Oh, yes, agreed! Should be determined on a case-by-case basis, and the parents should always be the ones to have final say. As you’ve offered this example, I’d offer the flipside, there may be things inappropriate for some children even if they meet age requirements! And, again, down to their parents’ best judgement!

Same as yourself, I’ve been trickle-fed more mature stuff as I was growing up. I was lucky enough that mum actually took an interest and at least gathered some superficial information about the stuff I wanted to try out, to determine if yes or no. For instance, she got me the Serious Sam games and GTA III as I entered 6th grade, and they were perfect! Until then, it was mostly old platformers, cute puzzlers and point-and-click adventures, to get used to computers. As soon as she noticed I started listening to more mature (i.e. edgy) music and showing interest in more complex books, she considered I was mature enough to handle games!

As a counterexample, I walked in on her watching Alien when I was three, and I suffered from night terrors for a good couple of years afterwards!

Of course, it must be said that games are VERY different now than they were back then, with the addictive elements being reinforced in order to squeeze Whales and get players hooked on the ecosystem… GTA III was literally child’s play compared to the hellscape that is GTA Online, for instance…

Edit: then again, if I hadn’t been traumatised by Alien, I wouldn’t have developed a fixation with horror and the grotesque, and would have missed out on so much hidden beauty!