What has made you cry hardest in a video game?

[StaceyPowers]

What has made you cry hardest in a video game? For me it was the ending of Stray.

[Akun]

I've rarely cried in video games, but two games come to mind: Mass Effect 3 and Spiritfarer. ME3 obviously has a lot of emotional moments, especially with Mordin considered, but I'd say Spiritfarer made me cry even more. By the end of it, I felt depressed, devastated, and just emotionally drained. It's a game I could never revisit again because it's just too depressing for me, even if its ending was meant to be bittersweet and meant to make you feel positive about a depressing topic.

[The Blackangel]

Arthur’s death in RDR2.

[Empire]

Red Dead Redemption.

John’s overall journey just made me feel super emotional. Not gonna spoil it for anyone who hasn’t played, but he’s one of those characters whose life you just feel so immersed in. I’ve yet to play RDR2 in that case.

[Justin11]

* The incredible outpour of emotion from Dom for his beloved Maria* 

This part made me shade little tears playing *Gears Of War II'. 

[Kane99]

For me, near the end of Season 1 of telltales Walking Dead game. When you have to make a horrible decision at the end. I won't say what if you've never played it, but it was a great story, sad ending. 

Also Arthur's death in RDR2. The first time I don't think I reacted much, but after I am done with this playthrough, I know I'm going to tear up. Just that ending music and all of it. 

[Heatman]

On 9/6/2022 at 7:07 PM, StaceyPowers said:

What has made you cry hardest in a video game? For me it was the ending of Stray.

I haven't played Stray yet but I have heard the same remark from at least 5 players that I have known to have played and completed the game. 

The death of Arthur in Red Dead Redemption 2 was a very hard one and also the massacre of innocent woman and children in Spec Ops : The Line. 

[Akun]

7 hours ago, Heatman said:

I haven't played Stray yet but I have heard the same remark from at least 5 players that I have known to have played and completed the game. 

I really should get around to playing it since I love games that make me cry. I've already installed it but got bored and distracted after the first hour. lmao

[Akun]

21 hours ago, Kane99 said:

For me, near the end of Season 1 of telltales Walking Dead game. When you have to make a horrible decision at the end. I won't say what if you've never played it, but it was a great story, sad ending. 

See, that example is why I feel like I have a hard time crying playing games or even watching movies, because while the scene was kinda sad, I didn't really burst out in tears and went into depression mode like I did with Spiritfarer. It's like, games where you see the vast majority of gamers cry, particularly on YouTube videos (Pewdiepie cried to that scene in Telltale's Walking Dead too), and when I didn't have the same reaction... man, I feel left out sometimes. lol

[Heatman]

22 hours ago, Akun said:

... I love games that make me cry. 

Now, that's a shocker for me to be very honest. You're the first person that I have heard say that. Most people try to stay away from such games because it leave them devastated. 

[Akun]

4 hours ago, Heatman said:

Now, that's a shocker for me to be very honest. You're the first person that I have heard say that. Most people try to stay away from such games because it leave them devastated. 

I wouldn't say it's that shocking, since there's people who love to cry at movies too. It's the same thing. The emotional catharsis that comes from crying feels good. Having a good cry makes people feel good sometimes because of the powerful emotions that course through your body, kinda like adrenaline.

[Shagger]

On 9/9/2022 at 8:48 PM, Akun said:

I really should get around to playing it since I love games that make me cry. I've already installed it but got bored and distracted after the first hour. lmao

 

5 hours ago, Heatman said:

Now, that's a shocker for me to be very honest. You're the first person that I have heard say that. Most people try to stay away from such games because it leave them devastated. 

 

1 hour ago, Akun said:

I wouldn't say it's that shocking, since there's people who love to cry at movies too. It's the same thing. The emotional catharsis that comes from crying feels good. Having a good cry makes people feel good sometimes because of the powerful emotions that course through your body, kinda like adrenaline.

 

@Akun is right. The entire point of crying is to relive emotional stress, that's what it's physically supposed to do. Just like how sweating is designed to cool the body off, for example, so obviously one feels better after crying. That's why it's perfectly logical for people to want to play games, read book or watch movies/TV shows that jerk out some tears. There more to it as well. If a game gets you emotionally invested enough to actually provoke such a reaction, that's a sign that it's a good game and one worth playing. The only think I don't get is why you needed that pointed out? 

 

Onto the topic, and I do surprise myself when saying this, but there really hasn't been than many games that made me physically cry. I think Telltale's The Walking might have once or twice, but even games like TLOU didn't make me actually cry. Maybe it's down to stress overriding the sadness somewhat as stress amps me app and makes me focused and little angry rather than upset.

Edited September 11, 2022 by Shagger

[runswithspatulas]

the only time i can recall tearing up during a video game was the first time one of my animal crossing characters that i really liked moved away. i told her she could go when she asked. the day of i was so sad.

[Heatman]

On 9/10/2022 at 11:53 PM, Akun said:

I wouldn't say it's that shocking, since there's people who love to cry at movies too. It's the same thing. The emotional catharsis that comes from crying feels good. Having a good cry makes people feel good sometimes because of the powerful emotions that course through your body, kinda like adrenaline.

About crying at movies, I have seen that happen on more than one occasion. Even my mother and sister does the same thing with some movies. My sister cried more than 30 minutes after watching Titanic. I'm not sure how that works for them but I guess we are all affected by emotions in different ways because it never works with me that way. I can't remember the last time I cried apart from when someone very close to dies. For games to do that to me, it's very rare. 

[Akun]

15 minutes ago, Heatman said:

About crying at movies, I have seen that happen on more than one occasion. Even my mother and sister does the same thing with some movies. My sister cried more than 30 minutes after watching Titanic. I'm not sure how that works for them but I guess we are all affected by emotions in different ways because it never works with me that way. I can't remember the last time I cried apart from when someone very close to dies. For games to do that to me, it's very rare. 

It is hard to describe because feelings are hard to describe, that's why conversations about our feelings between spouses often take so much time away when the husband (or even wife) is just chilling and watching television. lol "We've gotta talk about our feelings." Oh no. Oh no. 😆

But I'm a big advocate of being in touch with your feelings, because I'm a very emotional person myself. If I were to take a guess - because I'm no expert psychologist - it's because there's a kind of connection we have as empathetic human beings even to fictional characters. We open ourselves up to have that connection, leaving us emotionally vulnerable, and then the movie proceeded to make them suffer with horrendous fates. So yeah, people get upset. The logical message in our head that says "It's not a real person and nothing that happens to that person matters" doesn't always convey smoothly, and our emotions take the reign and we start bawling anyway.

Also, you have to remember, movies and video games with tragic scenes can evoke painful or upsetting memories from our life, which is another trigger to crying as well.

Edited September 12, 2022 by Akun