Many games take aesthetic inspiration from pop cultural trends from decades past. This can be useful for designers to quickly find and connect with an audience, and can also be useful as a shorthand for the tone and general feel that players will experience in your game.
Example:
Broforce
By very carefully borrowing from popular action film IP, Broforce sets a specific tone while also leveraging the love of action genre films. Basically, this is a way of saying "if you like X, you'll also love Y."
DOOM
In the newest DOOM, developers included a couple parts of the campaign where hidden secrets reveal remade levels of the original Doom. This acts as a throwback to the source material of the game and establishes a *wink *wink connection with Doom's veteran audience. This audience then, in a similar way to how people feel towards other people, establishes a more emotional connection with the developer due to both parties having a shared experience.