Baby chair developer here. My extremely limited understanding of why games don't "Crysis" anymore is due to a combination of budgets, brain drain, and best practices.
Budgets: Self-explanatory. It costs a boatload of money to get a game to look like it came from the future. How many studios have access to 9-figure budgets that can predominantly be pointed towards the look of the game? It's not a coincidence that the best looking games — Horizon: FW, GT7, Ratchet & Clank, Death Stranding 2, Yotei, RE9, Alan Wake 2 etc. — all have the backing of either a major platform holder or a major publisher.
Brain drain: Self-explanatory as well. You know all those layoffs that've happened over the last 6 or so years? A lot of those people have either been scooped up by these (you guessed it) massive platform holders OR they've permanently peaced out of the videogame industry. Why work for a wobbly company like Xbox — where layoffs are more of a when and not an if — when you can instead go to Nintendo or Illumination?
Best practices: It comes down to priorities. If a game needs to hit x milestone or ship by x date, you have to assemble a well-balanced team that can get it done on time and on budget. Overinvesting in 'the graphics guys' creates a measurable mismatch of talent that often results in delays, more spending, more audience disappointment etc. Why should graphical fidelity be a priority for a GaaS game that's targeting every platform on earth — tablets and phones included? It makes more sense to focus on the gameplay, networking features, controls etc. Or why make graphics a priority when there's documented evidence that a better looking game does not translate to higher sales? A 1080p30fps game that looks insane can still flop because everything else about the game (e.g., controls, story, multiplayer) sucks.
You're definitely not the only one who thinks this gen feels undercooked, but — and I could be wrong on this — it's not because of performance modes. I think it comes down to money, people, and time, and the majority of studios struggle with this stuff.