[PedroBatista]

IMO for a significant amount of games, isometric is the best way to display them as it emphasizes the dimensions of things, makes for a clear navigation and general awareness of what's going on.

Also not really an issue these days, but I think it's still somewhat valid: In a controlled isometric projection where the angles are fixed, you can focus on making the art just pixel perfect, shadows and lighting being also a big part. This makes it possible to make your game look good with a fraction of the budget. In many cases, depending on the style, you still want to model and render the stuff in 3D and use hugely advanced renderers ( now GPUs/game engines have realtime ray-tracing, global illumination, subsurface scattering, advanced shadows, etc. but still, you can get most of the look by rendering it offline and just present sprites in a "2.5D" isometric projection and they'll look amazing at a fraction of the cost for both a game studio and the gamers who have to run that )

Of course there is also a great deal of nostalgia, but I would not discount the current trends of "going back to the basics" as just "nostalgia".

I remember a YouTube video talking about this and I think it's this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rs4B8-qoY1I