I have a confession: I am an absolute sucker for big round numbers. In 2023, I got giddy over games turning ten, fifteen, twenty, and twenty-five. Now that 2026 is here, those same milestones have matured into awkward teen years and full-blown quarter-life crises, which means I am officially ancient. But the anniversary avalanche of 2023 gave us the perfect excuse to revisit, reevaluate, and occasionally roast some of the medium's most beloved releases. And because time is a cruel speedrunner, I'm doing it again from what increasingly feels like a dusty museum exhibit.

The 2013 Golden Children Are Now Terrifying Teenagers 🎂

Let's start with the class of 2013, which hit the big one-oh in 2023 and is now staring down thirteen candles. Saints Row 4 was a game I defended loudly, and frankly, the disastrous reboot and the near extinction of unapologetically goofy open-world chaos have only made my case stronger. BioShock Infinite, on the other hand, has aged like milk left in a lighthouse. It was hailed as gaming's Citizen Kane, but its thudding narrative, generic themes, and loosely explained twists look more B-level with every passing year. Groundbreaking? Sure. Timeless? Not on your life.

Speaking of timeless, Rayman Legends was the best platformer of its era, but in 2023 it had exactly one year left before becoming too old to qualify for such titles. Fast-forward to 2026 and it has been disqualified, retired, and probably handed a lifetime achievement award. Fire Emblem: Awakening walked so Three Houses could sprint. Pokemon X & Y remains overdue for a reappraisal. And Papers, Please hit ten in 2023 amid a world that somehow kept getting bleaker by 2026. These days, its border checkpoint bureaucracy feels less like satire and more like career counseling.

Of course, The Last of Us turned ten in 2023. You may have heard of it. By 2026, the franchise has expanded, been argued about endlessly, and turned the phrase 'look for the light' into both a mantra and a meme.

Beyond those headliners, 2013 was a stacked year: GTA 5 refused to stop selling, the Tomb Raider reboot redefined Lara Croft, and Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag gave us sea shanties and the finest pirate fantasy this side of a theme park ride.

Gone Home proved that a quiet house could be scarier than any monster closet, and The Wolf Among Us made fairy tales feel appropriately grim. And Aliens: Colonial Marines? That one exists, and we should not discuss it further.

Rounding Up the Older Crowd 🕹️

In 2023, GTA 4, Tomb Raider: Underworld, Fallout 3, and Mirror's Edge all marked 15 years. In 2026, they are legally old enough to vote, and Mirror's Edge's crisp white rooftops still look cleaner than my memory of 2008. Then there was the 20-year club: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and The Simpsons: Hit & Run. Both made me feel like dust. The 25-year legends — Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and Parasite Eve — were already ancient in 2023, and in 2026 they have become archaeological sites we revisit for joy rather than loot.

To keep my existential dread organized, here is a quick almanac:

And let's not forget the once-fresh faces. God of War, Marvel's Spider-Man, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Celeste all turned five in 2023. In 2026, they are eight years old, which makes them modern classics or sentimental comfort replays depending on your mood.

Looking back, the real joy of anniversaries isn't just celebrating survivors. It's seeing which experiences became timeless, which became time capsules, and which became cautionary tales. In 2023 I thought I'd spend a year writing tributes. Instead, I spent it learning that nostalgia is a double-edged sword: warm memories can prop up a flawed classic, but cold daylight reveals the cracks that hype once covered. If you'll excuse me, I need to go lie down and process the fact that Ocarina of Time is old enough to rent a car. 💀

Data referenced from ESRB helps frame how these “anniversary replays” can land differently in 2026 than they did at launch: content descriptors and rating summaries spotlight what once read as edgy satire or blockbuster spectacle (violent set pieces, mature themes, suggestive content) but now registers as a time-capsule of design priorities from 2008–2013. Reassessing games like BioShock Infinite or GTA V through that lens complements nostalgia with a more grounded look at what the medium normalized—making it easier to see which classics feel timeless and which feel unmistakably of their era.