Games that made you cry (NO SPOILERS).

[Ag3ma]

None.

Firstly, I don't generally find games well enough written to evoke strong emotional reactions.

Secondly, I think the emotional depth tends to be limited by the gameplay - that the player is carrying out a series of tasks - which acts as a distraction. If you're constantly having to switch mindset to do a load of strategic calculation and number-crunching (e.g. RPG) or frenetic twitch reaction run and gun (FPS), it's harder to then readjust back into narrative emotion. Not least because the gameplay task may have elicited or primed you to different emotions to the one the narrative then wants to evoke. For instance, if you've just spent 3 hours and 12 attempts to get past a difficult boss fight and think about how you may feel at the end (e.g. frustration / relief) you're not necessarily in the best headspace to appreciate a romantic cutscene.

I very much appreciate emotional depth and complexity in games, but I just don't experience them in the way I would a book, TV show or film.

 

[Silvanus]

I don't recall ever actually crying in response to a video game. I got pretty emotional about Spiritfarer, so that might have come closest.

Edit: Oh, or maybe Ni No Kuni.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

I'm pretty sure it's happened more than once, but the big one that I always remember over all the others is Mother 3.

 

[Baffle]

Not cry, but games that triggered some sort of cathartic response would include Life Is Strange (first one and True Colours, though I didn't finish the latter) and probably RDR1 and 2.

 

[Hawki]

Some additions:

-Mass Effect (Virmire choice - again, per my rules, can't choose stuff from ME2/3, and Andromeda...yeah)

 

[Hawki]

Looks at thread...

Huh, so much for the "no spoiler" rule.

Anyway, concerning some of the other examples people have listed:

-Resident Evil 2 (remake): Leon & Ada's encounter with Kendo (you know why) and/or Sherry's final goodbye with Annette. Can technically give honourable mention to Marvin, in that while there's no specific tear-jerking moment, seeing him return as a zombie isn't pleasant.

-Diablo Immortal: Probably Lienne's death. I'd nominate Valla's flashback/nightmare sequence, but haven't actually played that, so it doesn't fit my criteria.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

Yes... But hell if I can remember them right now.

Edit: Ah, thought of one. The ending of Professor Layton and the Unwound Future. I think it's the fact that he'd always kept a calm demeanor before that, but the scene where he takes off his hat, looks at the sky and just takes breath and lets it out was moving to me

 

[BrawlMan]

Leon & Ada's encounter with Kendo (you know why)

As I said before: This scene has more humanity than either TLOUS games combined.

Sherry's final goodbye with Annette

​

Can technically give honourable mention to Marvin, in that while there's no specific tear-jerking moment, seeing him return as a zombie isn't pleasant.

Marvin?! Marvin! MAAAAARRRRRRRRRVVVVIIIIIIINNNNN!!!!! (proceeds to kill him with two shotgun blasts on my first playthrough)

 

[Worgen]

Oh yeah, I forgot Spiritfarer, that got me.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

As I said before: This scene has more humanity than either TLOUS games combined.

​

Marvin?! Marvin! MAAAAARRRRRRRRRVVVVIIIIIIINNNNN!!!!! (proceeds to kill him with two shotgun blasts on my first playthrough)

I also found it surprising how RE5 made me sympathize with Ricardo with the moments leading up to his boss fight and just before he died.

 

[Samtemdo8]

 

[Zykon TheLich]

Dawn of War 3.

Sorry, I still can't let that one go.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Looks at thread...

Huh, so much for the "no spoiler" rule.

Internet gonna Internet, I suppose.

-Resident Evil 2 (remake): Leon & Ada's encounter with Kendo (you know why)

I don't think I outright cried for that scene, but it is not easy to watch.

 

[BrawlMan]

I also found it surprising how RE5 made me sympathize with Ricardo with the moments leading up to his boss fight and just before he died.

Ricardo I have some sympathy, but not much. Ricardo knew what he was doing, but it's clear neither Excella nor Wesker respected him, despite him providing a majority of the funding, and the latter would kill him for failing. Excella gets even less sympathy from me, because at least Ricardo knew what kind of person Wesker was.

I won't lie, 19-year old me felt somewhat sorry for Wesker, because of his "right to be a God" speech. If only because it's really clear how delusional he became, all due to Spencer's upbringing.

Spoiler: Right To Be a God

The only RE villains (ones that weren't mind controlled or good people turned monstrous into a virus) I truly felt sorry for are RE2R William and Annette (ironic, because their past actions are even more villainous in the Remake), Moreau, and surprisingly, RE4R Saddler and Salazar. Saddler is not even his true self anymore. It's implied that the Head Plagas has taken him over, and he sounds genuinely hurt that Leon and Ashley rejected their respective Plagas. Dude is still an asshole, but he actually cares about "saving the world" in the remake. The original was just a petty arms dealer who didn't believe in his religion. Salazar is implied to have an abusive father, and his short stature didn't help. Saddler played a part in Salazar's corruption and feeding off his insecurities, but Sal still made his choices.

As for everybody else:

• OG William and Annette are prideful idiots.​
• Alfred and Alexia are born sociopaths. Alexia is an expy of Eve, so she ain't getting much sympathy from me.​
• All of the villains in OG RE4 are Saturday morning cartoon villains.​
• Nicholai is just another greedy bastard.​
• "Dr. Marcus"/Queen Leech is not the real one, and the QL absorbed his memories, thinking to be the real Marcus. ​
• Carla is another biatch lashing out at everyone, instead of just the guy who fucked her over.​
• Simmons is a lame and idiotic douchebag.​
• Evelyn is a spoiled brat and unintentionally unsympathetic.​
• Mother Miranda is a delusional biatch with nothing better to do with her life.​
• All the villains/anti-villains in Revelations 1 might as well not exist or be in a pocket dimension. Seriously, all three of the anti-villains in this game are either wannabe Weskers or Adas with none of the charisma of neither.​

I know most of these characters aren't supposed to be seen as sympathetic, but some of them either get a alas, poor villain moment, or you only feel bad for the relatives/friends of said villainous characters.

 

[Gergar12]

The OG final Fantasy 7 scene. Holy shit. And no I won't spoil it for you guys.

 

[Hawki]

The original was just a petty arms dealer who didn't believe in his religion.

Really? I got the sense that Saddler genuinely (or at least nominally) believed in his faith. Sure, he employed a private militia, but the sense I got was that he genuinely wanted to launch his crusade against the world or whatnot.

Evelyn is a spoiled brat and unintentionally unsympathetic.

I actually found Evie a bit sympathetic. I mean, she's a vat baby who was grown to be a bio-weapon, but has the self-restraint of a child (as in, none of it). She's a monster, but a monster in the sense that children can be monsters because they don't know any better/don't have boundaries. So I did feel a bit sorry for her, especially towards the end when she's decript, afraid, in pain, etc.

Also, as an addendum, I'd point out that the events of RE7 are largely Mia's fault since she was the one escorting Evie - a tanker goes down, the Bakers are infected, they kill dozens of people, but apparently Mia gets off scott free. 0_0

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Really? I got the sense that Saddler genuinely (or at least nominally) believed in his faith. Sure, he employed a private militia, but the sense I got was that he genuinely wanted to launch his crusade against the world or whatnot.

The crusade itself was basically just anti-America BS rather than anything to do with Las Plagas specifically, in the original.

 

[BrawlMan]

Really? I got the sense that Saddler genuinely (or at least nominally) believed in his faith. Sure, he employed a private militia, but the sense I got was that he genuinely wanted to launch his crusade against the world or whatnot.

Nope, that's the charisma fooling you. OG Saddler is stated and implied that he doesn't believe in what he preaches and is just another power hungry jackass. He doesn't care about saving the world/"spreading the good faith", he just wants to take it over and have everything for himself. The implication pretty much becomes clear in the codec calls in the final part of the game on the island.

I actually found Evie a bit sympathetic. I mean, she's a vat baby who was grown to be a bio-weapon, but has the self-restraint of a child (as in, none of it). She's a monster, but a monster in the sense that children can be monsters because they don't know any better/don't have boundaries. So I did feel a bit sorry for her, especially towards the end when she's decript, afraid, in pain, etc.

Also, as an addendum, I'd point out that the events of RE7 are largely Mia's fault since she was the one escorting Evie - a tanker goes down, the Bakers are infected, they kill dozens of people, but apparently Mia gets off scott free. 0_0

How much sympathy a person can have for Evelyn is up for debate. I do know most gamers did not sympathize for her. Yes she was created as a monster, but she was still monstrous to those who didn't deserve it and acting like a total brat thinking everything belong to her. When she breaks down crying "Why does everyone hate me?!", Nearly every gamer shouted "Gee, I wonder why?!". So whatever sympathy we're supposed to have didn't land for most people. RE8 takes us even further with how Evelyn mocked Ethan and how he died back at the Baker house. Or how she tried to take position of Rose, and tried to become the "real Rose" in the Shadow of Rose DLC. When Rose was inside that inner mold/whatever it's officially called. And when that didn't work, she's just tried to straight up kill her. So Capcom realize they were either too settle with the previous game, or realiyze their mistake in trying to make her sympathetic, and just went full on with her negative qualities that were already there

As for Mia, I'm not letting her off easy either. She and her organization create a bio weapon with a thought and mind of her own, and didn't think to have a better dead man switch. A lot good the rapid aging did. They should have had an either an instant shut off switch or an explosive leash on her. What do you think was going to happen when you gave her partial free will and leaving it unchecked?

Evelyn is just a less sympathetic version of Alma, with none of the backstory. And I'm talking about F.E.A.R 1 Alma, not what they did with her in the sequels. Especially Project Origin.

Mia didn't exactly get off scot-free. She still put under heavy watch by Chris and his unit in the BSSA. Also, she lost her husband Ethan at the end of the game. So all of her actions led to those consequences. She has no one to blame but herself. She too knew Ethan had already died back at the house, yet chose to say nothing or act as if nothing happened. All this could have been avoided had she not participated in the experiment in the first place, and just be upfront about what actually happened to Ethan to begin with.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I actually cried that Annette Birkin didn't die more painfully. B*tch was instrumental in taking kids from an orphanage and subjecting them to torturous medical experiments. The fact that the remake tries to play off that scene between her and Sherry as touching in any way is baffling.

 

[Dalisclock]

Mother 3
The end of Valiant Hearts: The Great War. That last level with Emmett kills me every single time.
To the Moon/Finding Paradise/Imposter Factory. All of those games have gut punches in them and makes me forget I'm mostly playing a visual novel made in RPG maker.