So...I'guess we'll have to wait for different times.
All the games listed here are cool games, nothing wrong with them. But I don't think you'll be talking about them in a few years. Just a quick look at Quake 2 remaster made me realize what we were getting back in the day, a true pc focused fps games made for mouse and keyboard, pushing tech to new heights. And every famous FPS did that in a certain way, we all have our favourites.
Kids who grew up with Half-life, Quake, Unreal are in their 30s/40s now. Where are new John Carmacks and Gabe Newells of this industry? We should be getting something completely new and groundbreaking from new generation of developers, but we're not. Things have changed way too much and it really bugs me when someone says we're in golden age, renaissance or anything similar.