4mo ago

Have you ever cried because of a video game?

301 comments

Outer Wilds. Endings of both the main game and the DLC can still get me to tear up a bit. I saw a post somewhere, don't remember, that said something along the lines of "Listening to the Outer Wilds OST is the only way I feel my feelings any more." It's about like that.
- Yes! I have to try the DLC, I've been afraid of it not living up to the main game's whole thing
  
  Oh, it lives up to it, all right. It's pretty mind bending in its own way.
  
  The DLC is good, but it's different. Quite different.
  And without spoiling anything, let me say that during the beginning and middle it feels even more different than it ends up being, which is a bit jarring to some fans of the original.
  I like it, I'm glad I played through it, but I understand people that are grumpy with it or don't gel with it.
  I think the flaw it has, by nature of being DLC, is that it has a bit less surface area than the main game. In the main game if you get stuck there are a hundred other areas to explore and learn stuff that may help get through the stuck parts, or even just give you a break so you can prevent frustration. But in EotE if you get stuck in, like, 3 places it sorta locks you up, because those are the only 3 threads you have available to you at that time. So it's not bad, but is more prone to frustration and feeling stuck than the original.
  But if you relax, and push through, and in some cases have "faith" that the designers have way through in mind, I think it's good and scratches a similar but different itch.
  
  I won't overhype it, as others are saying it changes up a lot and there's a particular section near the end that a few people I know bounced off of. It will be a very different experience, built on the same bones, but trying to accomplish something different.
  But holy shit, to me it's an improvement on an already phenomenal game, and builds on its narrative and mechanics in ways I thought were really clever. It feels like the other side of the coin from the main game and bolsters its themes from another perspective. Can't recommend it enough.

My partner is chronically ill and Karlach's ending in BG3 made me sob because I was romancing her and it hit very close to home
- Absolutely same here, although I'm the chronically I'll one

The Walking Dead. Clementine, my girl, she needs a hug.
Journey. I will cry every time.
Lethal Company. Laughter and fear crying.
Neon White had a moment or two I think
BioShock Infinite
Celeste
Assassin's Creed Black Flag
A Short Hike
Spiritfarer
probably more....
- Black Flag hit far harder than a Ubisoft game had any right to. The entire fucking credits scene... And you just know they are absolutely going to butcher a remaster and bolt on a bunch of always online micro transaction slop.
- Oh god... I forgot about the walking dead. Lee talking with Clementine at the end. I cried hard on that one
- Black Flag hit far harder than a Ubisoft game had any right to.
- A Short Hike was such a cute and wholesome game, was taken by surprise and reduced to tears at the ending 😭😭😭

Stray had some moments
- The end of Stray killed me
  
  Beginning of Stray: "Oh, this cat game is so cute!"
  End of Stray: [Hey, come see this big, grown-ass adult guy start ugly-crying!]

Last of us part 2.
To the moon.
I may have teared up at the end of Half-Life 2.
- I was full on ugly crying at the end of To The Moon.
  
  Lol, I tear up just hearing River's song, it's such an amazing story. We also played Laura Shigihara's cover of "Everything's alright" for my wife walking down the isle. It's a special game.

"It had to be me. Someone else might have gotten it wrong".
- Oof that hurts

That Dragon Cancer made me fucking weep.
Clair Obscur, God of War 2018, What Remains of Edith Finch, The Last of Us, Bastion, Halo: Reach, Firewatch, Celeste, Telltale's The Walking Dead, FFXV, Baldur's Gate 3, Shadow of the Colossus, and more, all made me tear up.
Can you tell I'm quite emotional about video games?
- Man that's a lot of crying during video games. "Honey are you alright? I heard you crying again?"
  "This game fucking rocks!!!!"
  
  Movies don't hit me as hard, but the medium that is video games really sells the rough moments for me. Maybe it's something about being responsible for moving the narrative that makes me connect with video game characters.
- Finally someone mentions Bastion! I just love that game. The ending where you pick him up... was like chills and crying and more chills.
- I bought That Dragon Cancer ages ago because it seemed like an amazing and innovative idea for a game, and I've never had the guts to start it up.
  
  Bring a blanket and a box of tissues. There is no "I'm too tough to cry" in this game, at least I don't know anyone who hasn't.
  
  Oh God, that part with all of the get well cards. Right in the feels.
- Ohh yeahh, I forgot FFXV was like that. It hits you with a bunch of shit after that one point of no return.
  
  It is an embodiment of "it's all downhill from here," aside from the fact that evil is vanquished.

The last of Us 1 and 2
Signalis
Outer Wilds
Nier: Automata
- I love TLOU 1.
  I am curious what part made you cry? Parts made me anxious and parts made me very relieved. None made me cry.
  
  As a middle aged guy with a young daughter at the time, I cried at the opening and had to take a break before actually playing the game.
  
  The boss fight in the dinner. This was traumatic to me. The violence in this scene feels much to real to be in a video game, I was not prepared.
  
  Sam.
- SIGNALIS fucked me up for like 6 months

Literally yesterday I started playing Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and just the prologue hit me.
The end of Karlach's story in Baldurs Gate 3
- Expedition 33 had multiple moments for me, still enjoyed it a lot
- I knew i was in for a wild ride after the gromage!

To the Moon
- I convinced my partner to play to the moon. The sound of crying was how I knew she'd reached the end.
  The music still gets me a little bit sometimes.
- I gotta get around to the other games in the series sometime, To The Moon was incredible. It's been so long and I don't remember many specifics, but I do recall it being one of a few games that encouraged me to come to terms with mortality.
- this needs to be higher up. to the moon is a gem

Outer Wilds, both at the end and when I found the DLC spoiler character. Good tears, though. It's beautiful

Final Fantasy VII, the original one. Stopped playing it for a couple months.
- Videogame's "Rosebud" moment. 🥺
- I feel old that I was to look this far to find it.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
An absolute emotional rollercoaster start to end.
33/33 would recommend
- Just finished the main quest last night. My head is still spinning. Best story driven game I've played in some time if not all time for me. They really did a great job everywhere.
- The only game I have sat still as the credits rolled absolutely dumbfounded for at least 30 minutes

Celeste is so. fucking. good.
absolutely amazing game in every way
- I wanna finish it but I'm stuck finding all the secret strawberries
- I second this. Didn't cry while playing it but did tear up listening to the Farewell soundtrack on full blast in my car.

When it’s the 8th anti boss blind, you have 11 aces, and you go through all your discards and hands without a 4 of a kind

Absolutely not! I’ve never played The Last Guardian. (Yes)
- Trico may not exactly be a dog, but Trico is still a very good dog

Ending of Link's Awakening
Ending of Rain World
Various incidents of save files becoming permanently corrupted halfway through the game and similar

Nier ending e
Disco Elysium the phone call and the dream
- The call was bad, but the dream really got me.
  
  .s
- Exactly my choices as well, just want to add the "hidden" letter from disco elysium too

A few times.
Most notably, when playing Outer Wilds. I was playing it during the pandemic and had lost two friends, my grandfather and my cat within the span of around 3 months. I was struggling with depression and I got to one specific spot in the game and the revelation caused me to just sit there and cry for like 10 minutes, I was so emotionally shut down at the time that the tears felt like a life preserver. I had to stop playing for a bit, but it definitely helped me process my grief.
I also cried during a couple of quests in FFXIV. The post-Shadowbringers content especially, not because it was sad, just very poignant. And again in the last area of Endwalker, where Masayoshi Soken's incredible composition combined with some very emotional content just got to me (especially the Endwalk, jfc).
I think I cried a bit at the end of Journey just because it was a powerful experience, but I had an amazing partner in that game who stayed with me through the whole thing.
- Outer Wilds got me too, for sure, and stayed in my thoughts long after I finished. The music from the slideshow at the end of the DLC still makes me well up a bit. Such an incredible game. I still think of "the universe is and we are" from one of Solanum's logs all the time.
- Haven't been the same since I finished the game a few years ago. Andrew Prahlow dominated my Spotify playlist for two years following and now I have an emotional aversion to pulling the game open, after having played through it (and the DLC) three or six times over the course of 90+ hours gameplay.
  10/10 would recommend lol
  I had some friends I convinced to play through it and they just didn't get anything out of it. Couldn't believe it tbh
  
  It's no exaggeration to say it changed my perspective about life, I still can't hear Final Voyage without tearing up.
  My sister tried playing it and didn't get very far, but her preferences are for highly character-driven material so I think it's just not for her.
- I was just about to mention exactly these games!
  Outer Wilds' ending was, to me, a beautiful meditation on confronting loss, the ending of things, and coming to peace with it.
  Shadowbringers was along a similar theme. It was interesting emphasizing with Emet, and yet still realizing he's wrong ("cool motive, still interdimensional genocide"). It was a combination of feeling unbearably sad for him, and yet thankful for stopping him. Also, seeing Ardbert during the camera pan in the Crystarium at the end.
  Endwalker's final walk had to have been designed in a lab to generate waterworks. What an experience.
  
  My reaction to both The Dying Gasp and Seat of Sacrifice fights was "Can't I feel good about winning just once?" and then speaking to Seto at the end was full on waterworks.
- I cried for a good thirty minutes when I beat Outer Wilds, such a wonderful and bittersweet ending.
- If only I could replay Journey as a new experience again. There were so many revelations at the end for someone who went in knowing nothing about it that really made it a powerful experience.

Both Red Dead Redemption and Red Dead Redemption 2 made me cry.

When Jackie Wells died I sobbed, well more of a break down. My dad had just passed and something about it hit fucking hard.
Kind of weep a bit of joy playing my favorite games at times and still feel the bit of sadness when they are over.

The metroidvania, Ori series.
Ori and the blind forest & Ori and the will of the wisps
- The end of Will of the Wisps damn near killed me from dehydration

RDR2 of course: I had tears streaming down my face when Arthur said "I guess, I guess I'm afraid." Such an incredible performance from Roger Clark
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbRHOt4EAoY
Titanfall 2: "Protocol 3: Protect the pilot"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6Rdx1g_4bo
The Witcher 3: A few times, it's just a really good set of storytelling and cinematics all around, and I absolutely love games where your choices determine the outcomes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_ZH2qqlOqs
Cyberpunk 2077: When a close friend died, when V had to make a major decision at the end of the game, and when V has to make a decision to choose an ending in Phantom Liberty.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sF68EpmCxBI
There are certainly more games I probably have shed a tear or two or many playing, but those are the ones that immediately fill me with emotion looking back
Also all of these are spoilers lol, so don't watch them if you haven't played the games, but thankfully, none of them are recent releases
- Arthur Morgan is such an exceptional character. Everything about him, the writing, the voice and performance actor, the choices, the character development, all his different relationships
  Absolute masterpiece of a game.
  
  Arthur is by far my favorite video character of all time.
  V as voiced by Cherami Leigh is probably second for me. Playing in first person only, where you never see V’s face except when looking in a mirror, creates another layer of making decisions as you embody the character through the playthroughs, with pretty much every voice line chosen by you, and then seeing the outcomes of your choices (similar to RDR2) is what makes open world story-driven RPGs so excellent

RIP Bloodwing. 😭
- My brother mained Mordecai in the first game. That part ruined him for days
  A different part ruined me. I mained Roland.

FFX. When Titus and Luna were playing/swimming in the lagoon/lake/whatever and being happy. If memory serves correctly, at that point in the game, it was very clear that Luna was going to be sacrificed to keep Sin from destroying the world, and she had accepted that as her duty like the other summoners before her.
- one of my favorite games, the ending got me
  
  Same. It was my first FF game, too.

Many times.
Nier Automata
RDR2
Danganronpa 2
Just to name a few where I really ugly cried.
- Currently at the end of Danganronpa 2. Huh. Let's see.

When I played Hell blade: Senua's Sacrifice.
The symbology and story made me understand the struggles of a close friend, who succumbed to her psychosis many years ago. Felt like more than just a game.
- Playing this game in the darkness with headphones is an unforgettable experience. I'll hopefully never know what it's like to suffer from psychosis, but I don't think there is anything that comes closer.
  ...and I just read that they added VR support. Holy shit.
  
  She was a great friend, with an unfortunate circumstance. If you ever, within your lifetime, become well acquainted with someone who has either schizophrenia or psychosis, remember the person underneath the struggle as they face a constant battle in their heads. I hope mental health support gets better, and it is, however in my experience there is little support for the lasting effects of abuse as it's mostly surface level things - my local NHS hospital has claimed there is no specialist for CPTSD in my area of London, at all (and not everyone is in the position to pay out of pocket, especially when my friend was already staying at sheltered accommodation).
  Many issues in society can be fixed with proper mental health support, I'm just hoping that gets here soon.

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, right near the end. I don't want to spoil too much, but I never thought a game mechanic would make me emotional.
- Game: Press this button to trigger this game mechanic
  Me: Starts ugly crying

Nier anything I don't think video games are silly things
- The final ending in Automata had me bawling. Genuine art, just beautiful and the music really brings it home. One of my best gaming experiences.

Detroit become human, that game is art.

One I haven't seen in this thread yet: the last playable bit of Bastion, if you choose to take Zulf with you. An early example of Supergiant's mastery of interactive storytelling, coming to a head with a recognition of humanity in the midst of apocalyptic war.

Does anyone else remember this ad from back when EA didn't suck/wasn't actually evil?

Full text

Have you even played Stray?

Have never cried because of a video game,
I was absolutely stunned and amazed when Ted Faro revealed what Zero Dawn really was in Horizon Zero Dawn.

Yes, several times. The first one that comes to mind is The Last of Us Part 2.

Shadow of the Colossus. Hands down one of the saddest games I’ve ever played.
- AGRO!

NIER Replicant
Red Dead Redemption 1
Everhood 1
Final Fantasy VII Remake
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 the intro already fucked me right up. Not done the game yet.
Metal Gear Solid 4
Planescape: Torment
Probably more but can't remember.
- The microwave crawl in MGS4 had tears streaming down my face without me realizing it until the end of the section.

Yes once, and it was at the ending of "Brothers: A tale of two sons".
I bawled my eyes out.
Small game, but absolutely recommend for anyone that wants to clear out their tear canals.
- Great game with very emotional storytelling.
  For those that remember the late TotalBiscuit, it was his favourite game.
- This game destroyed me.
  It wrenched my soul from its mortal prison and threw it on the ground to pound with a mallet like a fucking Gallagher watermelon
- I had to put down the controller and just sob for a while. It was such a moving experience.

Yes, lots of them and for varying reasons.
Dead Island's cinematic trailer will tug at the heart strings. Wanted to mention this since many may have missed it now that it's aged a bit.
Just rewatched it, still hits me. The footage at the end is what really knocks the wind out.
- Okay. You got me. Damn it
  
  Right?
  That's a phenomenal short film.
- Holy crap. I enjoyed Dead Island many years ago but never saw this before. It doesn't match the tone of the game at all lol.
  
  Lol not at all.
  The actual game was still a fun hack'n'slah zombie blaster, but absolutely not the same mood as that trailer would lead one tp believe.
  Damn, now I want the other game that they didn't make. The zombie tragedy tale of a family torn asunder. Multiple intertwined storylines, some tragic, some less so.
  Has anyone made a zombie game that is focused more on emotion and mood than action and horror? Last of Us kinda fits that bill but I'm not coming up with others. Dsys Gone had a good story but also heavily leaned on combat.

Twice. Once at the end of Final Fantasy IX, realising who was monologuing the ending at what that meant.
Second one was at the end of What Remains of Edith Finch, pretty much for exactly the same reasons.

Oh my, yes:
Red Dead Redemption 2
Final Fantasy 7 (original and Rebirth)
Silent Hill 2
Undertale
Starbound (because of the soundtrack)
Stardew Valley (because of the soundtrack)
Okami (because of the soundtrack)
- Undertale is on the top of my list as well
- Okami was probably the first and only time a game has ever made me cry. The soundtrack. The story. AND WE GETTING A SEQUEL BABY

Thomas was Alone. Cried over quadrilaterals.
- Oh gosh, it's been so long since I played, but I remember doing the same.
  To be honest, there were a ton of PS3 games that wrecked me. Papa y Yo, Brothers, Journey.

The Witcher 3 is probably the game I have cried the most while playing. From the opening cinematic I shed tears because I found it so beautifully made, I cried when Geralt reunited with Ciri, I shed angry tears when I found a particularly gruesome crime scene during a quest.

The fucking Velen OST makes me cry sometimes.
And I'm only taking about base game here, I haven't finished any of the DLC's... Which I know are fantastic so there are still more tears to cry, so... I think I'm gonna go play just now.

Outer wilds for sure. Halo reach. Borderlands 2. Definitely others, I'm always wrecked by heroic sacrifice
- Man, I didn't expect Tiny Tina's DLC to hit so hard...

I've cried really hard to the track "Confronting Myself" from Celeste, which counts as "because of a video game" even though I wasn't playing it at the time.

I'm crying again now thanks
- Celeste is beautiful. I also cried during the game

Braid's ending.
Tim (the player) is likely the villain. His quest was never about saving the princess but about his own selfish desire to reclaim something/someone that no longer wants him. The game masterfully subverts expectations, making players reflect on perspective, responsibility, and consequences.

The ending of earthbound. I was playing it without a guide and hit "pray" in desperation, and what happened surprised me. It's a little melodramatic but any sort of 11th hour save by people who care usually gets me.

Battletoads motorcycle level. Tears of rage at 10 years old.

RDR2. RIP Arthur Morgan.
- Arthur knew what he signed up for; and I had come to accept what I could see coming at that point.. But his horse's death hit me fucking hard.
- Oh god, I got so fucking close to tears.

The last encounter with Alexander the Warrior Jar in Elden Ring made me cry. What a brave jar and a good friend.
I think I might've cried for other reasons too when playing Elden Ring. :')

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Darkness/Time/Sky
- Mmm, great memories of Blue Rescue team.
  I've been meaning to play the others, but DS emulation is kind of subpar by design.
  
  Is it? I thought DS emulators are pretty good. I've seen a few Streamers stream the Pokémon DS games without issues. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon also doesn't make much use of the touch screen iirc

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