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?
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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 cross deep water and to pull the big lever. I literally wept as I pressed that button.
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.
The end of Half Life 2 Episode 2 before HL:Alyx retconned it - that fade to black with Alyx sobbing 😭
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.
Ending credits of Nier Automata. Weight of the World.
Finding Ciri in Witcher 3.
Dragon Quest 11.
The little mermaid side story was sad. Then, I spent the entire second act just grinding along to get the best character in my party back only to end up super depressed about it when that didn’t happen.
The final dream in Disco Elysium. After picking up clues all game about your past, your broken relationship and the reasons you are the way you are, the heart wrenching emotional impact had me reeling. Not mention it’s written and voice-acted beautifully.
Suddenly everything makes sense as Harry gets constantly dressed-down, his futile attempts to cling to the past denied and his insanity laid bare. The letter in the ledger, the little Headless FALN rider figurine, the obsession with Dolores Dei, that awful phonecall on the payphone, everything comes together in a beautiful climax of absolute sadness, ending on that devastating final line:
"This is real darkness. It’s not death, or war, or child molestation. Real darkness has love for a face. The first death is in the heart, Harry.
See you tomorrow"
For me, it was the Precarious World thought, and again after the final cut released with the Communist quest ending.
::: “How not to lose? It is impossible not to. The world is balanced on the edge of a knife. It’s a game of frayed nerves. You’re pushed on by numbers and punitive measures: pain, rejection, and unpaid bills. You can either play or you can crawl under a boat and waste away – turn into salt or a flock of seagulls. Your enemies would love that. Or you can fight. The only way to load the dice is to keep on fighting.” :::
And more succinctly
::: “In the dark times, should the stars also go out?” :::
I’ve been struggling off and on with depression for the better part of my life, and each time I read these it just hits me like a sack of bricks. The recontextualization of the struggle.
When Aloy’s adopted father dies in Horizon Zero Dawn.
In my mind there’s no question: the opening of The Last of Us is absolutely tragic.
The beginning of The Last of Us.
The end of Final Fantasy X.
The entirety of disc 3 of Final Fantasy VIII.
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.
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 :-(!<
Rosalina’s story in Super Mario Galaxy.
I haven’t played the second version, so idk if it’s there.
The entire hour-or-so-long finale sequence of Tears of the Kingdom is ASTOUNDINGLY good. It hits ALL emotions: fear, joy, suspense, sorrow, elation. Also, the Dragon Tears Quest throughout the regular game.
The Dream No More ending of Hollow Knight. I felt that in my soul. Largely due to the musical score.
The ending of Outer Wilds made me feel an emotion I really had trouble describing. Bittersweet, maybe? Mixed with awe? Same for the DLC ending, but with a distinctly more sorrowful vibe.
Subnautica had me literally drop my jaw, with the Sunbeam questline, midway-through the game.
Plus more that have already been mentioned.
