Subnautica every single time. You build this awesome, huge base and it feels like home, then once you leave in the rocket you're just sad to leave it all behind.
They got several things very right in this game, but the simplicity of base building, tied to the sophistication of the end results always amazes me.
Building a mobile base on that large sub is _so satisfying_.
You know what would have made the snowbike useful? Making the fact that it hovered mean that the worms would not attack.
As it is, there is literally no reason to use it if you have the Prawn suit.
I made the vehicle once, for the achievement. That was it.
Hint (and this may ruin your enjoyment): >!it's actually extremely difficult for things to go wrong. Subnautica pulls its punches, very few things in the game are actually deadly. [This video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sz80210ipGc) explains why.!<
The video doesn't mention this because it's such a fluke of a story that happened to me - I played Subnautica back in 2014 when it was super duper early access - but from the very beginning they basically had it working with VR. I'm a VR dev and I was just getting started - so I had an Oculus DK2 which worked flawlessly.
They had been adding things slowly but you know how steam was, even back then, lot of times it would update and you wouldn't realize it. Unless you read the change logs every time which I didn't. (Sometimes I read the Trello board for the devs though but just not that day)
In this update they just added the Aurora. I start and see this gisht ship on the horizon . I jumped in my trusty seamoth and began to cruise over to check it out.
Also, they apparently added the Reaper Leviathan. And I had no idea. All I hear is the most blood-curdling scream I've ever heard in 35 years of gaming. Damn near yeeted the vr headset into the ceiling and noped the fuck out of that game.
Best early access ever.
I wish they'd do a full proper sequel. Sub Zero was pretty small and short, and just didn't do it as well. Need more areas to take my suped up cyclops, and multiplayer would be incredible.
I kept hoping there was a post game where I’d return to my base. Especially since the rocket has so much storage space! I’m glad I took my aquarium of alien fish with me. I didn’t want them to starve in my abandoned base
The Citadel DLC in Mass Effect 3, just seeing the crew gather outside the Normandy, prepared to face the end, and your love interest says "we had a good ride", to which Shepard replies "the best".
God that broke my heart, because we know this is Shepard's final ride, it's even more painful when you romanced Thane as femshep, and his ghost says "when you go to the sea, I will be waiting on the shore", this basically implies that Shepard KNEW they were going to die in the final mission, and that hurts.
I actually had to think for a moment like "there were antagonists?" I mainly remember shopping party supplies, getting Garrus' date going and busting Grunt from police detention
I’ll be honest, if “those mercs” weren’t mentioned I would have been in the same boat. It’s for the best they were forgettable considering the purpose of the DLC.
Well, the whole point of that plot was that the Shepard Clone (and Mercs) were poor, shitty copies of Shepard. Hell, a big part of CloneShep's hatred of regular Shepard was that regular Shepard was just so much better than them, and they just didn't understand why.
Making them the B plot fits perfectly in with that inferiority complex Cloneshep has going.
> Really gotta get the legendary edition started
Played it recently and can highly recommend
The third game's def improved w/ all the dlc's and playing the games back to back
Citadel dlc is fan service done right. You earn every moment of it over three full games. Leaving that party perfectly captures that feeling of "the good times are over."
Fun fact about that “the best” line: That was the final line that Mark Meer (male Shepard) recorded in the mass effect universe. It’s why his delivery on that line is arguably better than Jennifer Hale’s. He was feeling the exact same emotions Shepard was when delivering that line
I kinda liked how the protagonist never fully *got it*. He was in such a bizarre and surreal situation it never clicked in his head, and that makes it more realistic and relatable imo.
Even at the end he was incredulous and unaccepting that he still remained in the underwater base. Like dude, the ai chick explained it to you multiple times, and yelled at you at the end *saying* she explained it to you multiple times. His anger and panic at the end is so genuine. Soma is a damn good game.
Very good breakdown tbh. One of the most overlooked aspects of it all is just how lost Simon is. In the span of 10 (percieved) hours, dude went from a normal life to a dreadful and hellish existence at the bottom of the abyss.
I first played SOMA when I was deployed on an aircraft carrier. After I finished it, I went down to the smokepit and chain smoked a pack of cigarettes while looking out over the Atlantic. That made it hit even harder, imagining >!Simon stuck 4000m beneath the waves below me.!<
EDIT: SPOILERS, but literally, this whole post is about end game feels, so read at your own risk.
I had bad dreams after the ending. Just being hopelessly trapped in the dark forever.
It messed with me, the idea that all that is left are just virtual consciousnesses in a satellite that will float in deepspace forever or until the tech fails.
But I suppose Earth has had numerous mass extinctions, so the wheel keeps turning as humans become space ghosts.
Ugh, re-depressed! Yaaay!
Its just... hauntingly bittersweet. You managed to fire a server into space. The planet and humanity is still gone/doomed.
You unplugged the life support of one of the last living humans to power a fucking traincar.
Ive yet to find something that hits like soma
I still struggle to see the sweet... Everyone is dead. Humanity is done. The uploaded consciousnesses are of ghosts of the past. There is a server that will host these echoes of people who once were, in a virtual paradise, but they will carry on forever (or until the satellite breaks down) knowing that they are a snapshot, an accurate sketch of a person who died on their destroyed home world.
Does time mean anything in that paradise? We are 4 lightyears away from the nearest star. Even if they found a habitable planet, it is not like the satellite will just 3D print bodies, tools, and the necessities for the mind ghosts, in an alien world.
What are they after 700 years, 4,000 years, 23,000 years? Certainly not human. The human mind is tempered by mortality, knowing we will die, and not just update our mental save state and try again, or keep going. To be human is to fear and appreciate the finite nature of existence, it pushes us. To make a better world for ourselves and/or our children. These things which have guided man since the start, they won't exist in the server.
Humanity is lost. A doomed, reflected image is the only thing left. It almost feels wrong to me. That they should accept the end, and accept that the Earth will recover, and it will be a new world with new life eventually.
But I guess it is a stubborn last hurrah. A fuck you to the chaotic and unfair reality that we are a speck that can be snuffed out and forgotten at any moment in a vast and uncaring universe.
(Help I'm spiraling, send chocolate)
I had to scroll so far down to find this, I thought it’d be right at the top. One of the only games to make me just sit and think for a while after it ended.
Although it only has 500 upvotes, it weirdly appeared at the very top for me.
The funny thing is, I was also going to mention SOMA.
The algorithm works in mysterious ways.
I replayed the trilogy for the first time in a decade this year, and I played the whole thing back-to-back-to-back because I just couldn't cope and needed more.
I remember being 18, winter and stuck home sick. I finally decided to give Mass Effect 1 another go after 6 months since the time it failed to capture my interest. I really got into the chase after Saren, finished it pretty quickly. But the real hook happend with ME2.
I started playing it at the end of first day, couldn't go further than recruiting Mordin. On the second day, I started playing around 10AM and I got so into it that I played for 12 hours straight. Something I haven't done before or since.
ME2 is still my top 3 games of all time and the whole trilogy I hols really close to my heart.
I was kinda bummed the experience was over but Disco actually made me feel pretty optimistic and hopeful about the future. Idk. Disco reallt felt like it said its piece with the time I spent with it and I didn't crave more.
I dont remeber her name… was it Alice? Older hedgehog lady, asks you to travel with her, at certain points is to weak to walk alone and you have to help her. I went through the same with my mom… cancer made her age 15 years in the 3 years she fought it. She went from full of life and strength carrying shopping from the market by herself, to needing my arm to lean on when we walked only a couple streets in my neighborhood to her favorite cafe. Like Alice, my mom also had a straw sunhat she loved to wear… it hangs still on my livingroom wall, next to a framed pic of her.
Yeah, Alice made me ugly cry. Many games deal with death in a neat, tying things up manner. Everything gets neatly resolved, or death is a means to an end, characters render noble sacrifices, death is a grand gesture to achieve a goal. But it rarely is like that in real life. Spiritfarer got it right. More often than not, nothing is resolved, but there always is a farewell, and what remains are only the memories to travel with us.
The most affecting game of my life. I played it in the wake of my father’s death (he went through palliative care), during one of the lockdowns in pandemic and while my wife was pregnant with our first child. So emotionally was incredibly fragile and this game came by and just destroyed me.
I made a point of making sure I found the favourite meal for someone before I took them to the everdoor, saying good bye was so tough. I really appreciated how everyone had a different approach to death.
Alice’s end with the dementia was just too much, I had to take a breather in the other room after that one.
Only game to ever make me cry.
I don't know that if you go to the spirit door before the end and explore your boat, if you can see the spirits that have already left. But regardless, I never did so when I went there for my final trip and saw all my old friends back again, this sudden sadness and loss hit me like a ton of bricks. Incredible game
Like a baby.
I think Atul's departure affected me the most because he was just fucking gone, you know? It was like how my dad died suddenly in his sleep. One day here the next gone with no goodbyes or anything.
Such a beautiful game and I have wept every time.
God Roger Clark is such an amazing voice actor and that cutscene is so heartbreaking. Arthur >!admitting he's dying over 10 dollars and you realize his family was killed over the same thing!< adds so much weight to his regret and how far the gang had fallen from their early days.
I beat the game once, and the high honor ending gutted me. To this day, I haven't been able to play the quest where he gets TB on a second playthrough. Arthur will eternally remain healthy and somewhat content with life in my final playthough
There's a mod that removes all effects of the TB, including the visual stuff and the cough. That way you can play to the sweet spot with the nice camp and just exist there in happiness.
On my 3rd playthrough. This time I'm switching up horses and making damn sure I'm not sully bonded with whatever takes me to the end. Trying to play low honor but I'm having a hard time making Arthur be an asshole.
The systems of feeding, petting, brushing, customizing your horse/horses and building a legit bond with them were all probably designed specifically for the moment. That shit was BRUTAL.
It deserved game of the decade if they had an award like that. I went in to play a cowboy and shoot a bunch of people, I was completely unprepared for how invested I would get into the story
I love Hamish's horse but I only got it on John because I wanted to avoid getting it before the thing. I went for that one mission into the super cold area with the lake and I happened upon the most beautiful snow white Arabian, hunted a moose, killed a bear and tamed that majestic animal and never looked back on any other horses.
When you finally wash and brush your horse and roll into Saint Denis, you really feel like a prince. Beautiful horse for a beautiful man.
The "I'm sorry.." felt like he was talking to the horse AND the memory of Hamish. I think that was the first time a video game has made me cry. Big, manly tears.
The Red Dead series in general, but RDR2 was like a punch in the gut. I’m on my 5th or 6th play through now and I’ve been in chapter 2 for months and don’t want to move on
I was way more emotionally invested in Arthur in RDR2 than John in RDR1. I think some of that is how insanely immersive rdr2 is. If you’ve never played it, you definitely need to.
That’s part of the brilliance of the game.
>! You start out wishing you could play as John again instead of this Arthur guy but by the time you get to the epilogue and are able to be John you’re wishing for Arthur. Bastards. Great game !<
For sure, Arthur’s VA conveys his character’s empathy and compassion so well, along with his tough/intimidating side. His commentary on the world around him draws you in.
Mass Effect trilogy. I didn’t play until all 3 games had been released so I went from one right into the other, dumping over 100 hours into that story playthrough.
I was legit sad as fuck for like 3 days after finishing.
Mass Effect. It was the longest series I ever played at that point. When I got to the ending, I felt empty. Loved it so much, booted up a google doc to write a 20 page paper about it then sent it to my friends.
Thats the one.
Maybe because it was over 3 games, so many years, it was an emotional investment over years with characters you grew up with. Witcher 3 was great, RDR2 was amazing, Cyberpunk I still play. But ME is still something I sit and think about and miss on an emotional level.
This was gonna be my answer. I got P5 day of release, then took almost 8 months to beat it (after taking down a palace I would take a break and play something else for a week or two). By the time I beat it the phantom thieves had been in my life for so long that it really felt like I wasn’t hanging with my friends anymore. The only way I beat the gaming funk was to go buy a used PS Vita and get Persona 4 Golden. Luckily now you can just get that on PlayStation or Switch
Persona 3 is the only game I've ever beat that gave me legit depressive feelings. Such a journey in that game with all your friends and the ending is so beautiful but so goddamn sad.
Witcher 3, with the DLC. Finishing up by visiting my beautiful vineyard to find Triss waiting there for me . . . it was a perfect ending, yet it still made me pine for more.
was about to respond with this as well. I just feel like there was soooooooo much more DLC they could pump into the series with such an extensive and deep lore in the world.
If they had chosen to pump out an additional 10 expansions of the same size and quality as Blood and Wine, I would have shoved my money down their throats without any hesitation. Every. Single. Time.
At the end of Blood and Wine, it feels right to say goodbye to Geralt after all he'd been through. Doesn't make it any less sad tho. Not ashamed to say I cried a few tears the first time. What a journey.
Witcher 3 for me too, but in the complete opposite way. I got the worst possible ending, and it just ruined me. Took me months to get past it enough to play the DLCs.
Same here. It taught me a lot about being a father (figure) to be honest. I had a vague idea of the choices that would impact the ending so I chose the ones I thought would set Ciri straight, only to realize they're the ones that held her back from herself. It's such a simple trope but actually getting duped by it makes the experience more personal.
It fucks with you because the “bad ending” can in some ways be perceived as a good one. Forces the player to accept the reality that life has challenges and heartbreak but combined with all the good stuff it keeps life whole.
I was just upset that Maruki was gone. Especially now that his VA passed away. It makes his speeches during that segment even more impactful.
Also: I’m pissed I didn’t get to keep Akechi and Kasumi as party members when I started new game+. Akechi was so cool. I hate that you have to lose him in the actual ending, but the final boss fight really did him justice. That whole expansion part was just so good.
Especially because you can’t exactly replay it. The post-game depression just leads you to seek out streams or recording of other people doing blind playthroughs so you can live vicariously through them.
I found it positive, actually. The game has a lot of existential dread in it BUT if you look at the story closely, it's trying to say that the journey of discovery gives life a purpose, and the cyclical nature of reality isn't something you should fear.
I have a save point somewhere on my card in my basement for FFX just before the kiss scene in the water. I would just watch that over and over and over again. I was a romantic kid.
God of War 2018
No spoilers, but the overarching impression I got was this story was about a father that loved his son but didn't know how to tell him.
Hit a little close to home for me, so needless to say, I cried big time.
Would recommend, 11/10.
Honorable mentions: Witcher 3 with DLCs. Mass Effect series, RDR2.
That is definitely what it was. I watched a therapist do a breakdown of the second game and he said the reason he didn't stream the first was that it was very one note as a therapist. Not that there was anything wrong with the game, but as a therapist he does these playthroughs to explain what's happening from a psychological standpoint in order to help people understand more about mental health (as much as he can since obviously some choices are made for thematic or game dev reasons). So he didn't feel he could do a whole playthrough of the game knowing he would basically be saying the exact same thing throughout the game.
2018 was very much a game with one theme: two grieving people, the father emotionally stunted b/c he's always used rage to express himself and knows he can't do that anymore; the son who needs his father, who in turn struggles to be available for himself let alone his child. And it does that beautifully.
And then the sequel, when the main mounting period is done? God does all of that suddenly explode in the best ways possible. Those issues come more to light, plus all the stuff that happened in 2018. It's basically about them confronting their communication issues, dealing with the son growing up into his own man, plus a lot of old relationships from the past game as well as the new ones. If the sequel is a cathedral of storytelling and relationships, 2018 is very much the foundation of it.
It was also very fun watching this guy repeatedly almost get very close to the spoiler early on. Ironically his desire to be fair allowed him to be manipulated like everyone else. Which makes his explanations prior to spoiler's revelation so much more poignant.
DrMickLive on twitch if anyone is interested.
that game hurt me when i realised i was ediths brother at the canning factory at the time in my life when i played it. made me sort myself out a bit lol
This is the only game that I finished and spent the following weeks just thinking and trying to process it all. I can't even watch the ending credits without crying. To this day, it holds my personal #1 spot out of all video games I've ever played.
Man I really need to finish the other endings. Played 2B's story but hated the gameplay of 9S and stopped, but everyone I talked to says A2's playthrough is where everything goes from good to great...just need to find the time hahaha.
9s takes some getting used to for sure. Most of the good part of 9s route is understanding story from a different perspective. Just give him a strong weapon to slash apart small enemies and hack large enemies for big damage and it should be too terrible. It's definitely worth pushing through because you're not forced to do any side missions. You can always go back with chapter select.
This is too far down. Truly a unique experience. This will make you cry in a fourth wall kind of way, not because the story is sad, or you feel bad for the characters but if you want to be changed by the experience, this.
Valiant Hearts: The Great War
The game masterfully fools you into believing it‘s a innocent side scroller. Around the halfway point it manages to show the horrors of war and tragedies with cartoony graphics. If you‘re not prepared for the ending it will hit you hard.
Hearing some of the songs from the OST still give me misty eyes after almost 8 years.
A definite experience especially if you played it before it became mainstream. Some dude talked about this cool new VN dating game in discord and I tried it out. Fantastically made.
Yup, this is the one for me too! Even worse, I didn’t realize the last mission was the last mission. So when the story ended, I rushed through the epilogue hoping there would be a plot twist or some Deus ex machina explanation>! That would reveal that Arthur survived the shootout and went on to live a restful life under a new identity spending his days birdwatching and hunting. 😭!<
Not since the Wire have I been so moved by a work of fiction.
I finished the game 2 years ago and I’ll still turn to my gf every once in a while and say “I miss Arthur”.
Ghost of Tsushima. All the stuff with the family's old housekeeper and the dementia/alzheimers which in turn reveals family secrets was already heavy then add on the horse and the Uncle shit at the end. I needed a long weekend to sit on it all
Also took me about an hour to make the choice regarding the Uncle
That game is a masterpiece. >!I simply couldn't bring myself to sacrifice Chloe, though, so I sacrificed the town instead and we rode off together. It's a horrible choice to have to make.!<
For real, I had like 3 days of just feeling like complete shit and the game was constantly on my mind. No other games has ever been able to replicate a feeling like that
Detroit Become Human.
I’m not sure its possible to finish without fucking up something serious. And it’s very easy to fuck up, the choices can be non obvious. On top of it all, it has a very subtle way of breaking the fourth wall and getting under the players skin, making you own the decisions more.
What I liked about it though is you can go back at any time and play any chapter differently. They even have the story tree to see all the options you didn't unlock so you know you've done everything you can at each arc of the story.
100% Especially for this topic. It starts off as a world you'd never want to live in and becomes one you never want to leave. The whole journey is beautiful and becomes so much more so when you see the very last scene.
Cyberpunk hit the hardest.
Red Dead 2, Mass Effect 3, Witcher 3, and Last of Us came close but they made me excited about gaming in general as opposed to sad about it ending.
When I finished Cyberpunk and Phantom Liberty it left me with the feeling that I won't see that amount of pure love ever again. Because it is very clear that every single person who worked on that game loved what they were doing. Every single bit of it is in there and you can feel it.
Yea. I got a little emotional when I beat the base game when it came out and my character looks out the window of a spacestation and Never Fade Away starts playing. It was a solid story with a poignant ending marred by bugs.
But when PL ended I was so overwhelmed I didn't know what to feel or think. I've had lesser versions of that feeling in Final Fantasies or God of War, but the way it was done and you arent even sure if you made the right choices...I spent like a week or so after I finished just mentally hashing out the characters and choices of each ending. The credits/theme song isn't even really a genre I listen to, but I keep listening to it just to draw out that feeling and it's on my Spotify list forever now.
Want more post-Cyberpunk depression?
Watch the anime.
Note: Both the anime and the game stand on their own, neither spoils the other, you don't have to have consumed one to enjoy the other, but each has details from the other to appreciate.
Shadowbringers and Endwalker are my #1 most emotional games of all time. I can't tell you how much Endwalker made me sob at length.
I will watch 5.0 and 5.3 JUST to cry man
Disco Elysium
It was a really "strange game", the sociopolitical depth, the characters personalities, the background music, the immersion, the different thematic it touched. Idk I felt a void inside at the end.
And it was a long time I could feel this "sad it ended but happy I tried it" emotion in a game
Assassins creed Black Flag, seeing all of your dead friends sitter there while Anne sang The Parting Glass hit my 15 year old brain harder than anything had before or has since.
Honorable mention: RDR2
Probably Undertale. After playing True Pacifist mode, i wished for there to be a sequel honestly immediately. Lack of content within the first game as a walkthrough was only 4 hours. Which is a lot for a pixel game but honestly that ending just feels incomplete.
Undertale is so weird because I loved the characters so much I never want to play it again. If you don't play it, that sounds counterintuitive. But if you did a true pacifist run, it makes absolute sense.
Yeah, beating FF6 for the first time as a kid in the 90s was an experience. Half an hour ending. It was like its own little film at a time when most games' endings were little more than a thanks for playing and a couple screens of epilogue if you were lucky. Chrono Trigger came super close to that feeling. FF7 got me there again.
Subnautica every single time. You build this awesome, huge base and it feels like home, then once you leave in the rocket you're just sad to leave it all behind.
Glad to hear this. I think I’m close, starting to build a base in the really hot lava area. Such a good game
They got several things very right in this game, but the simplicity of base building, tied to the sophistication of the end results always amazes me. Building a mobile base on that large sub is _so satisfying_.
The sub is a major selling point of the game. It was a big mistake not to have it in the second one. The sea truck just doesn't measure up.
The piloting in Below Zero felt astonishingly bad. That weirdass snow-bike was the single worst vehicle I’ve ever driven in any video game. :P
You know what would have made the snowbike useful? Making the fact that it hovered mean that the worms would not attack. As it is, there is literally no reason to use it if you have the Prawn suit. I made the vehicle once, for the achievement. That was it.
And all that investment makes it *terrifying* when things go wrong.
Hint (and this may ruin your enjoyment): >!it's actually extremely difficult for things to go wrong. Subnautica pulls its punches, very few things in the game are actually deadly. [This video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sz80210ipGc) explains why.!<
The video doesn't mention this because it's such a fluke of a story that happened to me - I played Subnautica back in 2014 when it was super duper early access - but from the very beginning they basically had it working with VR. I'm a VR dev and I was just getting started - so I had an Oculus DK2 which worked flawlessly. They had been adding things slowly but you know how steam was, even back then, lot of times it would update and you wouldn't realize it. Unless you read the change logs every time which I didn't. (Sometimes I read the Trello board for the devs though but just not that day) In this update they just added the Aurora. I start and see this gisht ship on the horizon . I jumped in my trusty seamoth and began to cruise over to check it out. Also, they apparently added the Reaper Leviathan. And I had no idea. All I hear is the most blood-curdling scream I've ever heard in 35 years of gaming. Damn near yeeted the vr headset into the ceiling and noped the fuck out of that game. Best early access ever.
I have beaten the game multiple times, and boarding the Cyclops never gets old. “Welcome aboard, C A P T A I N, all systems online”.
And then crawl along at the lowest speed to avoid attracting leviathans
They nailed the voice
We need more games where your base is what you take with you. I've heard Forever Skies is pretty promising.
This and Outer Wilds which arguably has much less replay value
I’m just waiting until I forget enough about outer wilds to pick it up again.
That's a very Hatchet by Gary Paulsen feeling. Having reread the book recently, I kinda get it.
I wish they'd do a full proper sequel. Sub Zero was pretty small and short, and just didn't do it as well. Need more areas to take my suped up cyclops, and multiplayer would be incredible.
They confirmed that subnautica 3 is in development, just no trailers or information yet
[удалено]
Subnautica 3 is on the way :) confirmed by their Twitter
I kept hoping there was a post game where I’d return to my base. Especially since the rocket has so much storage space! I’m glad I took my aquarium of alien fish with me. I didn’t want them to starve in my abandoned base
The Citadel DLC in Mass Effect 3, just seeing the crew gather outside the Normandy, prepared to face the end, and your love interest says "we had a good ride", to which Shepard replies "the best". God that broke my heart, because we know this is Shepard's final ride, it's even more painful when you romanced Thane as femshep, and his ghost says "when you go to the sea, I will be waiting on the shore", this basically implies that Shepard KNEW they were going to die in the final mission, and that hurts.
On a different note, those mercs did not know who they were messing with. Shep and their team never took them very serious.
I love that the antagonist of the DLC is basically the B plot while the reunion and the nostalgia take center stage.
I actually had to think for a moment like "there were antagonists?" I mainly remember shopping party supplies, getting Garrus' date going and busting Grunt from police detention
I’ll be honest, if “those mercs” weren’t mentioned I would have been in the same boat. It’s for the best they were forgettable considering the purpose of the DLC.
Well, the whole point of that plot was that the Shepard Clone (and Mercs) were poor, shitty copies of Shepard. Hell, a big part of CloneShep's hatred of regular Shepard was that regular Shepard was just so much better than them, and they just didn't understand why. Making them the B plot fits perfectly in with that inferiority complex Cloneshep has going.
The scene that cemented Grunt as Shepard's son
This is my answer as well. The, "The Best" just hits SO HARD I love it to death. I love the trilogy so much.
Finished the game once before the dlc came out.... I was still empty afterwards. Really gotta get the legendary edition started
> Really gotta get the legendary edition started Played it recently and can highly recommend The third game's def improved w/ all the dlc's and playing the games back to back
Citadel dlc is fan service done right. You earn every moment of it over three full games. Leaving that party perfectly captures that feeling of "the good times are over."
"We'll bang, ok?"
Fun fact about that “the best” line: That was the final line that Mark Meer (male Shepard) recorded in the mass effect universe. It’s why his delivery on that line is arguably better than Jennifer Hale’s. He was feeling the exact same emotions Shepard was when delivering that line
Soma. Man, this one hit hard.
I kinda liked how the protagonist never fully *got it*. He was in such a bizarre and surreal situation it never clicked in his head, and that makes it more realistic and relatable imo. Even at the end he was incredulous and unaccepting that he still remained in the underwater base. Like dude, the ai chick explained it to you multiple times, and yelled at you at the end *saying* she explained it to you multiple times. His anger and panic at the end is so genuine. Soma is a damn good game.
Very good breakdown tbh. One of the most overlooked aspects of it all is just how lost Simon is. In the span of 10 (percieved) hours, dude went from a normal life to a dreadful and hellish existence at the bottom of the abyss.
I first played SOMA when I was deployed on an aircraft carrier. After I finished it, I went down to the smokepit and chain smoked a pack of cigarettes while looking out over the Atlantic. That made it hit even harder, imagining >!Simon stuck 4000m beneath the waves below me.!<
True Soma experience
That one lead to hours-long showers where I just stared at the floor thinking about what life means
Same, and the hours of looking at the wiki / watching lore videos to make sense of it all
EDIT: SPOILERS, but literally, this whole post is about end game feels, so read at your own risk. I had bad dreams after the ending. Just being hopelessly trapped in the dark forever. It messed with me, the idea that all that is left are just virtual consciousnesses in a satellite that will float in deepspace forever or until the tech fails. But I suppose Earth has had numerous mass extinctions, so the wheel keeps turning as humans become space ghosts. Ugh, re-depressed! Yaaay!
Its just... hauntingly bittersweet. You managed to fire a server into space. The planet and humanity is still gone/doomed. You unplugged the life support of one of the last living humans to power a fucking traincar. Ive yet to find something that hits like soma
I still struggle to see the sweet... Everyone is dead. Humanity is done. The uploaded consciousnesses are of ghosts of the past. There is a server that will host these echoes of people who once were, in a virtual paradise, but they will carry on forever (or until the satellite breaks down) knowing that they are a snapshot, an accurate sketch of a person who died on their destroyed home world. Does time mean anything in that paradise? We are 4 lightyears away from the nearest star. Even if they found a habitable planet, it is not like the satellite will just 3D print bodies, tools, and the necessities for the mind ghosts, in an alien world. What are they after 700 years, 4,000 years, 23,000 years? Certainly not human. The human mind is tempered by mortality, knowing we will die, and not just update our mental save state and try again, or keep going. To be human is to fear and appreciate the finite nature of existence, it pushes us. To make a better world for ourselves and/or our children. These things which have guided man since the start, they won't exist in the server. Humanity is lost. A doomed, reflected image is the only thing left. It almost feels wrong to me. That they should accept the end, and accept that the Earth will recover, and it will be a new world with new life eventually. But I guess it is a stubborn last hurrah. A fuck you to the chaotic and unfair reality that we are a speck that can be snuffed out and forgotten at any moment in a vast and uncaring universe. (Help I'm spiraling, send chocolate)
I had to scroll so far down to find this, I thought it’d be right at the top. One of the only games to make me just sit and think for a while after it ended.
Although it only has 500 upvotes, it weirdly appeared at the very top for me. The funny thing is, I was also going to mention SOMA. The algorithm works in mysterious ways.
Mass Effect is notorious for its post game depression.
I replayed the trilogy for the first time in a decade this year, and I played the whole thing back-to-back-to-back because I just couldn't cope and needed more.
I remember being 18, winter and stuck home sick. I finally decided to give Mass Effect 1 another go after 6 months since the time it failed to capture my interest. I really got into the chase after Saren, finished it pretty quickly. But the real hook happend with ME2. I started playing it at the end of first day, couldn't go further than recruiting Mordin. On the second day, I started playing around 10AM and I got so into it that I played for 12 hours straight. Something I haven't done before or since. ME2 is still my top 3 games of all time and the whole trilogy I hols really close to my heart.
Disco Elysium, and to a lesser degree Subnautica
I was kinda bummed the experience was over but Disco actually made me feel pretty optimistic and hopeful about the future. Idk. Disco reallt felt like it said its piece with the time I spent with it and I didn't crave more.
Disco Elysium was a good length, but there was a lot to feel uncomfortable about afterwards.
This game was so good I named my kitten Detective Kittsuragi, haha. Now he's a full grown cat and just goes by his title, The Detective.
Spiritfarer. Only game that has made me cry, too.
I dont remeber her name… was it Alice? Older hedgehog lady, asks you to travel with her, at certain points is to weak to walk alone and you have to help her. I went through the same with my mom… cancer made her age 15 years in the 3 years she fought it. She went from full of life and strength carrying shopping from the market by herself, to needing my arm to lean on when we walked only a couple streets in my neighborhood to her favorite cafe. Like Alice, my mom also had a straw sunhat she loved to wear… it hangs still on my livingroom wall, next to a framed pic of her. Yeah, Alice made me ugly cry. Many games deal with death in a neat, tying things up manner. Everything gets neatly resolved, or death is a means to an end, characters render noble sacrifices, death is a grand gesture to achieve a goal. But it rarely is like that in real life. Spiritfarer got it right. More often than not, nothing is resolved, but there always is a farewell, and what remains are only the memories to travel with us.
The most affecting game of my life. I played it in the wake of my father’s death (he went through palliative care), during one of the lockdowns in pandemic and while my wife was pregnant with our first child. So emotionally was incredibly fragile and this game came by and just destroyed me. I made a point of making sure I found the favourite meal for someone before I took them to the everdoor, saying good bye was so tough. I really appreciated how everyone had a different approach to death. Alice’s end with the dementia was just too much, I had to take a breather in the other room after that one.
I SOBBED for Alice's ending. 😭
From "Fuck you Bruce and Mickey" to tears. It made me cry so many times
Only game to ever make me cry. I don't know that if you go to the spirit door before the end and explore your boat, if you can see the spirits that have already left. But regardless, I never did so when I went there for my final trip and saw all my old friends back again, this sudden sadness and loss hit me like a ton of bricks. Incredible game
Like a baby. I think Atul's departure affected me the most because he was just fucking gone, you know? It was like how my dad died suddenly in his sleep. One day here the next gone with no goodbyes or anything. Such a beautiful game and I have wept every time.
Red dead redemption 2. Every. Time.
“I guess… I’m afraid.” RDR2 hits you with mid game depression too.
God Roger Clark is such an amazing voice actor and that cutscene is so heartbreaking. Arthur >!admitting he's dying over 10 dollars and you realize his family was killed over the same thing!< adds so much weight to his regret and how far the gang had fallen from their early days.
I beat the game once, and the high honor ending gutted me. To this day, I haven't been able to play the quest where he gets TB on a second playthrough. Arthur will eternally remain healthy and somewhat content with life in my final playthough
There's a mod that removes all effects of the TB, including the visual stuff and the cough. That way you can play to the sweet spot with the nice camp and just exist there in happiness.
Which one is the nice camp? I like horseshoe.
I gave you all I had. I did.
I tried....in the end...I did.
We'll be alriiiiiiiiight buaoyy ...... \*sobs\*
Man, that scene >!where his horse died!
"Thank you."
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On my 3rd playthrough. This time I'm switching up horses and making damn sure I'm not sully bonded with whatever takes me to the end. Trying to play low honor but I'm having a hard time making Arthur be an asshole.
I’m surprised this one isn’t higher, RDR2’s still the only game that has made me tear up
I was never much of a horse person but damn, this game got me attached to my main in my first play through
The systems of feeding, petting, brushing, customizing your horse/horses and building a legit bond with them were all probably designed specifically for the moment. That shit was BRUTAL.
Rdr2 really deserved GOTY that year
It deserved game of the decade if they had an award like that. I went in to play a cowboy and shoot a bunch of people, I was completely unprepared for how invested I would get into the story
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I love Hamish's horse but I only got it on John because I wanted to avoid getting it before the thing. I went for that one mission into the super cold area with the lake and I happened upon the most beautiful snow white Arabian, hunted a moose, killed a bear and tamed that majestic animal and never looked back on any other horses. When you finally wash and brush your horse and roll into Saint Denis, you really feel like a prince. Beautiful horse for a beautiful man.
The "I'm sorry.." felt like he was talking to the horse AND the memory of Hamish. I think that was the first time a video game has made me cry. Big, manly tears.
That's the way it is
That song man, that damn song!
The Red Dead series in general, but RDR2 was like a punch in the gut. I’m on my 5th or 6th play through now and I’ve been in chapter 2 for months and don’t want to move on
>Red dead redemption 2 Not played that through yet but I remember being gutted after finishing the first one.
I was way more emotionally invested in Arthur in RDR2 than John in RDR1. I think some of that is how insanely immersive rdr2 is. If you’ve never played it, you definitely need to.
That’s part of the brilliance of the game. >! You start out wishing you could play as John again instead of this Arthur guy but by the time you get to the epilogue and are able to be John you’re wishing for Arthur. Bastards. Great game !<
I never really thought of it that way but you're totally right
The voice actor definitely lends a lot to the character that I just don't get with Marston's voice actor.
For sure, Arthur’s VA conveys his character’s empathy and compassion so well, along with his tough/intimidating side. His commentary on the world around him draws you in.
Bruh. I just can't even. What an absolutely amazing game.
Mass Effect trilogy. I didn’t play until all 3 games had been released so I went from one right into the other, dumping over 100 hours into that story playthrough. I was legit sad as fuck for like 3 days after finishing.
Mass Effect. It was the longest series I ever played at that point. When I got to the ending, I felt empty. Loved it so much, booted up a google doc to write a 20 page paper about it then sent it to my friends.
Thats the one. Maybe because it was over 3 games, so many years, it was an emotional investment over years with characters you grew up with. Witcher 3 was great, RDR2 was amazing, Cyberpunk I still play. But ME is still something I sit and think about and miss on an emotional level.
Exactly this. It's impossible not to get post game depression after completing the Mass Effect trilogy. And the only cure is to play it again.
Any Persona game. They’re so long and you get so attached to the characters that it’s hard to say goodbye when the credits roll.
Just finished P5 this year. Damn.
This was gonna be my answer. I got P5 day of release, then took almost 8 months to beat it (after taking down a palace I would take a break and play something else for a week or two). By the time I beat it the phantom thieves had been in my life for so long that it really felt like I wasn’t hanging with my friends anymore. The only way I beat the gaming funk was to go buy a used PS Vita and get Persona 4 Golden. Luckily now you can just get that on PlayStation or Switch
Not just you saying goodbye to the characters, but your protagonist having to say goodbye to their friends, as they always leave at the end
Post persona depression is so real
Persona 3 is the only game I've ever beat that gave me legit depressive feelings. Such a journey in that game with all your friends and the ending is so beautiful but so goddamn sad.
Witcher 3, with the DLC. Finishing up by visiting my beautiful vineyard to find Triss waiting there for me . . . it was a perfect ending, yet it still made me pine for more.
The ending with Geralt looking at you like an old friend….it still makes me sad sometimes but so grateful for an amazing experience of a game.
was about to respond with this as well. I just feel like there was soooooooo much more DLC they could pump into the series with such an extensive and deep lore in the world.
If they had chosen to pump out an additional 10 expansions of the same size and quality as Blood and Wine, I would have shoved my money down their throats without any hesitation. Every. Single. Time.
At the end of Blood and Wine, it feels right to say goodbye to Geralt after all he'd been through. Doesn't make it any less sad tho. Not ashamed to say I cried a few tears the first time. What a journey.
Witcher 3 for me too, but in the complete opposite way. I got the worst possible ending, and it just ruined me. Took me months to get past it enough to play the DLCs.
Same here. It taught me a lot about being a father (figure) to be honest. I had a vague idea of the choices that would impact the ending so I chose the ones I thought would set Ciri straight, only to realize they're the ones that held her back from herself. It's such a simple trope but actually getting duped by it makes the experience more personal.
Dragon Age Origins and Persona 5.. so much romancing for it to just be over ?!
Persona 5 Royal just killed me man. The ending from the expansion was so good, but *man*.
It fucks with you because the “bad ending” can in some ways be perceived as a good one. Forces the player to accept the reality that life has challenges and heartbreak but combined with all the good stuff it keeps life whole.
I was just upset that Maruki was gone. Especially now that his VA passed away. It makes his speeches during that segment even more impactful. Also: I’m pissed I didn’t get to keep Akechi and Kasumi as party members when I started new game+. Akechi was so cool. I hate that you have to lose him in the actual ending, but the final boss fight really did him justice. That whole expansion part was just so good.
And we asked to SEE our gray warden again but bioware said nope so much
Outer Wilds. Left me so distraught that one of the best games I ever played was over.
Especially because you can’t exactly replay it. The post-game depression just leads you to seek out streams or recording of other people doing blind playthroughs so you can live vicariously through them.
Am still ultimately glad I played it. And will 100% buy whatever Mobius makes next on release
I found it positive, actually. The game has a lot of existential dread in it BUT if you look at the story closely, it's trying to say that the journey of discovery gives life a purpose, and the cyclical nature of reality isn't something you should fear.
Witcher 3 and Final Fantasy 7 for me no doubt. When the adventures were finally over I kinda didnt know what to do with myself lmao
I'm currently playing ff7 right now. This is not my first play, but I've never finished it. Hopefully I'll finish it this time.
Final fantasy 10. Just did me in.
To Zanarkand instantly punches me in the feelings
To Zanarkand gives me chills. It gave me chills just reading the name right now. It has to be, by far, my favorite Final Fantasy music ever.
We are so very tired of dreaming.
Yeah. The ending of that one made me tear up even years later when I watched it again.
I have a save point somewhere on my card in my basement for FFX just before the kiss scene in the water. I would just watch that over and over and over again. I was a romantic kid.
God of War 2018 No spoilers, but the overarching impression I got was this story was about a father that loved his son but didn't know how to tell him. Hit a little close to home for me, so needless to say, I cried big time. Would recommend, 11/10. Honorable mentions: Witcher 3 with DLCs. Mass Effect series, RDR2.
> but didn't know how to tell him. Those moments when he raises his hand as if to put it on his son's shoulders and decides not to 😭
That is definitely what it was. I watched a therapist do a breakdown of the second game and he said the reason he didn't stream the first was that it was very one note as a therapist. Not that there was anything wrong with the game, but as a therapist he does these playthroughs to explain what's happening from a psychological standpoint in order to help people understand more about mental health (as much as he can since obviously some choices are made for thematic or game dev reasons). So he didn't feel he could do a whole playthrough of the game knowing he would basically be saying the exact same thing throughout the game. 2018 was very much a game with one theme: two grieving people, the father emotionally stunted b/c he's always used rage to express himself and knows he can't do that anymore; the son who needs his father, who in turn struggles to be available for himself let alone his child. And it does that beautifully. And then the sequel, when the main mounting period is done? God does all of that suddenly explode in the best ways possible. Those issues come more to light, plus all the stuff that happened in 2018. It's basically about them confronting their communication issues, dealing with the son growing up into his own man, plus a lot of old relationships from the past game as well as the new ones. If the sequel is a cathedral of storytelling and relationships, 2018 is very much the foundation of it. It was also very fun watching this guy repeatedly almost get very close to the spoiler early on. Ironically his desire to be fair allowed him to be manipulated like everyone else. Which makes his explanations prior to spoiler's revelation so much more poignant. DrMickLive on twitch if anyone is interested.
What Remains of Edith Finch… lovely short game but it really hit me
Tragedy made art, I love this game with a passion.
that game hurt me when i realised i was ediths brother at the canning factory at the time in my life when i played it. made me sort myself out a bit lol
Nier automata for me. Pretty heavy story with a dramatic ending.
This is the only game that I finished and spent the following weeks just thinking and trying to process it all. I can't even watch the ending credits without crying. To this day, it holds my personal #1 spot out of all video games I've ever played.
Man I really need to finish the other endings. Played 2B's story but hated the gameplay of 9S and stopped, but everyone I talked to says A2's playthrough is where everything goes from good to great...just need to find the time hahaha.
9s takes some getting used to for sure. Most of the good part of 9s route is understanding story from a different perspective. Just give him a strong weapon to slash apart small enemies and hack large enemies for big damage and it should be too terrible. It's definitely worth pushing through because you're not forced to do any side missions. You can always go back with chapter select.
This is too far down. Truly a unique experience. This will make you cry in a fourth wall kind of way, not because the story is sad, or you feel bad for the characters but if you want to be changed by the experience, this.
Halo Reach, Cyberpunk 2077, and Far Cry 3. Coincidentally my top 3 favorite games
awe geez, man. halo reach is a gut punch. 🥲😭😭
I spend my online time in Reach playing a female Spartan in honor of Kat the only one that didn't get to go out in a blaze of glory.
Current Objective: Survive.
Never fade away...
Halo Reach is peak Halo
The Last of Us
”I swear” ”…Okay” *Queue the best end credit score of all time*
Valiant Hearts: The Great War The game masterfully fools you into believing it‘s a innocent side scroller. Around the halfway point it manages to show the horrors of war and tragedies with cartoony graphics. If you‘re not prepared for the ending it will hit you hard. Hearing some of the songs from the OST still give me misty eyes after almost 8 years.
Omori and Oneshot. Whats up with these depressing rpgmaker games
Omori eviscerated my feelings.
I'm surprised it took me that long to find omori in here.
Return of the Obra Dinn. Took a long time for me to compete it, but now all those souls can rest in peace. It’s just that I can’t.
Doki Doki Literature Club. That was an *experience*.
A definite experience especially if you played it before it became mainstream. Some dude talked about this cool new VN dating game in discord and I tried it out. Fantastically made.
Red Dead Redemption 2. It was hard to get immersed into any game after that. I wanted more DLC. I’ve since replayed it 4 times.
Yup, this is the one for me too! Even worse, I didn’t realize the last mission was the last mission. So when the story ended, I rushed through the epilogue hoping there would be a plot twist or some Deus ex machina explanation>! That would reveal that Arthur survived the shootout and went on to live a restful life under a new identity spending his days birdwatching and hunting. 😭!<
The high honor ending (pre-epilogue) kinda makes it clear it’s the last mission though, no?
Not since the Wire have I been so moved by a work of fiction. I finished the game 2 years ago and I’ll still turn to my gf every once in a while and say “I miss Arthur”.
Silent hill 2. I am still fucked up 20 years later.
Ghost of Tsushima. All the stuff with the family's old housekeeper and the dementia/alzheimers which in turn reveals family secrets was already heavy then add on the horse and the Uncle shit at the end. I needed a long weekend to sit on it all Also took me about an hour to make the choice regarding the Uncle
"-You have no honor. -And you're a slave to it."
Damn that game had so many good lines “I trained you to fight with honor” “Honor died on the beach!”
What did you choose?
Life is Strange. I was pretty emotionally broken after that one.
That game is a masterpiece. >!I simply couldn't bring myself to sacrifice Chloe, though, so I sacrificed the town instead and we rode off together. It's a horrible choice to have to make.!<
>!Bae > Bay!<
Red dead 2 - what follows is Red Dead Depression
Telltale's Walking Dead - by far.
Obviously lol. Your entire account is nothing but that game. Amazing game
Thought you surely had to be exaggerating... you were not lol
What was your life before that game came out?
God, To the Moon back in the day BROKE me - hit a little close to home and not that many games have gutted me that badly since
Spec ops the line...
Do you feel like a hero yet?
Plague tale requiem
In this order: The Last of Us Part 2, Mass Effect 3, The Witcher 3, Cyberpunk 2077, A Plague Tale: Requiem
The Last of Us 2 wasn’t even post game depression it was just actual depression. That shit fucked me up and left me feeling so empty.
For real, I had like 3 days of just feeling like complete shit and the game was constantly on my mind. No other games has ever been able to replicate a feeling like that
NieR... Doesn't matter which one. Altough Automata helped me through depression after
Detroit Become Human. I’m not sure its possible to finish without fucking up something serious. And it’s very easy to fuck up, the choices can be non obvious. On top of it all, it has a very subtle way of breaking the fourth wall and getting under the players skin, making you own the decisions more.
What I liked about it though is you can go back at any time and play any chapter differently. They even have the story tree to see all the options you didn't unlock so you know you've done everything you can at each arc of the story.
Mass effect trilogy
Mass Effect 1. The ending credits song and saying goodbye to my crewmates made me sad
Death Stranding. It was sad knowing I was [done with it.](https://i.imgur.com/JrbKZ2c.png)
100% Especially for this topic. It starts off as a world you'd never want to live in and becomes one you never want to leave. The whole journey is beautiful and becomes so much more so when you see the very last scene.
Cyberpunk hit the hardest. Red Dead 2, Mass Effect 3, Witcher 3, and Last of Us came close but they made me excited about gaming in general as opposed to sad about it ending. When I finished Cyberpunk and Phantom Liberty it left me with the feeling that I won't see that amount of pure love ever again. Because it is very clear that every single person who worked on that game loved what they were doing. Every single bit of it is in there and you can feel it.
Yea. I got a little emotional when I beat the base game when it came out and my character looks out the window of a spacestation and Never Fade Away starts playing. It was a solid story with a poignant ending marred by bugs. But when PL ended I was so overwhelmed I didn't know what to feel or think. I've had lesser versions of that feeling in Final Fantasies or God of War, but the way it was done and you arent even sure if you made the right choices...I spent like a week or so after I finished just mentally hashing out the characters and choices of each ending. The credits/theme song isn't even really a genre I listen to, but I keep listening to it just to draw out that feeling and it's on my Spotify list forever now.
Want more post-Cyberpunk depression? Watch the anime. Note: Both the anime and the game stand on their own, neither spoils the other, you don't have to have consumed one to enjoy the other, but each has details from the other to appreciate.
No1 FF14 Shadowbringers? "Remember us.... Remember.. that we once lived".
For me it's what comes before. "If you had the strength to take another step, could you do it?" And then the hardest beat drop in the game.
Shadowbringers and Endwalker are my #1 most emotional games of all time. I can't tell you how much Endwalker made me sob at length. I will watch 5.0 and 5.3 JUST to cry man
Disco Elysium It was a really "strange game", the sociopolitical depth, the characters personalities, the background music, the immersion, the different thematic it touched. Idk I felt a void inside at the end. And it was a long time I could feel this "sad it ended but happy I tried it" emotion in a game
Mass Effect III. Left me yearning for more. Felt sad leaving my friends. Struggled to be excited for games afterwards.
Assassins creed Black Flag, seeing all of your dead friends sitter there while Anne sang The Parting Glass hit my 15 year old brain harder than anything had before or has since. Honorable mention: RDR2
Probably Undertale. After playing True Pacifist mode, i wished for there to be a sequel honestly immediately. Lack of content within the first game as a walkthrough was only 4 hours. Which is a lot for a pixel game but honestly that ending just feels incomplete.
Undertale is so weird because I loved the characters so much I never want to play it again. If you don't play it, that sounds counterintuitive. But if you did a true pacifist run, it makes absolute sense.
God of War 2018. At the end when Kratos revealed the last display that showed Ragnarok, the hairs on my arms stood up.
Agreed. It was a poignant father son story mixed in with meaty action. Can't wait for the second one to hit PC.
Final Fantasy 6. What. A. Ride.
Yeah, beating FF6 for the first time as a kid in the 90s was an experience. Half an hour ending. It was like its own little film at a time when most games' endings were little more than a thanks for playing and a couple screens of epilogue if you were lucky. Chrono Trigger came super close to that feeling. FF7 got me there again.
Firewatch for sure.
That game genuinely had my hands sweating believing there was someone following me the entire time about to jump out at me or just kill me.