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Remember when 2015 was just, like, yesterday? When you were still figuring how to beat that one boss, or when you were completely comfortable pulling all-nighters because “sure, work was tomorrow, but how about one more quest?” Back when we were staring at awe in so many great games that felt extremely polished and looked gorgeous, and we could swear we were witnessing the pinnacle of gaming? Well, those games are a decade old now.
I could’ve sworn it was only last year somehow that I played all of these games, but now, looking at a calendar, and in the mirror, my back hurt, my knees creak, and the controller does develop a layer of dust on it. Now, all of these games have aged brilliantly, no doubt, but good god man, where does the time go?
Visually and mechanically, it holds up brilliantly
I swear to all that is holy, that I played MGS V just a few years ago, and yet, looking at the game, it’s been a decade, somehow. This is one game I tried to sail the high seas for, downloading it over the course of a full week at my high school’s computer lab. I genuinely never figured out why it wouldn’t work on my PC, and that led to finally getting it with a jailbroken PS4 instead. No online? No problem — give me this game everyone’s talking about.
The next thing I knew, I was in Afghanistan and Africa, sneaking around in a cardboard box and hoping my parents didn’t walk in when Quiet was on the screen. The most insane part is, of course, how the game is now a decade old, and that insane plot twist at the end still feels utterly fresh. Feeling old yet, boss?
Metal Gear Solid 5 The Phantom Pain
- Released
- September 1, 2015
- ESRB
- m
- Developer(s)
- Konami, Kojima Productions
- Publisher(s)
- Konami
- Engine
- Fox Engine
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer
Bloodborne remains the best Soulsborne game
All we helplessly hopeful gamers need now is a sequel
That’s right. You hunted your first Cleric Beast ten whole years ago. You stepped foot in Yharnam a whole decade ago. That brilliant Gothic-horror art style that felt like nothing you’d seen before? It’s aged by ten revolutions around the sun now.
Bloodborne was a fever dream of blood vials and “one more try”, and what’s even more astonishing is how, a decade later, Sony never gave us a sequel, a remaster, or a PS5 patch. Instead, it was PC players who breathed new life into Bloodborne by emulating it at 60fps with visual enhancements. For a 2015 game, Bloodborne really does well to hide its age.
Bloodborne
Systems
- Released
- March 24, 2015
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Violence
- Developer(s)
- From Software
- Publisher(s)
- Sony
- Engine
- Havok
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate
The last ‘true’ Assassin’s Creed before hidden blades required a level
The last true AC game is older than us when we first played as Altair in The Holy Lands, and that hurts to acknowledge. I remember toggling on ReShade for my playthrough of Syndicate, thoroughly enjoying the street brawls and fight clubs in London, and the ability to take my hood off and put it back on at the press of a button felt so damned cool.
Sadly, it also reminds me of my own age, and the Thames hasn’t looked that foggy since. It’s been ten years since we hijacked horse carriages and felt like a gang boss with a top hat. It’s a shame that Syndicate was never given the utter love I always felt it deserved, because the franchise pivoted into RPG-lite territory after that, alienating a lot of kids who were in it for the hidden blade kills, and never the level grinding.
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate
- Released
- October 23, 2015
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood, Drug Reference, Strong Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Ubisoft
- Publisher(s)
- Ubisoft
- Engine
- anvilnext
- Franchise
- Assassin’s Creed
Ori and the Blind Forest
Close your eyes and picture Ori and the Blind Forest. I bet you can hear the music, see the soft yet vibrant visuals, and remember the emotionally-charged story of this brilliant platformer. Ori melted my heart with its beauty and its music, and it made me cry both at the narrative and at missing my 80th jump.
The rude awakening, though? It’s been ten years since I teared up at that intro. Ten years since we all swore we’d sacrifice ourselves for that little glowing white bunny-like creature.
Ori and The Blind Forest
- Released
- March 11, 2015
- ESRB
- E For Everyone due to Mild Fantasy Violence
- Developer(s)
- Moon Studios
- Publisher(s)
- Microsoft Game Studios
- Engine
- Unity
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
The defining RPG of the eighth generation
You might be on your fifth playthrough of The Witcher 3 this week, or, like me, could’ve played it ten times over, and yet, as fresh as it is even today, it is, at the end of the day, a full decade old. Sure, CD Projekt Red has given us upgraded visuals that make the sunsets even more gorgeous, but that magic of the first time I rode Roach on rooftops or got caught two-timing with both Yennefer and Triss? The feeling of playing one of the greatest RPGs ever made? That’s a decade old now, and I hate the constant yet inevitable passage of time.
It’s been a decade since I made my impossible choice over the Bloody Baron quest, and to this day, I still debated it with my friend over a late-night Discord call just a week ago. Geralt might look the same, but me? I’ve gone more from looking like him to looking like the Baron.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
- Released
- May 19, 2015
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Use of Alcohol, Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content
- Developer(s)
- CD Projekt Red
- Publisher(s)
- CD Projekt Red
- Engine
- REDengine 3
- Cross-Platform Play
- yes
Batman: Arkham Knight is still the gold standard
Has there been a better superhero game ever since?
You know all those YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels you see about how a newly-launched game like Kill the Justice League still can’t match up to something like Arkham Knight as Batman walks in the rain, his usual brooding self? They’re absolutely true, and whatever sorcery Rocksteady did for Arkham Knight, it still holds up a decade later to be one of the most gorgeous, mechanically-sound, and brilliant superhero games ever.
Gotham never looked better, and it’s been ten years since we perched atop a ledge with Mark Hamill’s Joker beside us. A full decade since that finale twist that we had to pretend we didn’t see coming. Hey, I still call myself Batman from time to time, but my knees? They do tend to disagree now. Where’s a WayneTech knee brace when you need one?
Batman: Arkham Knight
- Released
- June 23, 2015
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood, Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Rocksteady Studios
- Publisher(s)
- Warner Bros. Interactive
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 3
- Franchise
- Batman
It’s been a decade since the last mainline Fallout
Could this cryo thing work on me, too?
Ah yes, the wasteland where my son was missing, and I was the Sole Survivor of the nuclear fallout, but crafting a billion chairs for settlements was just as important. The point here, above everything else, is that it’s been ten years since we saw a mainline Fallout game.
We could talk about Fallout 76 and the disaster that it was, and how middling Starfield was since it has already faded into obscurity, or we could just appreciate our memories of playing Fallout 4 by taking off from work early, calling in sick at school, or just putting every minute of our free time trying to avoid Preston and find Shaun.
Fallout 4
- Released
- November 10, 2015
- ESRB
- M FOR MATURE: BLOOD AND GORE, INTENSE VIOLENCE, STRONG LANGUAGE, USE OF DRUGS
- Developer(s)
- Bethesda
- Publisher(s)
- Bethesda
- Engine
- Creation
- Cross-Platform Play
- no
Rocket League is still going 10 years later
Numbers have fallen off, but it’s a rare multiple game that lasts a decade
Car soccer. That’s it, that’s the pitch. Somehow, Rocket League became one of the most addictive and rage-inducing online games we’ve ever played, but boy, the level of polish this game had from the first day itself? That’s something I haven’t seen a lot, especially in this console generation.
Now free to play, Rocket League is ten years old. Yes, it’s been ten years since you first yelled “What a save!” sarcastically at strangers through the in-game chat wheel, and ten years since you felt good about your skills and then saw players on YouTube do some ultra-sorcery with the car you didn’t even know was possible.
Rocket League
- Released
- July 7, 2015
- ESRB
- E for Everyone: Mild Lyrics
- Developer(s)
- Psyonix
- Publisher(s)
- Psyonix
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 3
- Multiplayer
- Local Multiplayer, Local Co-Op, Online Co-Op, Online Multiplayer
Dying Light’s parkour and combat are still gold
Ten years later, it’s still one of the best zombie games ever made
To be honest, the 2010s were a time when zombies belonged to a heavily oversaturated genre. Still, some exceptions blew everyone else out of the water, and Dying Light was one of them. It melded first-person parkour with zombie combat and a horror element that made you terrified of stepping into the night. It’s a game I’ll never get tired of playing, especially considering just how great and expansive its fantastic DLC was.
Now, ten years later, play Dying Light and witness a sunset in Harran, and you just might stop believing in the concept of time when you realize it’s been ten years since you first saw this sunset and heard Ayo say “good night, good luck” into your earpiece.
Thankfully, not only is the genre getting a resurgence again, but we’re even getting Dying Light: The Beast next month in September 2025, where Kyle Crane, the protagonist from the first game, is returning. It’s the one game I’ve waited all year for, but it sure as hell doesn’t mean that I will stop making my yearly visits to Harran and its countryside.
The passage of time is the sneakiest boss fight
Time is a cruel, cruel speedrunner.
One minute you’re shrugging your backpack off your shoulders straight onto the floor and getting on the game, chugging Red Bulls and Monsters, and the next, you’re looking for a checkpoint to save so you can go to sleep before work the next day.
There’s no loading screen between Halo 3 multiplayer lobbies and daily stand-up meetings and office-wide Zoom calls, and with all of these games, I could swear up and down the halls that I played them just a few months or years ago, but definitely not a decade. Time is a cruel, cruel speedrunner, isn’t it?
