10 Video Games From 2015 That Are Now Considered Classics 10 Years Later

Every year brings its own selection of great games, but some years are simply better than the rest, packed with exceptional releases, many of which become new benchmarks for a genre and instant classics. 2015 was exactly this kind of year in gaming. After 2014’s warm-up that welcomed a new generation of gaming platforms, the PS4 and Xbox One, 2015 delivered some real heavy-hitters developed specifically for more powerful modern systems.
From acclaimed smaller titles delivering original visions like Undertale, Journey, and SOMA, to live-service multiplayer AAA giants like Star Wars Battlefront or Halo 5: Guardians, every gamer had plenty of exceptional offerings to choose from. Today, we are looking at arguably the best of the best and the most impactful titles of 2015 that not only shined at launch (with a few exceptions), but are widely considered classics a decade later.
The game that probably defined 2015 the most, and the overall GOTY, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt set a new benchmark for open-world action-RPGs for years, and it could be argued that no other game since has managed to accomplish what The Witcher 3 delivered. A colossal leap forward for CD Projekt Red, The Witcher 3 singlehandedly brought the studio to the major leagues, and its long-term influence is hard to overstate.
Packing an enormous, beautiful, varied, and fully-explorable world filled with memorable characters and some of the best hand-crafted branching questlines ever put into an RPG, The Witcher 3 is both an epic and deeply personal journey, as well as a rollercoaster of all kinds of emotions. Truly one of the all-time greats, it's an instant RPG classic and one of the decade’s best-selling titles.
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege has come a long way before emerging as one of the most important and popular titles in Ubisoft’s modern history. What matters most, though, is that one decade later, Rainbow Six Siege isn’t just a well-remembered multiplayer classic, but one of the most-played competitive games across PC and consoles, gathering over 50,000 players on average on Steam alone.
Today’s free-to-play Rainbow Six Siege X has little in common with the original launch version. Even so, it is undeniable that in 2015, Siege proved innovative and distinct enough to secure a spot in a highly competitive market and warrant explosive growth, with countless major updates and rebrandings. Few titles can boast the same consistently high number of active players and online presence as Rainbow Six Siege has enjoyed over the years.
It may be hard to believe, but the last mainline single-player Fallout game was released exactly 10 years ago, and it may be another 10 years before players see Fallout 5. Back in the day, Fallout 4 came very close to rivaling The Witcher 3 as the best open-world RPG of the year, delivering the ultimate Bethesda take on the franchise while introducing new horizons and setting a clear direction for the studio with its deep and flexible crafting and building mechanics.
Today, Fallout 4 remains the primary destination for any Fallout fan, welcoming newcomers drawn to the franchise thanks to the excellent Amazon show. Like many Bethesda titles, Fallout 4 only gets better as the years pass, not through official re-releases, but through a dedicated PC modding community that allows fans to rediscover the game each time they return to it.
A true swansong for Unreal Engine 3, Batman: Arkham Knight looks stunning even today, frequently surfacing in discussions about great-looking games that continue to impress a decade later. Of course, Batman: Arkham Knight is far more than just a visual spectacle, delivering an epic closure to Rocksteady’s Dark Knight vision while pushing the superhero open-world formula further than ever before.
The Batman: Arkham series is often regarded as the best superhero games available, and for many, this hasn’t changed even after Insomniac’s acclaimed Spider-Man titles. Batman: Arkham Knight doesn’t take long to confirm that reputation, instantly immersing players in the cinematic, dark, and gothic atmosphere of rainy Gotham City, paired with a near-perfect and varied gameplay blend of stealth, action, investigation, and Batmobile driving.
Rocket League is another example of an innovative 2015 multiplayer release, akin to Rainbow Six Siege, that managed to outgrow its “classic” status and instead remains a widely popular and ever-evolving title with a dedicated fanbase even in 2025. From the get-go, Psyonix’s game won over fans and critics alike with its energetic gameplay unlike anything that came before, earning instant popularity within its own niche.
Rocket League’s path to success is unique, with the developer being acquired by Epic Games back in 2019, leaving Steam, and going fully free-to-play, which drew in even more players. This move undoubtedly fueled the further evolution of the title, somewhat akin to Fortnite. With its evergreen status over the past 10 years, it is easy to imagine Rocket League remaining as popular as it is today for many years to come.
It just so happened that 2015 marked the end of an era for numerous popular franchises, from The Witcher 3, which wrapped up Geralt’s story on a satisfying note, to Batman: Arkham Knight, which served as a send-off for Rocksteady’s Bruce Wayne. Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain is another example, completing Hideo Kojima’s long-running espionage saga in a truly epic way.
While not exactly a traditional finale for the Metal Gear Solid franchise, The Phantom Pain acted as the last missing link, filling in longstanding gaps with jaw-dropping twists and visual splendor. Today, MGS 5 stands not only as one of the best stealth-focused open-world titles but as arguably the best spy game of the past decade, brimming with emergent gameplay possibilities and unpredictable moments.
While Star Citizen fans have been patiently waiting for the game ever since 2012, another space adventure title has all but become synonymous with spacefaring games of this type for many years. Elite Dangerous launched worldwide in Spring 2015 (after a pre-release for PC backers in mid-December 2014), and quickly became a go-to for space exploration and spaceship enthusiasts, but it was only the start of a truly fascinating journey.
A decade later, Elite Dangerous is arguably in its best form, still receiving content updates and new features from Frontier Developments that continue to enrich its gameplay. While not everything went smoothly with Elite Dangerous’ ongoing support, including the mixed reception of 2021’s Odyssey expansion, that doesn’t prevent the title from rightfully taking its place among true video game classics that are still highly relevant today and can provide hundreds of hours of exciting space adventures that few other titles can match.
2015 wasn’t just the end of an era for many gaming sagas, but also marked a new beginning for numerous developers, including Techland. The zombie-focused open-world game Dying Light undoubtedly started a new era for the Polish studio, marking its long-awaited leap to the major leagues and becoming a defining chapter in the company’s history in the long run.
A rare example of a single-player title supported for many years through content updates and improvements, Dying Light came a long way, becoming better with each new addition and earning fan-favorite status for the studio, far beyond initial expectations. Even the ambitious Dying Light 2: Stay Human pales in comparison to how popular and beloved the original remains today.
Life is Strange is a quintessential 2015 title in every regard, arriving at just the right time and in the right form to become a classic of emotional storytelling for years to come. Back when episodic structure in gaming was at its peak (recently reinforced as a perfectly suitable format by Dispatch), Life is Strange came seemingly out of nowhere, and everyone was talking about it for an entire year.
Life is Strange isn’t just a strong story with complex characters told flawlessly, it is also an exercise in unmistakable style and appeal, producing an ocean of imitators both in gaming and beyond with its hand-drawn, charming aesthetics and relatable themes. It remains Don’t Nod’s magnum opus, and the poignant story of Max Caulfield and Chloe Price became deeply important and profoundly resonant for many.
No, of course we haven’t forgotten Bloodborne, because how could we? Serving as a prime example of a game that only grows in iconic status with each passing year, Bloodborne is often regarded among FromSoftware’s very best work, while also standing as an unfortunate example of an endlessly beloved title stuck in the PS4 ecosystem. Hopefully, the upcoming The Duskbloods won’t repeat the same mistake, even though the chances remain slim.
Bloodborne is, quite simply, a near-perfect action game, combining a unique Gothic setting, excellent combat, immersive exploration, and impressively deep lore that fans are still analyzing a decade later. To highlight just how iconic Bloodborne remains today, it is enough to note that no PlayStation showcase goes by without fans hoping for an unlikely announcement of a remake or even a simple port to modern platforms.