Preferably something that's good for gaming and that I can also run a VPN on, maybe something with Geo filtering? What do you all use?
At first I was thinking you wanted a router for cutting wood. Ha ha. As for routers, I have generally only used Netgear products. I haven't bought one for several years because they seem to last. Even my network switches have been working well for years. Yes - Netgear switches too.
But you want performance and a bunch of the newer features I bet. Maximum PC gave the Netgear Nighthawk RS700S an 8 out of 10 rating in their March 2024 digital issue. It's not cheap though ($700 USD).
im still using a WRT1900ACSv2 running OpenWRT. ISP is gig symmetric fiber.
I'm assuming you meant a router and not some router+WAP combo?
I'd checkout the latest OpenWRT or Netgear hardware. Those are your best bets. Then you can pickup whatever WAP you want for bridge mode. The UAP AC Lites are affordable. You can pickup some used Eeros for a fraction of the retail price.
The $700 turnkey stuff mentioned in the comments are overpriced junk.
+1 for OpenWRT
Here's a listing of good router deals for March 2024.
I have an ASUS RT-AX89X that has served me well for a number of years. I got it for the parental control features as well as the 10G ethernet port and 8 on board LAN ports.
There is an updated WiFi 7 version that includes strong VPN features, the RT-BE96U. That one is also Tri-band, so you wouldn't have to use ethernet backhaul if you also set up a mesh network.