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What criteria determines a classic video game? Do we measure such high praise through record-breaking acclaim, seismic cultural impact, or whether modern hardware advancements have rusted an older game’s original shine? The short and long answer: all of the above. No individual factor guarantees a game’s lasting resilience. From 1978’s Space Invaders to 2025’s Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the medium — a uniquely profound narrative vehicle — revolves around a combination of technological progress, artistic experimentation, and popularity.
As with any list, there aren’t enough slots to celebrate every deserving title that launched between 2000 and 2009. Yours truly would be here all month otherwise, given my fondness for the era. Exclusions aside, the following 10 landmark games stand the test of time.
10
‘Assassin’s Creed II’ (2009)
For a textbook example of how to improve on a promising yet imperfect debut until the sky’s the only limit, look no further than Assassin’s Creed II. And when Assassins can parkour through a lavish recreation of the Italian Renaissance circa the late 1400s, that’s essentially flying. The first Assassin’s Creed‘s intriguing twist on open-world exploration encourages curiosity, cleverness, and a heaping of delirious fun. Players could achieve their objectives by sneaking down crowded streets, swooping across rooftops, or climbing the highest vantage point and soaking in those magnificent views (before diving headfirst into hay, of course).
The sequel’s refinements eclipse its predecessor across the board. There are sleeker combat options, more intuitive controls, and trickier side quests in abundance. Most triumphantly, Assassin’s Creed II‘s central revenge quest inseparably links upgrading Ezio Auditore da Firenze’s (Roger Craig Smith) skills with his emotional beats. Tracking his journey from a carefree young rogue into the Templars’ worst nightmare infuses gaming’s prevailing staple (leveling-up) with a punchier driving force. Assassin’s Creed II set the franchise’s blueprint and put Ubisoft on the map.
9
‘Silent Hill 2’ (2001)
Silent Hill 2 epitomizes psychological survival horror at its most quintessential and disquieting. Deep-rooted anguish and Lynchian dream-logic envelop the titular rural New England town. A fixed camera angle preys upon our universal fear of the unknown, cultivating a blood-curdling claustrophobia where blood-curdling dread lurks around every fog-soaked corner. If this oppressive helplessness doesn’t bubble over into panic, then the bursts of radio static that interrupt an otherwise silent-as-the-grave mise en scène will keel players over.
Unlike the first Silent Hill‘s conventional hunted-by-monsters suspense, co-writer Takayoshi Sato’s story is an early foray into horror games as character studies. The surrealist threats — shout out to Masahiro Ito‘s iconic Pyramid Head design — symbolize a subconscious wrecked by trauma, grief, PTSD, and guilt. As widower James Sunderland (Guy Cihi) reckons with his sins, Silent Hill 2 descends deeper into an unreliable narrator’s living purgatory. When it comes to the kind of punishing, draining terror that lingers like a stain, Silent Hill 2 endures as an untouchable gold standard.
8
‘Uncharted 2: Among Thieves’ (2009)
It’s the opening heard around the world. One assumes that contemporary reactions to Uncharted 2: Among Thieves‘ masterful train wreck sequence had landed somewhere between transfixed shock and delighted awe. The subsequent thrills don’t miss the high bar writers Amy Hennig, Neil Druckmann, and Josh Scherr set for themselves, either. Uncharted 2 defines the perfect follow-up: fine-tuning the original Uncharted‘s success and overhauling its shortcomings into a sophisticated formula. In this case, the sequel in question simultaneously transformed the face of action-adventure gaming and PlayStation’s future catalog.
Uncharted 2‘s blockbuster visuals immerse players directly into the hot seat with all the accompanying bells and whistles: then-photorealistic textures, performance capture enhanced enough to translate emotive subtlety, and pulse-pounding adrenaline predicated on treasure-seeker Nathan Drake‘s (Nolan North) athleticism and quick-witted problem-solving as much as his firepower. Sprinkle on authentic found family heart, and it’s no wonder Uncharted 2 established Naughty Dog as a pillar of the industry.
7
‘Half-Life 2’ (2004)
Half-Life 2, Valve Corporation’s long-awaited sequel (I’m sensing a theme) to 1998’s Half-Life, cracks open the first-person-shooter’s potential. The style hadn’t lacked excellent engineering or broader plots. Valve’s cohesive architecture and cutting-edge craft — seamless level design, crisp world-building, high-stakes momentum, maintained interactive storytelling, and a tone straddling taut and bleakly comedic — just happened to propel FPS’ evolution forward by leaps and bounds.
Compared to even the most advanced pre-2000 arcade shooters, the best item in Half-Life 2‘s toolbox electrifies a player’s neurons. Triumphing over intricate puzzles and brawling enemies via the gravity gun depends on concocting imaginative, albeit plausible, physics-based solutions. As crowbar-wielding physicist Gordon Freeman races to avoid capture, the constant chase introduces one superb character after another, one distinct location — and its specialized obstacles — after another. The fact Earth’s Resistance aims to overthrow a tyrannical, cruel, propaganda-heavy alien empire is the cherry on top.
6
‘Mass Effect’ (2007)
BioWare had already been well on their way toward revolutionizing console RPGs before 2007. Creator-director Casey Hudson‘s Mass Effect marks the turning point where the developer’s dedication to fictional construction and customizable player agency crystallizes into lightning in a Mass Relay-shaped bottle. The space opera’s opening installment feels no less sweeping nor engrossing 19 years later (the Mako’s hell-on-wheels infamy aside). Exceptional writing determines Mass Effect lasting caliber — a positive domino effect spanning galactic wonder, interspecies politics, elite character development, spectacular voice acting, and trilogy-spanning consequences.
The sheer scale of available choices somehow both personifies and transcends normal replay value. Every decision either develops or negates emotional bonds, informs the tenacious Commander Shepard’s (Mark Meer or Jennifer Hale) morality system, and dictates wrenching outcomes. Unifying Paragon or divisive Renegade, the rewards reap themselves. The layered, palpably grounded NPCs are still some of the finest in the business, the extensive lore imposing and fascinating, and the narrative clarity ambitious to a near-fault. The consideration BioWare poured into Mass Effect ensured the care players developed for the Normandy‘s misfit crew.
5
‘Shadow of the Colossus’ (2005)
Among the many applicable descriptors for Shadow of the Colossus, one could call director Fumito Ueda‘s PlayStation 2 original a study in duality. It’s both minimalistic and mythical, delicate and grueling; the fable about a boy (Kenji Nojima), a girl (Hitomi Nabatame), a loyal horse, and an ominous quest radiates a tragic human intimacy that contrasts with the landscape’s tactile enormity. The Forbidden Lands are a misty, impressionistic mural of mountains and lakes, barren except for majestic architectural ruins and 16 enormous colossi.
Slaying these breathtaking titans is Wander’s aforementioned mission. Whether the colossi show a docile or aggressive temperament doesn’t matter; Wander’s desperation outweighs his discernment. As he struggles to haul himself up their weathered forms, each unconventional boss fight is cinematic, strategic, and exhausting. Yet the creatures’ agonized cries temper any victorious thrill with chilling regret. A riveting experience and a watershed feat of soulful artistry, Shadow of the Colossus‘ fingerprints remain visible across the gaming world and beyond.
4
‘BioShock’ (2007)
The first in a trilogy, Irrational Games’ creative milestone is almost as innovative as games get. Directors Ken Levine and Alyssa Finley‘s high-concept BioShock incorporates a little bit of everything: retro-futuristic sci-fi, dystopian thriller, survival horror, RPG, and FPS, by way of Orwellian and Randian philosophies, all polished until they gleam. Whether players evade environmental enemies by hacking security cameras, shooting plasmids, or planting traps, age hasn’t dulled BioShock‘s ability to thematically pummel the solar plexus.
Rapture, an isolated underwater haven created by the capitalist-minded rich, swiftly dissolved into a war-torn hell littered with decaying corpses. The city’s equally mesmerizing and haunting Art Deco-meets-metropolitan architecture houses a variety of violent, infuriatingly commonplace abuses of power: lack of consent, exploiting the innocent, achieving wealth disparity at any cost. BioShock‘s black-and-white ethical dilemmas test players’ limits and twist their rationales into existential knots. Leave it to one of history’s seminal twists — a heart-stopping moment only this medium can manage — to summarize it all.
3
‘Portal’ (2007)
Who knew a non-horror puzzle game could be so sublimely sinister? Let’s all express our gratitude to Valve’s tiny team, spearheaded by creator-designer Kim Swift and co-writers Erik Wolpaw and Chet Faliszek, for Portal‘s contributions to gaming — and, yes, meme — legend. Similar to Half-Life, Portal fuses a deceptively straightforward premise with tactical mechanics and fluid design. Despite Portal occurring within a side pocket of Half-Life‘s universe, however, this little game that could is altogether exhilarating, ingenious, and not-quite classifiable.
Portal‘s effortless tonal tightrope juxtaposes between mystery, intense unease escalating in tandem with the challenging puzzles, and the acerbic GLaDOS‘ (Ellen McLain) morbid, deadpan, sidesplitting comedy. Aperture Science’s sterile rooms are dispassionate and hostile to the eye. The compact pacing justifies the phrase “less is more.” From beginning to end and every white-walled corner in between, Portal deserved its immediate induction into the hall of fame.
2
‘Resident Evil 4’ (2005)
Writer-director Shinji Mikami supervises Resident Evil‘s swing toward action-based horror. The risk could’ve broken a proven model. Instead, Resident Evil 4 revitalizes an already defining title in survival horror before the series could potentially descend into cookie-cutter imitation. Villagers infected by a parasitic cult replace the scheming Umbrella Corporation, rookie Leon S. Kennedy (Paul Mercier) returns as a competent badass (to put it bluntly) on a rescue mission, and players ward off a frenzied onslaught of enemies while navigating an overhauled camera placement, to boot.
Resident Evil‘s influence reverberates through the industry to a formidable, almost incalculable degree. Over-the-shoulder perspectives have become the third-person-shooter’s bread and butter, as has the variety of melee and ranged attacks and turning nearby objects into resources. Capcom builds this assured change upon Resident Evil‘s foundational tenets: intensity, tension, precise inventory management, escaping by the skin of one’s teeth, and a few over-the-top zombies for good measure. Flash-forward 21 years, and the world still reveres Resident Evil 4 as the pinnacle of an ever-adaptable franchise.
1
‘The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask’ (2000)
Following an achievement as significant as The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time would never be easy. Nintendo delivering two back-to-back masterpieces, the second within two years’ time, is jaw-dropping. Majora’s Mask breaks from the series’ fantasy-adventure tradition with an experimental conceit suffused with surprisingly mournful gravitas and wonderful weirdness. Trapping Link inside an apocalyptic time-loop framework also lends the sixth Zelda installment subversive efficiency, urgency, creative flair, and an affecting payoff.
Even though a Zelda experience wouldn’t be complete without dungeons, geography, and mythology galore, making progress within Majora’s Mask isn’t that fantastical or thrilling. Link gradually earns each breakthrough by learning from failure or investing precious hours in an NPC’s impermanent happiness. His visceral journey grapples with the bittersweet sides of identity, sacrifice, and the inevitable of death; the specter of Termina’s moon and its looming carnage blankets his every step. Even the masks Link collects carry a somber-to-agonizing cost. Games rarely arrive bolder or better than this timeless epic.
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Kelcie Mattson
Almontather Rassoul
