The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

It's hard to pick between the books, the games, and the multiple movies and series at this point, but to me, the third game sort of perfected the concoction that makes this franchise so special. First of all, Geralt's most iconic lines are "Fuck" and *grunts incomprehensibly*, so if he doesn't fit the stoic curmudgeon archetype, I don't know who does.
But for all of the focus on his impossibly charismatic grumbling, this franchise is chock-full of great characters. Jaskier, Ciri, Yennefer, and countless others make this world feel enormous, and the focus on Slavic folklore make this feel fresh where so much High Fantasy feels stale.