Video games as a medium can, at times, tell amazing stories with amazing characters. Part of the joy of gaming is the escapism that we’re partially in control of and to lose ourselves in to get away from the horrors and stress of the real world. With some amazing production values and outstanding writing, it’s no wonder there have been several times we’ve been so caught up in games that they hit us hard and literally brought us to tears. Here are nine times, in no particular order, that games have made us blub!
Warning, HUGE spoilers are upcoming.
Peter Keen
1 – Your Horse Dies in Ghost of Tsushima!
When I started playing GoT, there is a part where you can choose a horse. I was playing this part with my daughter watching. She actually chose which horse I should have, and we named him “Bob”. Every once in a while, she would come in to watch me roam around on Bob. I kind of grew to like Bob too, and I didn’t realize how much of a bond was growing. When Jin took rests, he would curl up on Bob, and you would snooze together. He was that faithful hound in horse form.
Bob sprints out of an encampment, whinnies at being shot by a couple of arrows, but carries on. Jin apologizes to his horse. They flee through the gorgeous scenery, with Bob still marching on despite the arrows still in him. You think everything is going to be okay, but then the slow, powerful music cuts in. Bob stumbles, limps, then finally drops to his knee and rolls over, exhausted. Jin walks to the horse’s head as its labored breathing shows he’s still just there, but Bob has one final whinny and dies.
In walks my daughter five minutes later and asks me, “Dad, how’s Bob getting on?”.
*(video courtesy of SSSB Games)
2 – When Naughty Dog Went to That Place with Joel’s Daughter, Sarah, in The Last of Us
Naughty Dog, up until the release of The Last of Us, were known for their lighthearted, spirited adventures of Nathan Drake in the Uncharted series and fun games like Jax and Daxter. We knew the tone of The Last of Us was going to be more serious, but BOY, were we not expecting what happened at the end of the prologue sequence.
This sequence hits all the harder if you are a parent yourself as the incredible visual depicts a desperate father (Joel) doing all he can to protect his daughter from the chaos that is happening around them. They escape the chasing horde of infected and stumble into the path of a soldier. You and the characters on-screen finally think they are safe. The soldier, unsure what to do, calls his superior on the radio to say he has a couple of civilians in the outer perimeter. A pause. “Sir…there is a little girl….but…..yes, sir.” It was here that anyone who played the game for the first time thought, no, you are not going to go there and do this.
The soldier raises his rifle and fires. There is a little scream from Sarah, and Joel and her roll away. You as the player think initially about Joel as they never kill children in cold blood in video games, right? RIGHT??
Enter Tommy to take out the soldier, then he looks up in horror and simply says “Oh no,“ as he and Joel both turn towards a whimpering Sarah. Joel rushes over to his daughter and, in one of the best and hardest-to-watch scenes in video game history, watches and cries as his daughter slowly dies in his arms.
When this game initially came out, myself and a lot of my friends all played TLoU, and most of us were fathers. We couldn’t talk about anything other than this scene, and we all admitted to it stirring up such strong parental emotions of loss. In my opinion, the horizon of where gaming could go changed dramatically from this moment on.
*(video courtesy of FARAH)
3 – Mayuri’s Death Loop in Steins;Gate
I bang on to anyone who will listen about how I believe that the story of the game Steins;Gate is the most clever, intelligent, well-written, emotional, and rewarding story, not just in video games but in all time! I know that’s quite a claim, but goodness me, even years after playing this for the first time, I still think about what happens in that game to this day.
It’s hard to keep it short, but I’ll do my best to set the scene for one particular moment and why it hit so damn hard.
Rintaro, a wannabe scientist, with his teenage friends, stumbles across the ability to time leap (short distances back in time to 48 hours or so). Part of his team is his long-time childhood friend, a sweet girl named Mayuri. Mayuri is the purest, most innocent, most likable, cheerful, happy-go-lucky person in this story. Every time she is on-screen or talking, you just smile. However, due to Rintaro making this time leap machine, sinister forces realize he has this ability and storm their office with an armed team. They announce the list of people they need to go with them.
You as the player realize they don’t mention Mayuri’s name. The rest of the team realizes this too. They then beg and plead to the enemies to let her go, but they very coldheartedly shoot her in front of everyone right in the forehead.
Do you remember the scene in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring where Frodo screams, “Noooooo!” as he watches Gandalf fall from the bridge? That was nothing compared to the “NOOOOO!” that emanated from my mouth when they shot Mayuri.
*(video courtesy of PlayStation)
But it gets far, FAR worse!
Rintaro, in the confusion, manages to time leap back a few hours so that he can try and save Mayrui. Fate, however, has other ideas as no matter how many times Rintaro leaps, Mayuri dies in multiple horrible ways, no matter what he does: hit by a train, heart attack, nothing works.
This, my friends, is the crux of the game. How can Rintaro save Mayuri? Can he even actually save Mayuri? To add even more layers to an already fantastic game, the only possible way he can save her is to destroy the hopes and dreams of his friends. You as the player have to choose who is more important! As the game has multiple endings, the choice on how this ends is up to you!
The way the game set this whole scenario up was fantastic. As each character had such a deep, rich background, it only added to the sense of loss when one of them, the most likable by far, is brutally killed. As Simon Cowell might say, “I wasn’t expecting that!”.
4 – The Death of Fenrir in God of War: Ragnarok
This next one is DEEPLY personal to me and may not have had the same impact on others, but I cried my eyes dry with this one.
I have a pet Husky named Lady. At the time Ragnarok came out and I was playing it, Lady was having a torrid time. She is north of 10 years old, and a small lump on her hind leg developed into a big lump. At the same time as that, blood started coming out of her behind. We really thought that this was it with my pet wolf. Words can’t describe how much she means to me as she has literally been by my side for cuddles through thick and thin.
Lady had to go into Pet Hospital to have the lump removed and have treatment for whatever was causing her to lose blood from her behind. While she was in hospital, I was playing God of War: Ragnarok to forget what was going on in the real world. And then I came to this bit in the game where Atreus has to say goodbye to his pet wolf, Fenrir. In this touching scene, Atreus slowly comes to realize that it’s Fenrir’s time. He gently tries to reassure him to let go as Fenrir slowly drifts away.
*(video courtesy of DVESF)
Let’s just say, I was not ready for that. What made it all the more convincing was that it was a wolf Atreus was dealing with, and as an owner of one (kinda’), I couldn’t get over how accurate the movements of the wolf were compared to how my wolf is. Never did I have more of an urge to drop everything to rush to Lady’s side one more time, but goodness me, I was a wreck for a while because of that wonderful and emotional scene in the game.
The good news is my wolf, Lady, survived and is still with me today (by my side at my feet as I type this). She is now blind and going deaf, but I know at some point I’m going to cuddle her one last time like Atreus did with Fenrir, and I hope she can pass away to be strong and run wild as gently as Fenrir did.
5 – The Ending of Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name
This one, BY FAR, is the one that had me in a heap for the longest time; so much so that my daughter had to check on me and cuddle me for ages.
I’ve been a HUGE fan of the Yakuza series and have enjoyed each game. I’ve been on Kazuma Kiryu’s journey from the very beginning. The Man Who Erased His Name is a game that was made to finally end the story arc of the six games that came before.
If you know anything about Kiryu and the Yakuza games, Kiryu is basically a reluctant Yakuza boss who’s trying to get away from that life to run an orphanage as Kiryu himself was an orphan. Playing so many hours as Kiryu, you know that he is only hard as nails because he has to be to sort things out. You also know that deep down in him, there is a soft caring side just wanting to let go. The problem Kiryu has had in all of these games has been keeping his private life of running the orphanage separate from the underworld of the criminal and Yakuza mobs. Quite often this juxtaposition is the focal point and a weak point for enemies to get to Kiryu.
Finally, Kiryu discovers a way he can keep his orphanage safe, but it comes at the cost of having to fake his death and never be part of his kids’ lives ever again. He chose for the good of the kids to do this, and then we get to the scene in question.
Kiryu is sitting quietly in his retreat after his “fake” burial in a cemetery. A camera is left recording away from the grave to watch who turns up. Kiryu is handed an iPad and told to watch the recording; it is of his children of the orphanage at his grave offering their thanks to Kiryu for all he did for them. They also start to say what they are doing now and talk to the gravestone as though Kiryu is right there with them still.
You as the player watch this from an almost first-person PoV of the screen and nothing else. Slowly, you start to notice drops of water fall onto the screen. Cut back to Kiryu, and he is in floods of tears and FINALLY lets what has been building up for so long, over so many games, all out.
*(video courtesy of DangitRomeo)
Why this hits hard is, again, as a parent, you always want to feel like what you have done has had a positive effect on your kids. You want them to be the best that they can be, and you hope they are thankful for all the sacrifices you made for them. Here we had the kids of Kiryu getting to share that moment with him to tell him that he has done exactly that. It was painful to know that they felt so strongly about him, while at the same time, he couldn’t be there anymore to ensure their own safety. It was heartbreaking but satisfying all at the same time and a wonderful scene that was superbly acted and directed.
Daniel Garcia-Montes
6 – The Ending of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
I’m not normally one to shed tears when watching shows/movies or playing games, but there have been a few rare moments that really tugged on my heartstrings and had me feeling the sting of tears as they begin welling up on my peepers. I definitely got a little misty during a couple of the same scenes that Peter mentioned up above (namely his examples involving The Last of Us and God of War: Ragnarok), but I’m pretty sure the only time I found myself practically blubbering was during the ending of MGS4. Main character Solid Snake is pretty much my favorite video game character, the definitive badass of my generation. In MGS4, he not only is suffering from accelerated aging due to his cloned genes, but he’s also still infected with the FOXDIE virus, which is beginning to mutate and is on the verge of starting a potentially devastating outbreak, making Snake a ticking time bomb ready to go off at any moment.
Snake has been through some shit, and then some. He’s lost many friends and allies, killed his father (though he had it coming), survived brutal torture, and even forced himself through a hallway that was literally cooking him alive with microwaves. This man refuses to call himself a hero, even though he is one. So, after Liquid Ocelot and the Patriots are finally defeated, Snake still has one last mission: to end his life before the lives of thousands or millions of others are lost to the virus within him. Visiting the (supposed) grave of his father, Snake loads a single bullet into his gun, kneels down, and sticks the gun in his mouth, ready to do what needs to be done. The camera pulls up, and we hear the gunshot.
*(video courtesy of The Urizen)
Yeah, seeing Snake’s end come about in such a manner was deeply saddening, to say the least. I shed some tears. After being on this journey with Snake from the PS1 to the PS3, I was emotionally devastated by his heroic but lonely death.
But then…lo’ and behold, as the end credits started rolling, they suddenly stopped. We then see Snake in the cemetery, still alive, breathing heavily. He apparently fired the shot in the air at the last second. It’s possible I began crying again (not too clear on that one) as I felt a huge sense of relief and happiness upon seeing my favorite character had actually not blown his brains out. And with information provided to him that the FOXDIE virus would remain dormant for the albeit limited time he had left to live, Snake could now live the rest of his life in peace and meet his end with those he cares for most by his side.
7 – The Ending of the Pigsy’s Perfect 10 DLC for Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
Here’s another blast from the past. Enslaved: Odyssey to the West was a good game, despite how short and linear it was. It also had very, very few characters, literally three of them, but you grew to care about them all (in varying degrees) thanks to how well written they were and the heartfelt story behind their adventure together. But it was in the game’s DLC, Pigsy’s Perfect 10, where I felt that ever-annoying sting of tears trying to burst forth from my tear ducts. Pigsy, who was one of the supporting characters in the main game, is the star of the show in this DLC, and his goal is to build himself a new “friend” since he has no one else to spend time with in the mech graveyard he lives in. Well, he does have his little robot buddy, Truffles, who’s basically a cute little flying television screen that communicates with beeps and boops, and he can show the different moods he’s in by displaying little emoji-like images on his screen.
Pigsy, rather shortsightedly, loses focus as he tries to build his new creation and kind of forgets Truffles is even there at times, taking him for granted, even though Truffles never leaves Pigsy’s side during his quest. That is until Truffles is taken by mechs. Pigsy soon realizes what a fool he’s been and does everything possible to get Truffles back, even going so far as to track him down to a mech factory and destroy all the enemy mechs that get in his way. When Pigsy finally saves Truffles, he runs off with him to head back home, and Truffles has a big emoji-like smile plastered on his face the whole time. Unfortunately, having suffered too much damage, Truffles loses power and begins to shut down. But even as Truffles fades away, his smile remains until his screen goes black. I gotta’ say, I was not prepared for how much that little scene would affect me. I didn’t full on cry, but there was definitely some mistiness in my eyes.
*(video courtesy of Fair Play)
Tasha Quinn
8 – The Last Campfire in Final Fantasy XV
I like to think I’m pretty thick-skinned when it comes to video games. Of course, there are games that tug at my heartstrings, but it’s rare that a video game actually makes me cry. That’s probably why the ones that do stand out in my memory so well.
Say what you will about Final Fantasy XV. I know it has its faults, but one thing it does really well is create a compelling cast of protagonists. Unlike other games in the franchise, XV focuses on a much smaller main cast. There’s no swapping of party members—you spend the entire time with the same characters, so it’s only natural that you grow attached to them.
The story of Prince Noctis is a tragic one, filled with death and sacrifice. The last night in front of the campfire with his friends before he was forced to sacrifice himself for the good of the world was nothing short of heartbreaking. I made the mistake of starting the endgame late at night, so I ended up lying awake, grieving the fictional character I had come to know throughout my time with the game.
*(video courtesy of Zanar Aesthetics)
9 – The Ending of A Plague Tale: Requiem
If the ending of FFXV made me cry, A Plague Tale: Requiem turned me into an inconsolable mess. The tale of Amicia and her younger brother Hugo spans two games, which is more than enough time to fall in love with the adorable Hugo.
We spend the majority of the second game searching for a cure for Hugo’s plague-related illness (Macula), following in the footsteps of the past bearer of the Macula and his protector, only to find that their efforts were in vain. Amicia is forced to make a decision (at Hugo’s request) that no older sibling should ever have to face in order to stop the spread of the plague.
I’m still not over this game, and I doubt I ever will be.
So, there you have it. Our top 9 moments in video games that have made us cry like babies. Have you cried at anything? If so, what was it? Have you experienced any of the above in our list, and did they affect you? Let us know in the comments below.
