Just for the heads up, this thread will probably have a lot of spoilers. I’m gonna try to go vague on spoilers for anybody that hasn’t played Hotline Miami 2. If you’ve played the game, you’ll probably know what I mean, but I’m going to say some purposefully esoteric shit to keep it out of full spoiler territory.
My pick has to be Richter’s plotline from Hotline Miami 2. One part that makes me cry is when Richard, arguably a god of death, helps Richter escape from his previous entanglement. In these games, Richard doesn’t show up to help. He shows up when someone did some fucked up shit. Richard consistently shows up to help Richter though. He just tells him “run” in that moment and you feel the fucking urgency to get out like nothing else. One of the harder levels I’ve ever played, but holy shit I wanted Richter OUT. I was so frustrated with the game but I just would not stop until Richter had escaped.
Hotline Miami is a series of bad endings, but there are 2 happy conclusions in the sequel, both are direct consequences of Richter and his love for his mother. His ending isn’t even THAT happy. But there’s something about his final conversation with Richard that just made me fucking bawl the every time I played. Richter’s indifference to what Richard is saying. He barely got any time to enjoy what he had been fighting for for years. But when he knew it was over, he was comfortable because he was just vibing with his mom in Hawaii like they had always wanted. He was just happy that he got to spend his last days with the person he loved the most.
His love for his mother can even give Evan, the writer, a happy ending where he picks up the letter instead of the pen. Richter’s plotline manages to poignantly deliver the point of Hotline Miami 2 in one short and digestible bit. Love the people you hold close. Wanting violence only brings violence. The only way forward to true peace is accepting whatever terrible situations you’re in and just going forward.
I could rant about this forever. It was just such an amazing part of the game. What are your favorite emotional moments from games?
In my mind there’s no question: the opening of The Last of Us is absolutely tragic.
When the big brother dies in Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. The game is short, but does a great job of getting you emotionally attached to these brothers. Even through the controls, you control both brothers at once with each getting half of your controller. When he dies, it also essentially kills half of your controller. I found myself trying to move the brothers together as I have for the rest of the game.
Such a great way to implement gameplay into the emotions of a game. It was like after someone died in real life, you keep thinking about messaging them all the cool things you find that they’d like only to realize they’re not there. You just sent a meme to a phone number that hasn’t been paid for in months. Maybe you even start paying the phone bill so you can keep hearing their voicemail. Continuing to reach for half of the controller that can’t do anything now is just amazing.
I was playing this game with my 4 yo daughter, giving her a controller pretending she was controlling the younger brother. We would talk to the characters as if the younger brother was her and the elder brother was me. It was an amazing experience. Then the elder brother dies, and it’s not even a quick thing. There’s a whole big segment of the younger brother carrying the elder brother’s body and burying it. My daughter doesn’t exactly understands what is happening, but keeps getting more and more upset and scared, and keeps asking me why I wouldn’t wake up. That segment fucked me up as I was trying to get through that part while also trying to comfort my daughter.
I cried that whole bit with the controller feeling like you’re missing an arm. So exact a representation of grief.
But the last scene, where the father simply falls to his knees at his son’s grave. He’s been granted his life back at a price no human parent would ever, ever accept. I cried racking sobs. It was so awful and true.
This game is my answer as well. I held it together through big big brother’s burial. When I lost it was in the epilogue when I realized I needed to press big brother’s action button for little brother to pull the big lever. I literally wept as I pressed that button.
People have already said two of mine (Aeris and Sarah), so I’ll go with a third:
“Had to be me. Somebody else might have gotten it wrong.”
Mass Effect as a series had so many heartbreaking moments. I’ll never forget the horror of finishing 2 without doing enough loyalty quests and seeing that final mission play out. For me, it was Legion and Tali that got me. I always sided with the quarians over the geth, but Legion’s death was always just so hard
I went through that whole thing waiting for – apparently – a Paragon option that never showed up, that would’ve managed to save them both. It kinda put me off the series.
I don’t know how to neatly segue into this, so I’m just gonna drop this link right here. If you love Mordin, I think you’ll love this.
HOW DARE YOU PUT ME THROUGH THIS RIGHT NOW. I was just sitting here, enjoying some coffee, truly having a great day. I can’t handle this right now, @[email protected]
Admittedly, some things will never not be too soon.
To The Moon.
I think the game is full of different emotional triggers. The one that got me was the revelation why the person in question actually wanted to the moon. All the mysteries in the game around weird behaviors and circumstances suddenly made sense and the implication of what the moon really meant to this person made me cry. That was so damn sad. It still makes me cry just thinking about it.
Played that one only 2 or so years after my mother’s succumbing to cancer.
That game helped me im more ways than one - fantastic experience, still can hear some of the musical themes of it in my head as I type this out.Art is just so cathartic for some reason. I think it’s just easier for us to think about another fictional person’s emotions than our own.
Ending credits of Nier Automata. Weight of the World.
Nier had some pretty amazing endings, although I don’t know the one you’re responding to specifically. The one where other people sacrifice their save files to help you at the end gets me. I doubt the game actually takes other people’s save files for that ending, but the idea that someone else would give a random person 100+ hours of effort to help another person by deleting their save is very beautiful to me. The fact that most users decide to delete their saves for that ending is such a huge statement on humanity as a whole.
Red Dead Redemption 2 - >!the death of Arthur Morgan!<
Tales from the Borderlands - >!Scooter’s sacrifice!<
Edit: can’t figure out how to use spoiler tags, oh well.
Great shout, but also >!Arthur’s horse :-(!<
In RDR2: the scene with the horse (you know which) also hits hard.
“I guess… I’m afraid.”
The ending of Soma.
MyHouse.wad. It’s astonishing that a fucking Doom level can do better environmental storytelling than most modern games. Don’t read much about it, just download it and play!
I also played Life is Strange: True Colors with my daughter and she was amazed at how a video game can just influence our emotions.
MyHouse.wad is definitely one of the better gaming moments from recent years. It reminded me a lot of imscared, and I’d consider that game to be secured in the top 100 games of all time. The environmental storytelling is top tier, and the natural unsettling nature is just great.
Life is Strange is also a great one. My little sister loves the series far more than me, but I also played Fahrenheit and The Walking Dead early in life, so I’d say I had high standards for those games. Would you say True Colors is worth checking out to someone that was lukewarm on the original? I love the style of game, but I’m not invested in the characters so it’d practically be my first introduction to the universe yk?
True Colors is great. It’s a little bit more personal and smaller in scope than the first two. For myself the first one is still my favourite with True Colors as a close second. If you were annoyed by the teenage drama of the first one then you should like True Colors more.
But if you’re looking for traditional adventure puzzles you will be disappointed. There are barely any in this game. It’s a more or less linear story where your relationships are more important than solving the mystery.
Yeah the teenage drama was what took me out of it. I don’t need super good puzzles, The Walking Dead season 1 had the most ass puzzles I’ve ever played but it’s still one of the greatest stories I’ve ever played. Even with the objectively shitty gameplay of TWD, I got so fucking invested in those characters. I felt Clementine’s pain during the ending of season 1 and 2, that was close to being my pick. Thank you for the recommendation!
The hilarious thing about My house.wad is that if you go in without knowing anything about it there’s a relatively high chance you just complete the level normally and think “that’s it? weird that had so much hype”
all of Outer Wilds?
The big finale with cracks in the screen always gets me crying pearl-sized tears. Even when watching someone else play, just can’t help it.
Also, the scene at the lost escape pod in Dark Bramble. Also, the inside of the Interloper. So many hard-hitting moments in this game.
Exactly what I came here to say! The theme song is set as my ringtone and I get chills every time I get a call haha
The entire questline of Alice (hedgehog grandma) in Spiritfarer. After that, I just couldn’t finish the game. I don’t know why it affected me so much.
The entirety of Spiritfarer, really.
For me it was later when the child crosses over. My son was the same age at the time and when the kid says “I’m afraid,” I completely lost it. Ugly cried for a solid five minutes.
Not one I’ve played, but I looked it up and I really want to play it now.
Prepare some tissues because that game hits you like a truck
There’s a big moment in SOMA that really stuck with me. Not gonna spoil it. Mostly it’s a horror game but it engages with some pretty intense ethical questions and does so in a way that feels very personal.
Oh fuck… I remember getting to “that point.” I was so engrossed in the game that I wanted more and didn’t want it to end. But I was also happy to see how the story concludes.
Final Fantasy 7 when Aeries dies. I was a teen then and it was the first RPG I ever played and the first time I experienced a main character just die and is gone from the game.
I don’t think I experienced anything like that again until maybe Destiny 2 when Cayde died. Little different with that though as they should his death in a live stream about the launch of that DLC. Had a different impact but had to be done since the entire premise of that DLC was getting revenge so couldn’t hide it from the promo materials.
Omori. Finally understanding what is it that the protagonist has been trying to repress so hard and coming to terms with that. That game took some ideas that are pretty much a cliche in surreal RPG circles, yet the build up and execution around them is masterful. The art and music do a lot to fully convey all the emotions involved. By the end of it all I could feel the entirety of it, and it was overwhelming. I could understand why that affected the protagonist and everyone around him so much.
Lots of things in mass effect 1-3
Also, Roland’s death in Borderlands 2 just because the game up until then may have some dark-ish moments, but for the most part is still a nigh-brainless looter shooter. Angel’s ark makes you feel like they’ve hit their important-character-death-quota and then Roland dies as well.
Super Mario Bros, when I learned the princess was in another castle.
Like at least a few other comments, the Last of Us sticks out. Just, the whole thing.
