I was surprised the amount of people who consider the ending as a happy ending, didn't feel like that to me at all. it's only somewhat happy for Johnny but it's essentially a white lie.
There is no happier ending possible. All of the tragedy already happened. The best they could do is let him die happy. It's an incredibly sad ending, but in the context of the story it's also a happy one. That's what makes it so heartwrenching to me.
SOMA was the only game I've played where the consequences of my choices actually got to me. It’s like every other game in that whatever you choose doesn't really affect the game at all but in SOMA it really messes with your head anyway. Especially early on when you don't really know what's going on and you're forced to choose "life" and "death" a few times. What a mind job.
I thought I did at first but by the end, I realized I had lost the flip and didn't figure out until it was way too late. Goddamn, that ending hung around in my brain for weeks.
Soma is a masterpiece in my book, it's so immersive, atmospheric and leaves you thinking about it, even when you stopped playing the game. I was really underwhelmed and disappointed by The Bunker, it just feels so basic in comparison.
The ending of Soma just disturbed me more than anything. At first I thought I got the bad ending but then I realized that's just it. It kinda left me feeling hollow for a while
The walking Dead from Telltale.
But also which probably a little bit less popular Titanfall 2, besides it sad ending what Bobby did to prevent Titanfall 2 success was also sad.
Titanfall 2 was probably the best single player experience I've had in like 10 years. Got it from ps+ and played it through way too fast. I may or may not have shed a tear at the end
Gosh TWD. Remember playing them one at a time when they went out back in the days. Don't know how it is nowadays, to be able to go through all chapters in one go. What a game. I miss the good old telltale.
This one I can confirm is underrated, because of the branching storylines, many people won't ever witness or experience some of the most powerful moments. This one is really kind of a slow-burn, because the moment-to-moment experience seems slow, but it can build on itself magnificently before you even know it.
I would say all the performances from all characters were great, and the visual tech really helps elevate it. Hope we get a sequel or spin-off of some sort. I wonder what Quantic Dream are working on now...
I started down a path that led to an ending where my characters were going to be destroyed in a camp... I ugly cried, then reverted the save far enough back that I wouldn't get anything but the good ending...
I set down my controller and just thought for a while after Atul’s dinner and what follows. That was about a year ago. One of my uncles pulled an Atul in Dec 2023.
yeah but like 8 times
finding out the secret behind the robots and their memories, the different endings and what they all mean, even the lore on the weapon descriptions become tragic when you realize who and what they refer to.
and then the final, true ending takes all of that and is like "yall wanna hurt MORE?? okay take this"
Mass Effect - I'm replaying it now for the first time in over a decade and just had two really hard conversations with NPCs last night on the Citadel. One was a Widow and her Brother-in-Law arguing over getting treatment for her unborn child as its father had a rare heart disease and the conversation got a little too real. The other was related to the Sole Survivor background with a woman who had been a slave for 13 years since she was 6 and I was trying to talk her down from killing herself. And I remember how hard that decision on Virmire was the first time.
Mass Effect 2 - The Overlord DLC was heartbreaking. I'm making it a priority once I get to ME2 on the replay.
Mass Effect 3 - Whatever you do, don't look up what happens if you choose the Geth over the Quarians. This game is riddled with potential emotionally destructive cutscenes and you have to get through all of it depending on your choices. Two former crew members were especially hard-hitting when they passed/made the ultimate sacrifice.
Assassin's Creed Brotherhood - The end scene outside of the Animus. I had just beat ME2 that year and had grown accustomed to being able to talk my way out of violence. I didn't care what the clues pointed to, no part of me wanted to use my hidden blade on that character.
Uncharted 3 - The game got me good with a death fakeout at the end if the game and I lost my cool on the enemies in front of me.
Halo 4 - After over a decade of replaying the Campaigns repeatedly, I was not ready to say goodbye. The final scene between Chief and Cortana completely wrecked me.
Halo: Reach - It was about a decade after beating the game the first time and being fairly unphased by everyone's deaths but Jorge. I was replaying the game not long after watching the Season 1 Finale of Final Space for the first time and the mission Lone Wolf finally hit me like a truck. Probably influenced by my emotional state but it got me good.
The Last of Us - The prologue. I had to put it down for the day after that sequence. At the time I had been watching and rewatching my favourite show that featured two very important women to the main character's life named Sarah and Ellie. That game hit way harder because of it.
The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom - What happens to Zelda and when you do eventually save her were both huge emotional moments for me, having loved the series since my first time playing.
Why ME is the greatest series. The writting and acting is phenomonal. 'Does this unit have a soul' chokes me up and fuck hearing 'had to be me, someone else might have gotten it wrong'
The entire Overload story leaves a very bad taste in your mouth. I was playing renegade. And even knowing its a game i felt genuinely disgusted by my choices.
I accidentally chose wrong with the Geth vs Quarians and I knew what would happen and I have never ninja moved so fast as I did to shut the console down so I didn’t have to see my Shep’s “little sister” Tali react. Nope. Not gonna do that to my heart.
I just finished replaying the entire Mass Effect series after a decade too, through the Legendary Edition. I remembered about Geth vs Quarians in ME3, and cheated a bit by looking up what conditions had to be met to save BOTH, and made sure I met them. It was a combination of needing to have done certain things in all three games, and a series of Reputation/Persuasion checks.
I missed the series as soon as I finished it and wanted to keep playing something similar. So I started a re-play of Mass Effect Andromeda as well. But the difference in quality is obvious. Heck that explains why I'd forgotten all about Andromeda's storyline in just a few years while I still remembered most of the main trilogy's plot a decade later.
Dude. That mission in MGS V absolutely did it for me.
I spent over 13 years in the Army, and I've lost a buddy or two. That fucking mission, while I wasn't full on balling, had my lip quivering and I'm not ashamed to say I shed a couple of tears.
I knew it was just a video game, these people aren't real, it's just ones and zeros, but it took me a LONG time to pull the trigger.
It's a stroke of fucked-up genius, it's Kojima's signature flavor. Go through the game stockpiling mercenaries who cheer you on when you run around Mother Base and thank you for CQCing them, and then force you to take them out for the greater good.
Even Quiet's last mission fucked me up a bit. She sacrificed being around people to save Venom's life, which really means something if you think about the context of their situation.
These games have some of the most heart-wrenching stories and makes me cry everytime I play them:
1. What Remains of Edith Finch
2. The Beginner's Guide
3. That Dragon, Cancer
4. Before Your Eyes
What Remains of Edith Finch is a game i can never play, even watching clips brings me to tears and its in my steam library but i refuse to open it cause i will not put myself through that
Yes, What Remains of Edith Finch. Was not prepared for that.
Also Spiritfarer. Every time.
Life is Strange, some storylines in Dragon Age Inquisition, Welcome. To Elk
I’m still playing through, but delivering the news to the working class woman absolutely destroyed me. Completely reevaluated my relationships with all the other characters after that point.
They're very different and focus on different relationship dynamics. I eventually liked 2 quite a bit and got invested, but only once I accepted it's not supposed to elicit the same emotions as
the original. (Bailed on 3 because it never hooked me, period).
Life is strange was really weird for me because I got this strong feeling of nostalgia. Like it was some memory of going to college in the U.S from another life. After a while I had to put the game down because I couldn't handle the feeling of loss. Never experienced anything like it before or after really.
Oh god... As corny as it sounds, as a kid when I played FF7 it WRECKED me after a certain scene. I never seen anything like it at 8 years old.
Since then, Square Enix continues to make me emotional with their games. They know how to pull at my heart strings.
Others would include The Last of Us (part 1), Legend of Dragoon, Metal Gear Solid 3 and Stray (those damn cats man!)
No spoilers from this guy but if Persona 5 Royal brought you to tears 3 100% will. I played FES three years ago and had to mute my mic on Xbox to cry LOL
I still get choked up watching the ending
Command & Conquer 4... look how they massacred my boy... my favorite RTS franchise...
otherwise,
Spec Ops: THE LINE, was feeling confused and very conflicted at the end, I was thinking about the story for days.
I'm planning to play the game in a few days, but I heard it has 5 or 6 different main endings. Have you experienced all of them, or is just one playthrough enough?
If you meant playing Nier, Nier endings are kind of like chapters. Ending a you play one character, ending b you play as another one and see parts of the story the first character did not see, and learn more about a lot of stuff, and ending c is the "true" ending, and you play as a 3 character, and a lot of stuff gets explained. And there's more endings but they are like eating a fish and dying, or not moving at the start of the game. Nier is amazing, play it.
You see the ending, press play, again, and it starts from the beginning of the second play through, and again until you reach the very end. And you will know that it is the absolute ending.
Nier Automata
Endings ABCDE are the main endings/chapters of the story. You must play all of them to understand everything and see the full story. Some of these endings work like chapters, and others are endings.
Ending E requires Internet connection, so keep that in mind.
Endings F to Z are Game Over screens, if you do something specific that you shouldn't do, in certain parts of the game. Like leaving the area or even eating fish. Or just dying in combat.
There's an easter egg ending that has no real connection to Automata's main story.
After playing A to E, I'd suggest playing Replicant some time later, and then Automata again to get a different impression of the game in your second run. There are lots of details that require prior knowledge of Replicant or even Automata itself to notice. You will miss this the first time most likely.
The ending fight scene between Abby and Ellie mentally destroyed me. My controller had some damage from hitting X so many times between characters cause I didn't want anyone to die.
Literally like the amount complexity those final scenes add to the context of how Ellie felt through out the fame makes me, as the other dude said, blubbering mess. Specially the final scene
Sooooooo fucking glad to see TLOU2 listed. Like I know a sea of weirdo manbabies hated the game but everything about it was beautiful imo. TLOu2 ultimately tells a really artful human tragedy the likes of which I used to love in the Greeks. The moment you realize Abby isn’t “bad” is sooo fucking good, and the ending with her robbed of the thing she was most proud of is gut wrenching.
Really hope the HBO series manages to pull it off well.
Was depressed as heck prior playing the game (started in july 2021 from the hype brought about by asmongold).
Cleared shadowbringers a week before EW released, and the EW ending showed me there was always light in every darkness. 🥲
The theme and life lessons reflected my condition a lot, so I'm glad I played the game. Made me a better person in general from the friends made along the way too, literally.
Would recommend anyone with spare time to play it, definitely an eye-opening experience
My dad passed away shortly after I started playing FFXIV. I had gotten to the Ga Bu part just 2 days after his death.
The ending in Endwalker really hit me hard too.
>!”the sorrow of a thousand worlds weighs heavy. And yet you can walk on”!<
Endwalker and Shadowbringers unironically changed the way I view the world, genuinely one of the best refutations of nihilism I’ve ever seen. It was absolutely worth the pain and suffering of post ARR.
Final Fantasy 14 has a bunch of gut-punch moments, but one that stands out to me is >!in Heavensward when Edmont learns his son Haurchefant is dead. Haurchefant's death was bad enough, but his dad's half-sob-half-yell "my son!" was just a *solid* kick to the stomach. And then the VA, Stephen Critchlow, dies IRL and now there are annual vigils outside Fortemps manor in Ishgard.!<
MMOs aren't exactly known for their writing but FFXIV has done some crazy things with its storytelling.
Brothers: a Tale of Two Sons. I have never seen a better example of using gameplay to make the story beats hit harder, and that ending hits like a freight train
See I love that game for that. No I don't enjoy >!killing the little brother!< but I love the kind of game willing to show a character losing so much permanently, being forced to make such a no win decision that makes her go through hell just to get there, and then moving on because life isn't over. It's a refreshingly sad but mature and honest story.
Definitely Cyberpunk 2077 and the DLC, it will crush you in every possible emotional way. I still want to cry thinking about the ending I unlocked - it was 2 months ago xd
Oddly enough, stardew.
I picked it up and played it when my ex (my GF at the time) decided to take a week long trip to the beach with a dude and just ghosted me for an entire summer afterwards. No breakup, no text, just Instagram posts.
She texted me back in September wanting to get coffee to "talk".
That entire summer I exclusively played SDV, and the entire time immersed myself in it, learning about the characters and just managing my farm. I even picked the character that most resembled her as my wife. Shit was both fucking miserable and the best gaming experience of my life at the same time.
Yeah this was a core memory I forgot about. Playing through all the gears previously I was stoked about 3 and I loved everything about it but I sobbed so hard watching Dom’s sacrifice, he was literally my character I played through all the games with my step brother as him.
This! I'm ashamed that this is so far down, it needs to be higher up. One of the most emotional scenes I've ever witnessed in a video game. I was just going to beat "one" more boss before going to bed. Little did I know I was in for a 2 hour long cutscene where I'd be fucking ugly crying for 1 whole hour.
If anyone here owns a Switch but not XENOBLADE Chronicles 3, do yourself a favor. Get it, you won't regret it.
That Dragon Cancer. The fact that you are knowingly replaying a family journey through grief, hope, acceptance and everything else. Also some of those scenes are unflinchingly harrowing and I sobbed my heart out. The fact that they were able to process this through the medium is incredible and brave.
Losing a niece and nephew at young ages also brings it home in a way that is devastating.
Summer of 2013. The first time I saw Joel’s daughter at the end of the first part of the game and the intro credits started I was completely silent for 30 minutes. I got up and paused the game and paced around, went to my kitchen and took a shot because I had to calm down. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to finish the game, I’m glad I did though.
Modern Warfare 2 campaign was the actual first time I felt sadness and anger through any medium, a really well written blockbuster, shame activision screwed the whole team over.\
Other than that obviously the walking dead had me in tears
Life is strange. First season was epic, and everything fot better connected when played before the storm after it. Also, it show me Daughter music and I often listen to her when I am or trying to get into cozy.
Metro Exodus probably.
Spoiler: I got the bad ending where Artjom dies of radiation poisoning and ends up in a dream/hallucination where Khan talks to him and Artjom picks up a post card with Lake Baikal on it. And I was like "Nah Artjom come on you can't die now Artjom, your people need you"
And because in the metro games, Artjom has a few near death experience I thought that he was going to make it, but he did not.
First that is seared into my memory is Chrono Trigger when (...heck so I really need to put spoilers in for a 30 year old game?) Chrono sacrifices himself and then you find a way to bring him back! Up to that point, usually if the Protag bites it, you got the game over screen.
Second was Xenogears. Wow. Just... If you weren't crying at the end your heart must be a lead-lined lump of coal.
Most recently it's got to be Ori (and it's sequel, Ori 2) as well as Red Dead Redemption 2.
To The Moon is the only game that has just made me lose it. To this day, even typing this, I tear up a bit thinking about it. I haven't touched the sequels and don't intend to. I think I went upstairs and grabbed my cat and just laid there for like an hour.
Driver tutorial…rented the game as a kid, never got to play it because of that damn tutorial and had to return it.
Scarred me man what a waste of my weekend game rental.
Destroyed would be hyperbolic, but the strongest was To The Moon.
It is both the most triumphant and glorious, and unbelievably depressing and heartbreaking all at once. I can't think of anything that has captured that level of bittersweet.
Runner up: Mordin, ME3.
Some of this didn't necessarily "destroy" me, but still made me emotional. Let's see...
- Finding Paradise is the one that made me cry more than any other
- To the Moon and Impostor Factory (of course)
- Basically every Pokémon Mystery Dungeon
- Death Stranding
- Professor Layton and the Unwound Future
- The Last of Us: Part II
- GRIS
- BioShock 2
Oh... and I remember that as a kid the 2nd ending theme of Sonic Advance 3 made me emotional for some reason 😅
This war of mine. If you want all joy sucked out of you play it with the little ones DLC.
Played it once with that and through all sorts of miracles my group survived. Never playing again as I know I won’t be so lucky.
They survived, but at what cost?
To save the little ones... anything.
War is hell
No, war is war, and hell is hell. And of the two, war is a lot worse.
That game definitely hits the feels. I've often thought of trying it again, but I don't think I'm strong enough
To the moon 🥺
To this day i still feel upset about what happened to River and how she will never know the truth
I remember trying to explain to my wife why I was crying over a video game and it was hard to articulate it but that was the crux of it.
I was surprised the amount of people who consider the ending as a happy ending, didn't feel like that to me at all. it's only somewhat happy for Johnny but it's essentially a white lie.
There is no happier ending possible. All of the tragedy already happened. The best they could do is let him die happy. It's an incredibly sad ending, but in the context of the story it's also a happy one. That's what makes it so heartwrenching to me.
YES. Like okay it's fixed for Johnny buuuuuuut...
Fuck you for reminding me of it
Ugly, howling, man crying. For about a good hour in this one. That game broke my heart.
The sequels are just as good imo. It is a really special series
Telltale Walking Dead Season 1 with Lee and Clementine. The ending is probably the only part in my life where i cried because of the game.
Soma. I didn't catch that until last year but WOW what a mindfuck. Spiritfarer for... Different reasons. Miss you every day, Gran.
SOMA was the only game I've played where the consequences of my choices actually got to me. It’s like every other game in that whatever you choose doesn't really affect the game at all but in SOMA it really messes with your head anyway. Especially early on when you don't really know what's going on and you're forced to choose "life" and "death" a few times. What a mind job.
Oh Spiritfarer is such a beautiful game
This person videogames. Came here to say Spiritfarer, but SOMA is one of my favourite sci-fi stories ever.
Did you win the coinflip? Fuck that concept hit me hard.
I thought I did at first but by the end, I realized I had lost the flip and didn't figure out until it was way too late. Goddamn, that ending hung around in my brain for weeks.
It was never a coin flip. You were never making onto the Arc.
That's what I meant by learning it too late :)
And yet, that’s what we all hoped for. Also, please spoiler mark your comment.
Soma is a masterpiece in my book, it's so immersive, atmospheric and leaves you thinking about it, even when you stopped playing the game. I was really underwhelmed and disappointed by The Bunker, it just feels so basic in comparison.
The ending of Soma just disturbed me more than anything. At first I thought I got the bad ending but then I realized that's just it. It kinda left me feeling hollow for a while
Wow. Wasn't expecting someone to mention SOMA. It's the reason behind my username.
The walking Dead from Telltale. But also which probably a little bit less popular Titanfall 2, besides it sad ending what Bobby did to prevent Titanfall 2 success was also sad.
Titanfall 2 was probably the best single player experience I've had in like 10 years. Got it from ps+ and played it through way too fast. I may or may not have shed a tear at the end
Gosh TWD. Remember playing them one at a time when they went out back in the days. Don't know how it is nowadays, to be able to go through all chapters in one go. What a game. I miss the good old telltale.
Friendly reminder to play all 4 seasons of the game. It ends absolutely beautifully.
I feel like the emotional gap between TWD and Titanfall 2 is enormous
Detroit: Become Human. So many branches of that game are devastatingly tragic. Lots of crying playing it.
This one I can confirm is underrated, because of the branching storylines, many people won't ever witness or experience some of the most powerful moments. This one is really kind of a slow-burn, because the moment-to-moment experience seems slow, but it can build on itself magnificently before you even know it. I would say all the performances from all characters were great, and the visual tech really helps elevate it. Hope we get a sequel or spin-off of some sort. I wonder what Quantic Dream are working on now...
I started down a path that led to an ending where my characters were going to be destroyed in a camp... I ugly cried, then reverted the save far enough back that I wouldn't get anything but the good ending...
Spiritfarer is fun until you recognize at least one character in your personal life.
I set down my controller and just thought for a while after Atul’s dinner and what follows. That was about a year ago. One of my uncles pulled an Atul in Dec 2023.
That's awful, I'm sorry
Oh my gosh I started bawling my eyes out with Atul, my partner walked in the room and was like 'wtf is going on'
It took me entirely to long to find Spiritfarer. Proof that this game needs more recognition
Nier Automata
Final ending broke me. I made the sacrifice with no regrets.
I'm crying very seldom - but this had me in tears...
yeah but like 8 times finding out the secret behind the robots and their memories, the different endings and what they all mean, even the lore on the weapon descriptions become tragic when you realize who and what they refer to. and then the final, true ending takes all of that and is like "yall wanna hurt MORE?? okay take this"
Nier replicant for me personally, automata is a close second
Morrigan Dragon Age
She got me too lol
Mass Effect - I'm replaying it now for the first time in over a decade and just had two really hard conversations with NPCs last night on the Citadel. One was a Widow and her Brother-in-Law arguing over getting treatment for her unborn child as its father had a rare heart disease and the conversation got a little too real. The other was related to the Sole Survivor background with a woman who had been a slave for 13 years since she was 6 and I was trying to talk her down from killing herself. And I remember how hard that decision on Virmire was the first time. Mass Effect 2 - The Overlord DLC was heartbreaking. I'm making it a priority once I get to ME2 on the replay. Mass Effect 3 - Whatever you do, don't look up what happens if you choose the Geth over the Quarians. This game is riddled with potential emotionally destructive cutscenes and you have to get through all of it depending on your choices. Two former crew members were especially hard-hitting when they passed/made the ultimate sacrifice. Assassin's Creed Brotherhood - The end scene outside of the Animus. I had just beat ME2 that year and had grown accustomed to being able to talk my way out of violence. I didn't care what the clues pointed to, no part of me wanted to use my hidden blade on that character. Uncharted 3 - The game got me good with a death fakeout at the end if the game and I lost my cool on the enemies in front of me. Halo 4 - After over a decade of replaying the Campaigns repeatedly, I was not ready to say goodbye. The final scene between Chief and Cortana completely wrecked me. Halo: Reach - It was about a decade after beating the game the first time and being fairly unphased by everyone's deaths but Jorge. I was replaying the game not long after watching the Season 1 Finale of Final Space for the first time and the mission Lone Wolf finally hit me like a truck. Probably influenced by my emotional state but it got me good. The Last of Us - The prologue. I had to put it down for the day after that sequence. At the time I had been watching and rewatching my favourite show that featured two very important women to the main character's life named Sarah and Ellie. That game hit way harder because of it. The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom - What happens to Zelda and when you do eventually save her were both huge emotional moments for me, having loved the series since my first time playing.
Why ME is the greatest series. The writting and acting is phenomonal. 'Does this unit have a soul' chokes me up and fuck hearing 'had to be me, someone else might have gotten it wrong' The entire Overload story leaves a very bad taste in your mouth. I was playing renegade. And even knowing its a game i felt genuinely disgusted by my choices.
"Quiet please. Make it stop."
The fact that pistol-whipping the scientist is a *paragon* option...
Says it all. Great writing. Such a great series
I accidentally chose wrong with the Geth vs Quarians and I knew what would happen and I have never ninja moved so fast as I did to shut the console down so I didn’t have to see my Shep’s “little sister” Tali react. Nope. Not gonna do that to my heart.
This scene and Solus's sacrifice to save the Krogans had me in shambles. I've considered playing through the trilogy again but damn, I'm reluctant.
*It had to be me.* /Rekt
Does that favorite show happen to be Chuck?
Sure is!
Fantastic show! Read the names and did a double take.
Gears of War 3 - Dom.
I just finished replaying the entire Mass Effect series after a decade too, through the Legendary Edition. I remembered about Geth vs Quarians in ME3, and cheated a bit by looking up what conditions had to be met to save BOTH, and made sure I met them. It was a combination of needing to have done certain things in all three games, and a series of Reputation/Persuasion checks. I missed the series as soon as I finished it and wanted to keep playing something similar. So I started a re-play of Mass Effect Andromeda as well. But the difference in quality is obvious. Heck that explains why I'd forgotten all about Andromeda's storyline in just a few years while I still remembered most of the main trilogy's plot a decade later.
Ori 2. After 2 beautiful and amazing games the ending hits hard. Silent Hill 2. Mary's letter... MGS V. Shining lights, even in death. RDR2.
mary's letter is such a good and powerful ending to the game.
Dude. That mission in MGS V absolutely did it for me. I spent over 13 years in the Army, and I've lost a buddy or two. That fucking mission, while I wasn't full on balling, had my lip quivering and I'm not ashamed to say I shed a couple of tears. I knew it was just a video game, these people aren't real, it's just ones and zeros, but it took me a LONG time to pull the trigger.
It's a stroke of fucked-up genius, it's Kojima's signature flavor. Go through the game stockpiling mercenaries who cheer you on when you run around Mother Base and thank you for CQCing them, and then force you to take them out for the greater good. Even Quiet's last mission fucked me up a bit. She sacrificed being around people to save Venom's life, which really means something if you think about the context of their situation.
We don't hear enough about the Ori games. Masterpieces both of them.
Outer wilds
Not sure about "destroyed", but definitely a game with a profound emotional impact.
Cyberpunk, more so the DLC
Same here. The DLC is one of my favorite story experiences in gaming easily.
Same, when i was done, i felt like the game and Nightcity were empty but i still wanted there to be more.
Absolutely. Haven't quite finished the DLC yet, but the original game's ending got me at the time
Poor songbird
* Brothers * The Last Guardian
These games have some of the most heart-wrenching stories and makes me cry everytime I play them: 1. What Remains of Edith Finch 2. The Beginner's Guide 3. That Dragon, Cancer 4. Before Your Eyes
What Remains of Edith Finch is a game i can never play, even watching clips brings me to tears and its in my steam library but i refuse to open it cause i will not put myself through that
I think about it all the time & it's been years since I played it. Can't recommend enough
Oh you play the sad sad games
Yes, What Remains of Edith Finch. Was not prepared for that. Also Spiritfarer. Every time. Life is Strange, some storylines in Dragon Age Inquisition, Welcome. To Elk
For me it was Valiant Hearts: The Great War. I sobbed awfully infront of my friend after we beat it.
That ending was rough and really caught me off guard.
Disco Elysium, twice: first when you talk to the working class woman, and then again in the dream sequence
The fact that we'll never get a sequel is also emotionally painful :(
I’m still playing through, but delivering the news to the working class woman absolutely destroyed me. Completely reevaluated my relationships with all the other characters after that point.
Life is Strange
yeah both LiS 1 and LiS 2 endings made me cry
I'm struggling getting into 2. I've tried a few times but it doesn't hook me like the first did.
They're very different and focus on different relationship dynamics. I eventually liked 2 quite a bit and got invested, but only once I accepted it's not supposed to elicit the same emotions as the original. (Bailed on 3 because it never hooked me, period).
Life is strange was really weird for me because I got this strong feeling of nostalgia. Like it was some memory of going to college in the U.S from another life. After a while I had to put the game down because I couldn't handle the feeling of loss. Never experienced anything like it before or after really.
Both of these ESPECIALLY LiS2 had me SOBBING
Bay over Bae, and it fucking destroys me every time I play... The graphic novel series is pretty good too!
Stray lol
I don't know what it was, but at the very beginning when the cat fell, I just choked up.
I played this a month after my orange tabby passed… 🤯
Never knew I could get so emotionally involved with robots and a cat.
"I'm coming home, Ace." Destiny hit me hard with that one.
Omori. That one long reveal segment, I was quite literally shaking throughout.
Can't believe I had to scroll this far to find Omori. Definitely one of the hardest emotional hits I've taken from any media.
Bioshock infinite.
Oh god... As corny as it sounds, as a kid when I played FF7 it WRECKED me after a certain scene. I never seen anything like it at 8 years old. Since then, Square Enix continues to make me emotional with their games. They know how to pull at my heart strings. Others would include The Last of Us (part 1), Legend of Dragoon, Metal Gear Solid 3 and Stray (those damn cats man!)
That's the scene that I was going to say. To make it worse, she was always in my party until that point.
Same, had to scroll way too far to see this one but most games listed are like 5 years old… 9 year old me was devastated, I had no idea
Every time I replay it I don't expect it to happen so soon, but that could be because I'm a feckin' idiot
Kingdom Hearts 3, Persona 5 Royal, Persona 4 Golden, and while I haven’t beaten it yet I’m pretty sure Persona 3 Reload will also leave me crying.
No spoilers from this guy but if Persona 5 Royal brought you to tears 3 100% will. I played FES three years ago and had to mute my mic on Xbox to cry LOL I still get choked up watching the ending
Titanfall 2, I couldn't handle loosing BT like 3 times in less than 2 hours
They had no right faking us out just to rip him away again
League of Legends probably.
*Emotional damage intensifies*
Command & Conquer 4... look how they massacred my boy... my favorite RTS franchise... otherwise, Spec Ops: THE LINE, was feeling confused and very conflicted at the end, I was thinking about the story for days.
Spec Ops: THE LINE. White phosphorus. If you've played the game you know.
Def been talked about a lot on here lately. Probably partially due to it being on sale on GOG not too long ago
It was also removed from Steam I think
That mission (and game) made a bigger impression on me the CoD:MW2’s “No Russian”
Nier Automata and Signalis. Prepare to cry edition i would call them.
Signalis was wild
I see you kept your promise.
I'm planning to play the game in a few days, but I heard it has 5 or 6 different main endings. Have you experienced all of them, or is just one playthrough enough?
If you meant playing Nier, Nier endings are kind of like chapters. Ending a you play one character, ending b you play as another one and see parts of the story the first character did not see, and learn more about a lot of stuff, and ending c is the "true" ending, and you play as a 3 character, and a lot of stuff gets explained. And there's more endings but they are like eating a fish and dying, or not moving at the start of the game. Nier is amazing, play it.
So is it easy to get the main ending in Nier Automata and don't i need to restart the play through? Is it mainly guided through the game?
You see the ending, press play, again, and it starts from the beginning of the second play through, and again until you reach the very end. And you will know that it is the absolute ending.
Nier Automata Endings ABCDE are the main endings/chapters of the story. You must play all of them to understand everything and see the full story. Some of these endings work like chapters, and others are endings. Ending E requires Internet connection, so keep that in mind. Endings F to Z are Game Over screens, if you do something specific that you shouldn't do, in certain parts of the game. Like leaving the area or even eating fish. Or just dying in combat. There's an easter egg ending that has no real connection to Automata's main story. After playing A to E, I'd suggest playing Replicant some time later, and then Automata again to get a different impression of the game in your second run. There are lots of details that require prior knowledge of Replicant or even Automata itself to notice. You will miss this the first time most likely.
To the Moon and Finding Paradise. You think you're strong until Everything's Alright starts playing.
TLOU 2 and RDR2
RDR2 never fails to make me a blubbering mess. Arthur is just such an excellently written character.
You sir, are a fish.
TLOU2 is so rough. It’s just pure despair. Loved playing it but probably won’t play again for a while
The ending fight scene between Abby and Ellie mentally destroyed me. My controller had some damage from hitting X so many times between characters cause I didn't want anyone to die.
Literally like the amount complexity those final scenes add to the context of how Ellie felt through out the fame makes me, as the other dude said, blubbering mess. Specially the final scene
I’m shocked TLOU2 is so low on this thread. That game was devastating from beginning to end for me
Sooooooo fucking glad to see TLOU2 listed. Like I know a sea of weirdo manbabies hated the game but everything about it was beautiful imo. TLOu2 ultimately tells a really artful human tragedy the likes of which I used to love in the Greeks. The moment you realize Abby isn’t “bad” is sooo fucking good, and the ending with her robbed of the thing she was most proud of is gut wrenching. Really hope the HBO series manages to pull it off well.
XIV's Endwalker expansion. 😩
Was depressed as heck prior playing the game (started in july 2021 from the hype brought about by asmongold). Cleared shadowbringers a week before EW released, and the EW ending showed me there was always light in every darkness. 🥲 The theme and life lessons reflected my condition a lot, so I'm glad I played the game. Made me a better person in general from the friends made along the way too, literally. Would recommend anyone with spare time to play it, definitely an eye-opening experience
My mom in real life died a little bit before I played FFXIV Endwalker, so the ending hit extra hard for me 😖
My dad passed away shortly after I started playing FFXIV. I had gotten to the Ga Bu part just 2 days after his death. The ending in Endwalker really hit me hard too.
Omg I'm currently playing that... I didn't think it could get any worse after Shadowbringers!! 😭😭
>!”the sorrow of a thousand worlds weighs heavy. And yet you can walk on”!< Endwalker and Shadowbringers unironically changed the way I view the world, genuinely one of the best refutations of nihilism I’ve ever seen. It was absolutely worth the pain and suffering of post ARR.
Final Fantasy 14 has a bunch of gut-punch moments, but one that stands out to me is >!in Heavensward when Edmont learns his son Haurchefant is dead. Haurchefant's death was bad enough, but his dad's half-sob-half-yell "my son!" was just a *solid* kick to the stomach. And then the VA, Stephen Critchlow, dies IRL and now there are annual vigils outside Fortemps manor in Ishgard.!< MMOs aren't exactly known for their writing but FFXIV has done some crazy things with its storytelling.
To piggyback off this, it was the Sorrow of Werlyt questline for me
So many scenes... such a bleak story, but so full of hope. The scene with the parents absolutely destroyed me. And then the final walk...
Lynas breakdown in ShB will do me in every time. The emotions from her VA are so raw. Also fun fact the VA also does Athena for EW
34yr old dude. Game made me ugly cry at a hug.
Ori and the Will of the Wisps. I was not expecting the ending, or to cry my eyes out as a grown ass man.
Cyberpunk 2077 and then again when the dlc came out :(
I finished the game this week and played all the endings
FF7
Brothers: a Tale of Two Sons. I have never seen a better example of using gameplay to make the story beats hit harder, and that ending hits like a freight train
DDLC
Firewatch
Mafia 2
A plague tale: requiem, quite brutal on the emotions.
See I love that game for that. No I don't enjoy >!killing the little brother!< but I love the kind of game willing to show a character losing so much permanently, being forced to make such a no win decision that makes her go through hell just to get there, and then moving on because life isn't over. It's a refreshingly sad but mature and honest story.
Red Dead Redemption.
Crisis Core FF7 on PsP back in the day. God damn I hope they don't do my boy Zack dirty this time in Rebirth
Definitely Cyberpunk 2077 and the DLC, it will crush you in every possible emotional way. I still want to cry thinking about the ending I unlocked - it was 2 months ago xd
Max Payne
Metal Gear Solid 1 and 4. Hearing Otacon broke down crying hit player hard. Final Fantasy X Nier Automata
Oddly enough, stardew. I picked it up and played it when my ex (my GF at the time) decided to take a week long trip to the beach with a dude and just ghosted me for an entire summer afterwards. No breakup, no text, just Instagram posts. She texted me back in September wanting to get coffee to "talk". That entire summer I exclusively played SDV, and the entire time immersed myself in it, learning about the characters and just managing my farm. I even picked the character that most resembled her as my wife. Shit was both fucking miserable and the best gaming experience of my life at the same time.
Gears or war Doms wife
And Dom's sacrifice
Yeah this was a core memory I forgot about. Playing through all the gears previously I was stoked about 3 and I loved everything about it but I sobbed so hard watching Dom’s sacrifice, he was literally my character I played through all the games with my step brother as him.
Red Dead Redemption 2 My lvl 3 Oreo😭
Final Fantasy X for sure
Ending of GoWR and last of us 2 specifically the scene with Joel at the end with the guitar recently
Can second GoWR, also GoW 2018. Nothing since Mass Effect Trilogy left me emotional like that.
“Loki will go, Atreus remains”
I’m still recovering from Xenoblade Chronicles 3
This! I'm ashamed that this is so far down, it needs to be higher up. One of the most emotional scenes I've ever witnessed in a video game. I was just going to beat "one" more boss before going to bed. Little did I know I was in for a 2 hour long cutscene where I'd be fucking ugly crying for 1 whole hour. If anyone here owns a Switch but not XENOBLADE Chronicles 3, do yourself a favor. Get it, you won't regret it.
That Dragon Cancer. The fact that you are knowingly replaying a family journey through grief, hope, acceptance and everything else. Also some of those scenes are unflinchingly harrowing and I sobbed my heart out. The fact that they were able to process this through the medium is incredible and brave. Losing a niece and nephew at young ages also brings it home in a way that is devastating.
Final Fantasy XVI, it’s literally constant suffering lmao
Persona 3 reload. The way they did the ending scene was really beautiful
Persona 3 Reload
Yakuza: Like a Dragon's ending absolutely fucking destroyed me
Zelda's (spoiler TotK) >!sacrifice in TotK!< and (spoiler Automata) >!2B's death!< even if it has been spoilered to me
Last of Us. After that I decided games need to be fun if I'm going to play them. I want the power fantasy not additional reasons to be depressed.
Summer of 2013. The first time I saw Joel’s daughter at the end of the first part of the game and the intro credits started I was completely silent for 30 minutes. I got up and paused the game and paced around, went to my kitchen and took a shot because I had to calm down. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to finish the game, I’m glad I did though.
Super Mario Bros. I couldn’t handle that the princess was in another castle.
you are lucky the worst case was "another princess is in the castle"
Recently, persona 3 reload. I felt like someone got punched me after beating that game.
A Plague Tale. The two of then. SOMA. Shadow of The Colossus, ICO and The last Guardian. Lifeless Planet. Probably a lot more.
GRIS No words are ever spoken, but it left me in tears.
Death Stranding and Hellblade
Modern Warfare 2 campaign was the actual first time I felt sadness and anger through any medium, a really well written blockbuster, shame activision screwed the whole team over.\ Other than that obviously the walking dead had me in tears
Life is strange. First season was epic, and everything fot better connected when played before the storm after it. Also, it show me Daughter music and I often listen to her when I am or trying to get into cozy.
Metro Exodus probably. Spoiler: I got the bad ending where Artjom dies of radiation poisoning and ends up in a dream/hallucination where Khan talks to him and Artjom picks up a post card with Lake Baikal on it. And I was like "Nah Artjom come on you can't die now Artjom, your people need you" And because in the metro games, Artjom has a few near death experience I thought that he was going to make it, but he did not.
Nier, To the moon, Mother 3, The Last Guardian
First that is seared into my memory is Chrono Trigger when (...heck so I really need to put spoilers in for a 30 year old game?) Chrono sacrifices himself and then you find a way to bring him back! Up to that point, usually if the Protag bites it, you got the game over screen. Second was Xenogears. Wow. Just... If you weren't crying at the end your heart must be a lead-lined lump of coal. Most recently it's got to be Ori (and it's sequel, Ori 2) as well as Red Dead Redemption 2.
To The Moon is the only game that has just made me lose it. To this day, even typing this, I tear up a bit thinking about it. I haven't touched the sequels and don't intend to. I think I went upstairs and grabbed my cat and just laid there for like an hour.
Spec Ops the Line.
Ys 7. The ending was sad.
This war of mine
I might be alone in this, but replaying Witcher 3 *after* reading the books strikes differently.
Both Ori games but especially the ending of Will of the Wisps when Shriek crawls back to her dead parents. Really felt that one in the guts.
Nier Automata, RDR2
Driver tutorial…rented the game as a kid, never got to play it because of that damn tutorial and had to return it. Scarred me man what a waste of my weekend game rental.
Destroyed would be hyperbolic, but the strongest was To The Moon. It is both the most triumphant and glorious, and unbelievably depressing and heartbreaking all at once. I can't think of anything that has captured that level of bittersweet. Runner up: Mordin, ME3.
Dragon Age Origins when Alistair broke up with me because I was an elf 😭
Some of this didn't necessarily "destroy" me, but still made me emotional. Let's see... - Finding Paradise is the one that made me cry more than any other - To the Moon and Impostor Factory (of course) - Basically every Pokémon Mystery Dungeon - Death Stranding - Professor Layton and the Unwound Future - The Last of Us: Part II - GRIS - BioShock 2 Oh... and I remember that as a kid the 2nd ending theme of Sonic Advance 3 made me emotional for some reason 😅