For me, in no particular order:
- Firewatch
- This War of Mine
- What Remains of Edith Finch
- Gone Home
- Papers Please
- Doki Doki Literature Club
- I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream
The Witcher 3. Sometimes there were no good choices to make and one had to choose the better of two bad outcomes. Sometimes the obvious good choice led to bad things happening to a village. That game was a rollercoaster of emotions.
I also second This War of Mine.
I fell into a week long depression after finishing the game for the first time. For me the Witcher 3 is the best story you’ll find in a game, period.
Arguably the best story telling in a game. Each side quest was given a lot of attention to detail and never felt like any were copy-paste jobs.
I was gonna say Witcher 3 also. The Heart of Stone DLC especially. My eyes were sweating.
A game that’s not mentioned here yet: Outer Wilds.
You know how your high school English teacher tries to get through your brain about what “sublime” means and why the Romantic Era writers cared about it so much? The meaning of the word never really clicked for me until I played this game. It is pure, distilled sublime. It presents nature as this simultaneously jaw-droppingly beautiful and existentially scary entity that I’ve never seen any other game come close to replicating. For anyone who hasn’t played it yet, I heavily recommend it.
Note: don’t confuse Outer Wilds with Outer Worlds. They sound similar, but they could not be farther apart
Yeah what an unbelievable game. The music really hit the feels button for some reason. I still need to play the DLC!
I highly recommend the DLC! The best thing I can say about it is that it’s more Outer Wilds, with the same level of world-building, puzzle-solving, and emotional impact.
Mass Effect " … someone else might have gotten it wrong …"
I am the very model of a scientist salarian…
The original Life is Strange was it for me back when I first played it. I have to admit, I was feeling a bit down at the time, so the soundtrack, the atmosphere, and the emotions in the game really resonated with me. I’m actually a bit hesitant to play it again because I don’t want to lose the special memories from my first time through the game.
The original Life is Strange is a masterpiece and I wish I could reexperience it anew. I played it twice to see how choices mattered and it’s not quite the same the second time around.
The other Life is Strange games are also really great, but sadly they can’t quite match the original.
That is the only game that has actually made me cry.
Journey.
I don’t think it works quite as well nowadays with much fewer people playing it but it was an incredible experience when it first came out. I still play it whenever I need to calm down or just having a bad day. It’s truly a special game to me.
I actually played Journey for the first time just several months ago! I think there’s still enough people around that you can still run into other players on your journey. Maybe I ran into you at some point?
I ALSO just got around to playing Journey a few months ago, knowing nearly nothing about it. Spoilers ahead.
I started, got the hang of it a little bit, and was running around. I see another person! I chirp, he chirps, we dance around a bit, and we’re on our way. He shows me a few things, so I’m confident he knows his way around. I still go my own way, and he waits for me. Chirps when I should follow. I do. At some point, I have to pee REALLY bad and I want to make a drink. So I chirp, turn in a circle, chirp again, and he does the same. I go pee, make a drink, and when I’m back we are both sitting.
We make it through the rest of the game. He is the best companion I could hope for. I tear up twice during our adventure, and am nearly crying at the end. No games do this to me.
We make it together, and I PRAY at the end it lets me know who this person is. I’m DELIGHTED when it shows me his name, and I add him. He immediately accepts.
I tell him it’s my first time playing, and that I appreciated him helping me out so much! He tells me that he has fully completed the game, and plays so he can find new players to help have an amazing first time. We ALMOST got all of the secrets, but I missed a couple. He then sends me screenshot after screenshot after screenshot of us on our journey. He has a mod of some sort that lets him take out-of-body cinematic photos. I tear up more. I love this person.
PART TWO
My partner sees my reactions and says “I HAVE TO PLAY THAT”. I tell her it’s an experienced unmatched by any other.
She begins. She roams around, learning the ropes. She meets a person! They run ahead… and run… and run more… they’re gone. Speedrunner? She is sad. She restarts the program to find another companion. She presses on more, and nothing. Nobody.
She starts the game over. Finds a new friend. They chirp. She is elated! They’re adventuring for a while, when they stop moving. They sit. They disconnect. She is infuriated. But presses on. ANOTHER FRIEND! Also talkative! They play through, this person a tad more impatient than her. She attempts to keep up, but hits basically EVERYTHING that eats her robe. At the end, she has no robe. Her friend runs ahead. Too far ahead… she doesn’t make it.
She uninstalls, nearly in tears for the complete opposite reason as myself. Says she’s done and it was awful. :c
I should have waited until my friend was back on, and asked if he could try to be her Journey partner.
Journ
Couldn’t agree more!!
To the Moon. Omg. All of the feels. Def recommend, but keep some tissues with you!
To the moon is cheating. That game’s ending belongs in an oscar winning movie.
A Short Hike
A lot of it is because of where I was in life when I played it, but playing this game felt like an oasis in a very turbulent time for me.
I had just graduated university in the middle of a pandemic, feeling lonely and scared of the transition to a new career. I ended up feeling surprisingly emotional the whole time I played it.That game is really nice. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
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I don’t think I’ve ever emotionally connected with a game more than Disco Elysium. It had a profound effect on me, that game can truly do sadness
Oh man… I don’t know why this wasn’t the first thing I thought of when ever since I played it earlier this year, I have had the phrase “I don’t want to be this kind of animal anymore” stuck in my head. I think that daily.
I wish there was a disco option…
- Spiritfarer
- Forgotten Anne
- Honkai Impact 3rd (believe it or not)
- The Last Campfire
I was scrolling for Spiritfarer. All the feels. But fun to play, build, & explore.
I still think I’ll never play a game that will make me feel like One Shot did. Especially the post game. It really pulls you into the story personally.
Overall I think the life is strange series is okay but in 2 there’s a scene where you have the option to come out to your dad and it just felt so authentic. Like I remember having to pause the game and walk around a little.
Final Fantasy X
God Eater 2
VA-11 Hall-A
Trials of Mana
The music in FFX brings me tears. So good!
FfX has my vote too. To zanarkand takes me back
Ori and the Blind Forest hit me hard practically before the game had even begun, even more so than Firewatch though it and This War of Mine are definitely up there. Mass Effect (1–3) had a lot of emotional moments for me.
The only game I just couldn’t finish for emotional reasons though is That Dragon Cancer. It hit me harder than This War of Mine, probably because it was a lot closer to home.
Spiritfarer gave me a small existential crisis at the end. Edith Finch was heartbreaking but hopeful. House of Fata Morgana was achingly beautiful storytelling.
I played Spiritfarer a while back after seeing all the positive reviews, but only made it an hour or two in before I fell off and stopped playing. I think I just got bored by the pace? Is it worth restarting and pushing through the early parts of the game, or is it pretty much the same throughout?
Without really spoiling the ending all I can say is that wether or not it is worth playing is up to you. I thought about that for weeks after I finished this game. It was a real mindfuck.
The Last of Us first play through, hands down.
Breath of the Wild first ten hours after release, close second place.
I’m told Outer Wilds will be number one when I get to it.
There are just so many.
- SpiritFarer
- Lost Words: Beyond The Page
- All Persona games (recently Persona 4)
- Mass Effect
- Nier Automata
- Final Fantasy 7
- The Last Of Us
I’m probably missing more but that’s just a few that I have a strong connection with and make my heart soar.
