What Game Had The Greatest Emotional Effect On You?

The TZR authors sound off on their top choices for games that successfully pulled our heartstrings in one way or another.

[KentBlake]

Life is Strange, by far.

[joab777]

I gotta play this.

[Fearmonkey]

I own it and I have yet to play it because my back catalog is so large. I keep hearing how great it is.

[Gatsu]

Not everyone like it, but for many it can be a life changing game and very emotional.

[FullmetalRoyale]

Snake Eater.
Shoutout to LiS, though.

[KyRo]

MGS4. I was litrally reduced to tears at that ending. Also TWD season 1 whilst it didn't break me I felt like I had lost someone I had known for years in the last episode of that game. Such a strange feeling.

[Gatsu]

Life Is Strange easily and I've played for over 20 years.

[jackdaddy]

Interesting, I've played even longer gasp and have this sitting on the ps4... Will give it a try thx

[Gatsu]

You're welcome ^_^. I didn't expect to become so emotionally attached to it, but it really surprised me and made me cry so much ;D. Some other for me are few Final Fantasies, Metal Gear Solids, The Witcher 3 and TLOU along the years. LIS was just on a different level compared to those.

[leahcim]

Aerith death.

Final Fantasy VII.

[ChouDa]

AAAAAGREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEED!

[KickSpinFilter]

TLOU, Inside, The last Guardian, not sure which one has more of an effect.
Guess I'll go with TLOU

[S2Killinit]

Yup, definitely TLOU is up there. For me, Shenmue as well.

[kneon]

I was going to say TLOU, then I remembered my first play through of Journey.

I had been playing with someone else from the beginning and near the end they were swept off of a cliff, it was truly devastating. Remember that this is a game in which you are playing with some random stranger on the Internet and that your actions are the only means of communication. The sense of loss when they disappeared over the edge was shocking and unexpected, as was the joy at seeing them again 10 minutes later having made their way back up the mountain so that we could finish the journey as we started, together.

Probably the best 90 minutes of gaming I had ever experienced, and I remember playing pong at the mall when it first came out so it's been a while.

[KickSpinFilter]

Well pong was moving for different reasons. Good ol Sears Pong. Ya never forget the first game you ever played.

[frostypants]

Even the damn intro to TLoU was gut wrenching.

[Fist4achin]

I damn near teared up at the end of FFX in the scene with Yuna and Tidus

[InTheZoneAC]

Haven't beat FFX but Yuna is very annoying

[obidanshinobi]

TLOU and Ni No Kuni.

[joab777]

Valkyria Chrinicles and Lost Odyssey last gen. Not sure this gen yet. There was a lot when I was younger B/C games had a greater impact on me.

Though the opening of TloU really got me.

[mark_parch]

recently i would say oxenfree and ori and the blind forest.

[Ethereal]

Shadow of the Colossus had me bawling.

[JCOLE13195]

The Last of Us. No other game has made me cry honestly.

[InTheLab]

The Last of us really hit home. As a father, the opening act kicked me right in the nuts.

[Z501]

I'm a father too, BUT. We only knew his daughter for about 20 minutes. Where was the emotional connection/character development? His daughter could've been a 'problem child' for all we knew.

[lellkay]

It's not about knowing the character though. The weight of what has happened combined with the emotion and performance of joels voice acting makes it a powerful scene. If you saw a father watch his child die in the street in real life, even if you "didn't know" the child you'd feel the sadness and emotion there. That is perfectly captured in that scene.

[Z501]

@cha0s
I would be sad because they're human beings. But no emotional attachments because i don't know them. Especially if i just only seen them interact with each other for 20 minutes. Thus MY issue with TLoU opening.
1. They're not human. 2. I don't know these people. I totally get what ND was going for though.

[InTheLab]

Dude... unless she's a mass murderer which she clearly wasn't, you love your child wth everything you have even if they're a dick.

As for the larger point, it's called empathy. Didn't know jack about the kid but I could feel the loss. I was able to be in Joel's position and naughty dog nailed it within the first minutes of the game.

I've never played a game that's made me truly feel for a character I barely know. Sure I don't know every detail on her life but who cares if she failed every test or maybe snuck a boy in her room. She was murdered right in front of her father and that shit hurt. Video game character or not

[InTheZoneAC]

The Last of Us, shame on you if you haven't played it
Minecraft, only because I can't get over how depressing it feels
BotW is a relaxing experience, the music just puts you in a trance
Battlefield/CoD/Overwatch/Soc om multiplayer, gets me so mad sometimes lol, wondering wth my teammates are doing half the time when they don't help

[TheMuffDiver]

The legend of dragoon (ps1) and TLOU

[InSpectre]

NEGATIVE emotional reaction:
Gears of War
Mass Effect 1-2
Bioshock Infinite
Life is Strange

POSITIVE emotional reaction:
World of Warcraft
Assassin's Creed II
Gemini Rue
Batman Arkham Games

[lipton101]

I cried my face off after playing walking dead season 1

[Dragonscale]

Red Dead Redemption.

[Fullmetalevolust]

Journey, FFX, FFXV, child of light, the last of us

[Nickrobbins]

heavy rain and final fantasy x ive enjoyed alot of games and felt joy playing them but none made me have more emotions than those two

[RommyReigns]

The Last of Us had the greatest emotional impact, couldn't stop thinking about that game for almost a month after I completed it. Uncharted 2 and 4, Crash Bandicoot Warped (the N Sane Trilogy nostalgia mind explosion), Spyro 2 first boss fight (probably the most appropriate and intense 'I have to beat this no matter what' music on a boss fight ever) and Spyro 3, Super Mario Galaxy 2.

[Razzer]

Pong

[jackdaddy]

Ico on PS2 for what it's worth.

[shocked686]

Journey, Shadow of the Colossus, FFVII, Last of Us, Kingdom Hearts just purely by nostalgia, Undertale

[Mylove1516]

Silent hill on Ps1 gave me my first real scare.
Being a father made TLOU hit hard. Plenty more but i have to go to work.

[HollowKnight]

Pyre
Ori

[ruefrak]

Journey. Then The Last of Us. But I have to say that Journey is pure genius.

[InTheZoneAC]

I beat Journey, but I never got the hype it received.

[PiNkFaIrYbOi]

Between Final Fantasy VII and Phantasy Star IV.

[bamillington]

Valiant hearts

[Paytaa]

The Last of Us, Halo 3, Mass Effect 3, and The Witcher 3.

[ziggurcat]

The first Walking Dead telltale series, Ether One, Life is Strange, TLoU to name a few.

[sprinterboy]

Tlou, journey, lis and heavy rain for me
Edit plus last guardian oops

[JLynn943]

Journey for sure. It's amazing how powerful that game is with few controls and no dialogue. FFVII as well.

[Venoxn4g]

Ori and the blind forest, Journey, Flower, MGS3, MGS1, Child of Eden, REZ: infinite, Until dawn: rush of blood

[Kallisti]

Half-Life 3, I cry every time.

[OhMyGandhi]

Limbo
SOMA
To The Moon
Swapper

[chris235]

asteroids, the classic coin-op, hands down

[guyman]

Ori and the blind forest. Ni no kuni

[KryptonKronos]

The first season of Telltales The Walking Dead stands out because of it's ending and the amazing journey just to get there. It basically out done anything the TV series ever have done and will do in the future.

Then there's The Last of Us, which compelled me into wishing the game never ended because i loved it so much. The overall experience has to got to be one of my favourites in the 30 plus years i've been playing video games. However for the best emotional experience i've ever received from a video game has to be Mafia: The City of Lost heaven on the PC. That game not only got me back into gaming overall but it took me half a year to complete with my friend by my side, we'd play the whole thing together when ever we both had the time. Countless sleep overs and just pure entertainment made the whole experience completely worth it and when it was done and all over with, the emotion of getting through 6 months of it and then ending that experience of an extraordinary narrative hit me real hard. It's something i remember doing with this friend of mine that became the last thing we did together before he passed away.

But for this topics sake, the best solo emotion of me and video games would be the ending to SOMA. Holy crap was that a striking moment.

[Hardiman]

Life is Strange, The Last of Us,The Last Guardian.

[DanteVFenris666]

Mass Effect Andromeda best dump I took all year

[dariux32]

Tha Last of us, Journey, Limbo, Kingdom hearts.

[Adrian_v01]

Persona 3 by far.

[DarkKaine]

NieR (yes, the first game, not automata)

[SouljAx360]

If I could only pick one, it's Persona 5.
Before that is was Persona 4, and before that FF7. FF7 Aeris scene(you know the one) really brought out the feels. But then Persona 4 and Nanako came along. Never knew how many feels I could feel until I had a little sister, and then the events that happen in game involving her.
And with Persona 5, it pretty much changed my way of thinking. I don't want to waste my time anymore. Life is just too important to waste away, and relationships with others mean too much to throw away. Something that Persona 5 reminded me. That game didn't just hit me with the feels, I ended up changing my way of life after playing it. A game couldn't have a more emotional impact than that.

[BeardedPriest]

The endings of Fallout 3, New Vegas and Bioshock 2 made me cry a little bit. In recent memory Valiant Hearts, The Last of Us and The Witcher 3 got me good. Also... Mankind Divided hit me right in my soul.

[Phantom68]

Journey. Period!

[Xen0blade]

Nier Automata.

Am sure if you've read the reviews and impressions you now how emotional and impactful this game is. As i played through those moments I never came close to crying(almost did). It wasnt until route C where 9S uncovers the truth about Yorha towards the end that I droped maybe a teared. Observing 9S In the eyes I could sympathize with his pain, hatred, sorrow and shock. I've played almost all the critically aclaimed jrpgs and mosts story based games but never befor had I came close to crying.

[escott013]

Apparently I really need to play Life is Strange. Alrighty then, I shall oblige.
My game is The Last of Us. Really had an impact and I thought about it quite a lot for some time after I finished it.

[narsaku]

So many... FF9 ending, FF10 ending.. Several parts of Grandia 1... TLOU..

..Dayz mod. You can't know the feels till a 14 year old troll takes it all from you.

[lellkay]

The Last of Us,Mass Effect 2, Metal Gear Solid, Life Is Strange, Red Dead Redemption, The Walking Dead (Tell Tale) just to name a few

[Fluke_Skywalker]

Crisis Core: FFvii I cried like a baby at that ending.
On another emotional level though the game that I was most depressed at finishing was The Witcher 3, I genuinely felt like it left a hole in my life! Especially since I got probably the worst possible ending!

[L1ghtz]

The fact that I had to scroll to the bottom of this list before seeing Crisis Core is absolutely appalling.
Up-Up-Up-Up-Up Vote... I wish there was an infinite up-vote button.

[Fluke_Skywalker]

I thought that myself while scrolling through the comments!

[jc12]

Easily TLOU.

[gangsta_red]

I cried like a baby at the end of Balloon Fight

[glenn1979]

final fantasy 7, and metal gear solid

[Antifan]

Mass Effect 3's terrible ending.

[jjb1981]

The Last of Us.

[DrumBeat]

TLoU.

[CoDsuperstar]

The Talos Principle

[ludicrous]

Journey and Lost Odyssey:
- even though they take different approach to story telling, they both are very philosophically emotional games that gamers should experiences.

Fable 2 and Shadow of Colossus
- I didn't know that one can have such emotional attachment to digital pets in game until they are gone. I literally stop playing fable 2 and almost didn't finish Shadow after their death.

TLOU, MGS3 and Ori & The Blind Forest
- TLOU intro did really well to convey such emotional lost that carried through out the game.
- MGS3 snake killed big Boss, what an emotional setup and sacrifice that define the meaning of patriot.
- Ori intro alone can induce so much emotional sadness but also given you a sense of hope. What a game.

[L1ghtz]

Final Fantasy 7: Crisis Core.
"How are you?
I wish I knew where you were.
Its already been four years now.
This is the 89th letter I've sent you,
But I dont even know where to send them anymore.
I really hope that this last letter I'm writing gets to you.
By the way, the flowers are selling very well.
They make everyone so happy - Thanks to you Zack!".
"Embrace Your Dreams".........

[BadElf]

The Last of Us comes to mind. Playing that for the first time was a damn JOY

[Paul85]

Metal Gear Solid.

[The-Matrix-has-you]

Silent hill 2

[QuePasa87]

I think perhaps the Shenmue and Metro games

[Soy]

Mass Effect 2 and 3, Final Fantasy 4, 9, and 10, Chrono Trigger, end of Infamous 2, the last hour of Red Dead Redemption, and the end of Halo 4.

[Vokun13]

Legend of Zelda OOT for sure. Beating the game after so long got me.

[Max-Zorin]

Shadow Hearts

[ShellB]

MGS4
Read Dead
TLOU

[Boog_89]

Tactical espionage action: Metal gear solid 4 : Guns of the Patriots for everything.
Life is strange for the feels.
Outlast for the fear.

[Void000]

Ico made one of my best friends cry. ;)

[SixFragz]

Batman Arkham series.
The Last of Us.
Uncharted series.
Kingdom Hearts series.
Battlefield 1 War Stories.
God of War series.
Outlast.
P.T.
Grand Theft Auto IV.

[VariantAEC]

Surprised not many have mentioned this one
The Last Guardian is my personal pick for many reasons.
Haven't played that hipster looking Life Is T --
I mean Strange!
Played Journey and it was a good romp and a bit emotional at the end. Beyond: Two Souls was also pretty emotional and a lot of people don't understand it which is fine...

Buuuut!

The Last Guardian is on another level. The emotions hit hard when you find out what Trico's purpose is. You find out what is going on in the world from a worms eye view not understanding anything until the player character is knocked out getting glimpses of how he came to be alone in a room with this creature.
Empathizing with Trico is easy as his mannerisms closely resemble those of animals mostly domesticated animals. Thinking of Trico as Spot or Fluffy becomes eaay it makes the end of the game far more painful.
Unlike scruffy you get a sense that Trico is really there to help you out of a terrible mess... Points in the game are also genuinely difficult to watch especially if you distain for seeing animals being hurt.

That's not all though! Admittedly the pace can slow down too much for many as you get lost frustratingly trying to push forward, but these moments are forgotten where the tension is heightened because of certain levels of unpredictability regarding Trico's reactions to some things (at leaat in your first playthrough). Though you build a strong emotional attachment to Trico, he is still a large forboding beast and a select few situations (as well as the opening scenes) bare his unfettered ferocity out quite well.

The music is a huge part of the experience and is quite frankly the best game soundtrack I've ever heard! Disappointingly no one seems to talk about the score of The Last Guardian. The music paints such a vivid picture of the pace and tone toying so candidly with your emotions at any given point. The score does this so precisely that to this day I will compulsively cry as certain tracks are played thinking about the momments of helplessness, fear and deep sadness broken briefly by moments of joy and a sense of playful adventure.

Have a listen:
Homeward - https://youtu.be/cJ2zgtxAIv...
Wounded - https://youtu.be/ycB6uNiU4I...
Flashback - https://youtu.be/qFXfJtBCn_...
Forest - https://youtu.be/u4KkTvnf8i...

After I first played through the game -
Christmas 2016 - I thought to myself "This is the kind of game that can throw a depressed person off a ledge. Definitely avoid this one if you're struggling with depression. Yup!"
But if you're not struggling with depression then this is a must try. I wouldn't say that everyone should own this game but I really think if you're jaded with what games are today then you owe it to yourself to give The Last Guardian a go if you finish it you won't be disappointed.

I will end this rant by saying the end of The Last Guardian is far more emotional and makes you think "what if" moreso than The Last of Us!
A bittersweet ending leaving a lot to the imagination - a game that could only go downhill with the arrival of a sequel in my mind. A successful one off that's story is so well crafted it needs no further exposition.