I still haven't finished Red Dead Redemption 2.
As is well known, tastes differ when it comes to games: for some, the technical challenge in video games is the main focus. For some, the social aspect of multiplayer games is crucial. Personally, I'm mostly drawn to games that make me cry, like those deadly sad films...
And not because that DAMN VALKYRIE in "God of War" wiped me out for the 20th time. But because I have taken the characters and their stories to my heart and then, of course, terrible things inevitably happen to them. If you also like to cry (it's healthy!) and are looking for games that grab your emotions and won't let go, then you should definitely play these games:
1. Red Dead Redemption 2 (2019)
In the sequel to Rockstar's "Red Dead Redemption" you play the outlaw Arthur Morgan. As part of the Dutch van der Linde gang, you are on the run from the law after a botched robbery and in the last throes of the once Wild West in 1899.
In the wrong hands, “Red Dead Redemption 2” could have been just a trigger-happy cowboy adventure. Instead, it is an extremely character-driven, often heartbreaking epic about solidarity, sacrifice and unstoppable change. The end of the main story is one of the most tragic things I've ever experienced in a game (plus sometimes your horse dies and that's TERRIBLE).
2. Röki (2020)
“Röki” hit me right in the heart. It's a beautiful, smaller indie adventure set in a world of Scandinavian folklore and you play a young girl named Tove. There has been a lot of trouble in her family since her mother's death and one day her little brother is kidnapped by a mythical creature. You accompany Tove on her journey to save her brother, encounter all kinds of creatures and gradually uncover the loss of Tove's mother.
“Röki” is a lot about loss, grief and family bonds and if you are as sensitive to these topics as I am, you will howl like a castle dog at “Röki”.
3. Telltale's The Walking Dead (2012)
In Telltale's "The Walking Dead" you, as Lee Everett, witness the zombie apocalypse breaking out in Georgia. At the beginning of the game you meet a little girl named Clementine, who you take under your wing. Lee quickly falls in love with Clementine and becomes her foster father/mentor. Most Telltale games are 100% driven by their characters and their relationships, and this one successfully manages to make you care about Lee and Clementine and genuinely fear them.
Which makes the ending all the worse, because since we're still talking about The Walking Dead, there's no happy ending to this adoptive father-daughter story. The game was released in episodes, I binged through the entire first “season” in one go and was an emotional wreck afterward.
4. The Last of Us 2 (2020)
If you found “The Last of Us” sad, then prepare to let the second part destroy your entire life. The game picks up the pieces left by Joel's decision in the hospital in the first part and throws them around your ears with Mach 3, so that you lose your hearing and sight. In the first few hours of play, one of the most shocking scenes ever in a game occurs.
In the following story about Ellie and her adversary Abby, you have to watch how a cycle of violence inevitably repeats itself and what consequences Joel's decision has had in the hospital. The Last of Us 2 forces you to grapple with the devastating effects of revenge and culminates in a finale that I almost couldn't finish.
5. Gone Home (2013)
“Gone Home,” derisively referred to in some places as a “walking simulator,” is a masterpiece of passive storytelling. You play as Katie, a young woman who returns home to find her childhood home empty. As you explore, you uncover the secrets and dark sides of your family. “Gone Home” deals with some heavy topics such as homophobia, trauma and abuse, which you discover piece by piece in the family's belongings and documents left behind.
6. Baldur's Gate 3 (2023)
Overall, the main story of Baldur's Gate 3 is not particularly tragic, but rather falls into the category of “normal fantasy epic”. But if you want to get the best ending for you and your companions, you'll also have to play through their side quests, and this is where Baldur's Gate really gets emotional.
Each character on your team has their own burden to bear and can develop in different directions through your decisions, some of which are much more tragic than others. Astarion's and Karlach's stories brought me to tears at several points, and when you romance either of them, it becomes *really* touching.
You'll have to laugh and then cry with these 27 student answers.