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13 Video Games That Will Probably Make You Cry


There are video games that you can play when you need to feel good- and I’ve listed a few- but video games can also be pretty tragic as well. These pixeled adventures can evoke a profound sadness and sense of loss. It can be even worse than the sadess of simply watching something bad happen- after all, you are typically in the protagonist's shoes when you play games. You struggle alongside them, experience their failures and losses, and even feel guilt or grief over the actions you take in the game.

All in all, sometimes it isn’t just tears of frustration people cry while playing games- sometimes its tears of sadness. So let’s take a look at some of the most tragic video games out there.

Do you have any video games that made you want to weep to add to this list? Say so in the comments!

Also note that while I try to be vague, some of these will have ending spoilers when it goes into why they’re so sad.

  1. Mother 3 by Brownie Brown and HAL Laboratory

    Mother 3 was never released outside Japan and many have wondered if this is because anyone who tried to translate it was turned into a sobbing wreck. This game is brutal right from the start, depicting a child dealing with the death of his mother. And that’s only the start of his family-related woes. The pig-masked villains do some truly horrific things. Things just get more brutal as the game goes on and it features murder, animal abuse, suicide and horrific scientific experimentation. Amidst all the horror, there is a strong theme of love and the bond between family, even in the worst of times. 

  2. The Walking Dead by Telltale Games

    Zombie apocalypses are usually a bummer and it’s not that surprising that The Walking Dead games are pretty grisly, much like the show and comic they’re spun off from. Telltale’s The Walking Dead games focus on the psychological horrors of a zombie apocalypse alongside the bloody horrors. You have to make some truly haunting choices. Whenever you leave a survivor for dead, you’re reminded that this is going to impact the small children around you…and of course, as you’d expect with such a game, there’s pretty high body count.

    But the story is well-written enough that those deaths really hit where it hurts because you’ve gotten attached to all these characters along the way. The ending is particularly sad. 

  3. To the Moon by Freebird Games

    To the Moon is a bitter sweet tale about mortality and memory. The premise of the game is that is takes place in a world where scientists have discovered how to create artificial memories. Thus, there is a service offered to people on their deathbeds where they can be granted (or rather, think they were granted) their dying wish via this method. A dying man named Johnny wants to go to the moon, and a pair of scientists are tasked with giving him memories of such an experience. However, Johnny no longer remembers why he wants to go to the moon so badly, and the scientists find it impossible to create the memory without knowing that. So they have to sift through Johnny’s memories and find the truth before they can fulfill his wish.

    You experience this man’s joy and sadness and peel back the layers of his life, all while the beeping of the heart monitor starts to fade… It’s a sad experience, but also a profound, moving and beautiful one. 

  4. Red Dead Redemption by Rockstar San Diego

    Red Dead Redemption doesn’t seem so sad at first, as you play as a good-hearted, likeable character trying his best to rescue his family. But then at the end…well, things definitely fall apart to say the least. What follows is one of the saddest death scenes in video game history. 

  5. The Last of Us by Naughty Dog

    The Last of Us is a post-apocalyptic survival horror game and you know that those are always a laugh riot. Throughout The Last of Us, you witness many touching sacrifices and are forced to make many tough choices, including the choice to kill others. Transporting a girl who has an immunity to the zombie-like plague that has ravaged the world, you become attached to the people around you. Eventually, we see one character faced with a choice- will they give up the people close to them to save the world? The answer leads to a heartwrenching conclusion. 

  6. Life is Strange by Dontnod Entertainment

    Life is Strange tells the story of a teenaged girl named Max, who after witnessing the death of her long-lost best friend, discovers she has the power to loop back in time and change things. Max goes on to witness many horrifying and deadly alternate timelines, all while struggling to save everyone with her newfound powers.

    She also has to deal with the tortured psyches of the people around her. Her best friend Chloe is still grieving and lost after the death of her father and the disappearance of her friend and is resentful of Max for abandoning her. Meanwhile, Max witnesses horrible bullying and even has to deal with suicidal people. All the while, the threat of a terrible storm approaching looms.

    The game also forces you to make some tough choices, which have consequences. The most terrible choice by far is at the end (and it sort of makes very little sense and invalidates all the other choices but that’s okay, I’m not bitter) and it can have the most devastating consequences of all.

  7. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons by Starbreeze Studios

    This game about two brothers is a coming of age story that deals heavily with grief. It jumps into the sadness right away, opening with the revelation that the two boys are grieving the death of their mother. Because she died by drowning, the younger brother is now traumatized and terrified of swimming. But this isn’t the only hardship the brothers face- their father is seriously ill and they now have to find a way save him or else become orphans. The journey that follows is fraught and emotional.

  8. One Chance by Dean Moynihan

    One Chance is a simple, 8-bit game and it’s even free to play. However, it’s been declared by many to be the saddest game ever made. This is helped by the fact that, as the game implies, you only get “one chance” to play it. The game is designed so you can’t replay it, so the choices you make actually have permanent consequences. The premise of the game is you’re playing as a scientist who released a cure for cancer into the air, but this “cure” actually ended up driving humanity to extinction. Now you have six days to come up with an antidote before the world ends. There are multiple endings to this game, but all of them are pretty rough. And if you get the worst-case scenario- well, that’s tough. You only had “one chance” after all and you blew it. 

  9. Lost Odyssey by Mistwalker and Feelplus

    Lost Odyssey follows an ancient protagonist who is amnesiac. We get pieces of his memories as the story progresses. However, as the game goes on, you begin the wonder if he’d be better off not remembering. The stories are often deeply melancholy, dealing people long lost. It’s rough being an immortal and this game really lets you know it. Some of the memories you uncover will leave you wistful, while some will simply be a total bummer

  10. Shadow of Colossus by Team Ico

    Shadow of the Colossus is one of those games that uses its mechanics against you and ends up making you feel like a terrible person. Throughout the game, you slaughter colsosi in the name of resurrecting a girl you love. Slowly, the player starts feeling guilty about killing these beings, especially since some only attack when provoked. Are they really the bad guys, or are you the bad guy whose slaughtering innocents for your own selfish reasons? The game really makes you grapple with that guilt.

  11. Ori and the Blind Forest by Moon Studios

    Ori and the Blind Forest gives Bambi a run for its money when it comes to depressing tales about cute woodland creatures.  Actually, Ori one-ups Bambi by opening with the already-orphaned baby critter being taken in by an adopted mother, only for her to die too when the forest falls to ruin. It’s just the beginning and our protagonist is already double-orphaned. We then embark on a journey to save the forest and it’s filled with heartbreak and sacrifice. 

  12. Terranigma by Quintet

    Terranigma kicks off the the mischevious young protagonist inadvertently freezing his underground village. But this turns out to be the least depressing thing about the game. When the young boy is sent on a quest to resurrect the surface world, he discovers that he has to make some pretty terrible sacrifices to do so. What’s more, the protagonist learns the devastating truth that he’s merely a pawn in a much larger game.

  13. NieR by Cavia

    NieR is another of those games that hits you with the guilt train and it does so through multiple playthoughs. The first time, you play as a father fighting shadow-like monsters to protect his daughter. But then in the second playthrough, you’re able to access the backstories of the monsters you’ve fought and discover them as complex, sympathetic people. Then in the third playthrough, you’re forced to make a choice that has tragic consequences however you go about it. 

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