The 2000s marked the beginning of a new millennium and the dawn of a new era in gaming. Consoles like the PlayStation 2 and Xbox pushed video games past their limits, which led to games that never would have been possible in the ’90s. It was an exciting time to be a gamer, and the future of the medium felt bright.
Many major franchises, like God of War and Devil May Cry, got their start in the 2000s, and long-running series like Final Fantasy were able to reach new heights. Some of the best games of all time were released in this era, and even smaller titles left a lasting impact. From couch co-op classics to boundary-breaking JRPGs, these iconic games defined 2000s gaming.
10 Castle Crashers Showed the Potential of Xbox Live Arcade
Release Date: Aug. 27, 2008
The 2000s saw indie games explode in popularity, with platforms like Xbox Live Arcade making it easier than ever for smaller games to find an audience. One of the best examples of that is Castle Crashers, a beat-’em-up game that became one of the platform’s biggest hits.
Not only is Castle Crashers a great example of how indies reshaped gaming in the 2000s, but it shows the influence of Newgrounds, an indie game and animation site that was huge in the early aughts. All of Castle Crashers‘ music was created by Newgrounds members, and its visuals are right in line with flash games found on the platform.
9 Animal Crossing Made 2000s Gaming Feel Cozy
Release Date: Apr.14, 2001
In the ’80s and ’90s, most video games revolved around combat, but titles like Animal Crossing proved gaming could be much cozier. The Nintendo franchise debuted in Japan in 2001, when it was released on the N64, and a GameCube port was released worldwide not long after. Its focus on home decorating and building friendships was novel at the time, but it went on to inspire countless games.
Animal Crossing also synced its game world to the real-world clock, a feature that felt revolutionary when the game first released. The franchise continued to define gaming throughout the 2000s, with titles like 2005’s Animal Crossing: Wild World encouraging people to play games together without competing against each other.
8 Final Fantasy X Took JRPGs in a Bold New Direction
Release Date: July 19, 2001
Final Fantasy is one of the biggest franchises in JRPG history, so it’s no surprise that this early 2000s title took the genre in a new direction. While the previous title, FFIX, was a blast from the past, Final Fantasy X gave gamers a taste of the future, adding features that had never been seen in the series before, like voice acting.
It was also a visual powerhouse that transitioned the series into fully 3D environments, with characters rendered in much greater detail than ever before. Final Fantasy X even pushed boundaries with its emphasis on romance, with Tidus and Yuna having the first onscreen kiss in the series.
7 Devil May Cry Proved That the 2000s Were All About Style
Release Date: Aug. 23, 2001
Devil May Cry was originally intended to be a new entry in the Resident Evil franchise, but when director Hideki Kamiya decided to focus on the coolness of the main character, it became its own thing and wound up spawning a hugely successful franchise. While Devil May Cry has its roots in hack-and-slash games, its focus on flashy combos and style made it into something totally new.
Dante’s adventures set the tone for 2000s action games, and its free-flowing gameplay continues to inspire countless titles to this day. Devil May Cry has even been cited as the first character action game, a genre that includes titles like the 2000s Ninja Gaiden games and Bayonetta.
6 Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 Had the Ultimate 2000s Game Soundtrack
Release Date: Sept. 19, 2000
The Tony Hawk’s series debuted in 1999, but it quickly came to define 2000s gaming. Extreme sports surged in popularity during the Y2K era, and the THPS games had soundtracks packed with licensed songs that captured music trends, like the shift from bubblegum pop to punk rock. The best example of this might be Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2, which featured bands like Bad Religion and Millencolin.
THPS 2 also helped usher in a new wave of arcade-style sports games that prioritized fun over realism, like the SSX series. It remains a cultural touchstone of the 2000s to this day, with a rebellious energy that shone a mirror on youth cuture at the time.
5 Portal Redefined Puzzle Games
Release Date: Oct. 10, 2007
Portal was inescapable in the latter half of the 2000s, with lines like “The cake is a lie” quickly becoming some of the most iconic gaming quotes of all time. While Portal spawned plenty of memes, it was also a revolutionary puzzle game that took a simple concept, portals, and used it to force players to think in new ways.
The Valve game was set in the Half-Life universe and had a first-person view, but the portal gun made it completely different from the shooters that were dominating the landscape at the time. Portal‘s deep mechanics and dark humor went on to inspire many other puzzle games, like The Talos Principle.
4 God of War Became One of PlayStation’s Biggest Brands
Release Date: Mar. 22, 2005
It’s hard to imagine gaming without Kratos. While the former Spartan warrior got a new look and a focus on fatherhood in 2018, the original 2005 game had an over-the-top vibe that was perfect for the 2000s. God of War was an ultra-violent action game with flashy combos and QTE that would make many players wince.
In the ’90s, gaming was primarily targeted toward kids, but the mature content in God of War helped prove that adults loved games too. 2005’s God of War wound up selling more than 4.6 million copies and convinced many other games to kick the violence up a notch.
3 Half-Life 2 Was the Game That Launched Steam
Release Date: Nov. 16, 2004
Half-Life 2 is widely considered one of the best games ever made, but its influence goes far beyond that, and many would argue that the Valve title changed gaming forever. It was the first major game released on Steam and proved that there was a huge market for digital games in the 2000s.
On top of that, Valve created the Source Engine for Half-Life 2, which was used for everything from Team Fortress 2 to The Stanley Parable. Half-Life 2 also led to the creation of Garry’s Mod, a physics-based sandbox game that inspired countless games and even led to the creation of the infamous Skibidi Toilet.
2 Resident Evil 4 Was the Definitive GameCube Game
Release Date: Jan. 11, 2005
No one could have predicted that a third-party GameCube title would reshape gaming, but Resident Evil 4 did exactly that. The landmark survival horror game debuted as a GameCube exclusive thanks to a partnership between Capcom and Nintendo, and it proved to be one of the most important titles in gaming history.
Resident Evil 4 took the franchise in a new direction by switching from a fixed camera to a dynamic, over-the-shoulder camera. It was an innovation that transformed both the survival horror genre and gaming as a whole, becoming the new standard for action games. RE4‘s other features, like interactive cutscenes, also proved that 2000s games were constantly finding ways to catch players off guard.
1 Grand Theft Auto III Was the Ultimate Open-World Sandbox
Release Date: Oct. 23, 2001
One of the most exciting things about gaming in the 2000s was how much freedom it offered players. There’s no better example of that than Grand Theft Auto III, an open-world sandbox that let players freely roam an entire city, something that was virtually unheard of at the time. The Rockstar game was a lightning rod for controversy, but the irreverent take on the criminal underworld proved to be a hit with gamers.
Grand Theft Auto III sold more than 14.5 million copies, and the franchise has only gotten bigger and better since then. Open-world games had been around since the ’80s, but GTA III proved that players could do so much more in the 2000s, like freely interacting with Liberty City’s inhabitants. That level of immersion didn’t seem possible in the ’90s, and GTA III raised the bar for games for the rest of the decade.
Grand Theft Auto 3
- Released
- October 23, 2001
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood, Strong Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Rockstar Games
- Publisher(s)
- Rockstar Games
