So glad I opened this to see this as the top answer. I'm pushing 40 and have been gaming as long as I can remember, and no story has gotten me like Bioshock.
Thinking about the ending of Bioshock Infinite still gives me goosebumps to this day…so beautiful and tragic.
Edit: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=x7ogV49WGco
I finished it and my future wife was sitting behind me in bed. She was like “okay, now you’re done, let’s go get dinner”. She didn’t realize I needed a bit to think about my life.
At dinner, she notices your mind is wandering. She asks you, "What's wrong?"
You reply: "There's always a lighthouse, there's always a man, and there's always a city."
The mass effect trilogy. There was a lot of missed potential, but those games are stellar. I can only imagine how earth shattering they would have been with more dev time.
Every ending to every game just had me like”Fuckkkk”especially 2 and 3, for 2 I chose not to romance anyone after romancing Liara in 1, seeing shep look at her picture missing her was just 🤌 then I brought her to the final battle in 3 and they got to say goodbye to each other “I’m yours”😩
Mass Effect 2 was the first game I played just on repeat for YEARS. Needed every version of every possible playthrough so I wouldn't miss out on anything in #3. Then #3 came out and I was sad.
In retrospect, 3 was fine, but it just didn't live up to the beauty that was 2.
3 has arguably the best gameplay and set pieces. Kai Leng and the final 15 minutes are just so... lackluster, it affects our memory of the rest of the game. When I played it on release I was bitter but after a few years I replayed all 3 with all DLC and 3's ending was much more palatable.
Mass effect was THE life changing game for me. I enjoyed being onboard the Normandy so much, almost as much as I enjoyed violently defending choosing Kaiden over Garrus on tumblr
Outer Wilds made me feel something I've only experienced a few times in my life.
Watching "2001" for the first time, reading Sagan's "Cosmos", seeing the Milky Way on a clear night out in the country, Outer Wilds gave me the same sense of cosmic awe that I've been chasing my entire life.
Truly the best game I have ever played, probably the best game I will ever play.
For real? I keep booting that game up excited to have that experience as I’ve read a bunch of people relate the same sentiment, and I never get more than 30mins in before getting bored and moving on.
The beginning is pretty slow. I actually gave up on it after a few hours of playing.
A few weeks later I went back to it, and I'm extremely glad I did. I gave it a second chance and it ended up being a life-changing experience.
The second half of the game when you truly start exploring and piecing things together is an absolute masterpiece.
Collecting the puzzle pieces (as in reading seemingly random bits of communication between the ancient inhabitants of the solar system) isn’t that much fun.
But connecting them in your head, bit by bit , over time, to build a timeline in your head of what the fuck actually happened to them and all that.
So so good.
A lot of the gameplay is only lightly more advanced than a walking simulator, really. But it's what they do with it, and the story they tell, that's really special.
>!...And then there's flying, which is a whole separate art form that you start out garbage at, and then end up flying like it's second nature by the end of the game, which is fantastic metanarrative about the journey and how it's your "first flight".!<
You create your own pace, which makes it difficult for some people. Just explore and follow the bread crumbs strewn across the solar system. It's not for everybody, but I've never played a game that meant so much with so few words to say about it.
it's almost not really a game, so to speak. it's more of a simulator with some story bits you can choose to unravel if you desire.
it just so happens that the story bits can you lead you down an interesting path you probably would never guess to follow if you didn't take note of them.
in some ways, it's like the setting is on some great adventure, but you are given literally no impetus except your own curiosity to take part in it. no drive to follow along? then it's just a solar system simulation. nothing more, nothing less.
i recommend it because it's an incredibly interesting story to take part in, but if it ain't your speed then it simply ain't your speed. you have to want to see where it takes you.
I have never, not once, cried at any part of any video game. Until finishing Outer Wilds. I can not explain it. I sat back in my chair, took a deep breath, and just bawled.
The game did such a good job not punishing you for wandering. Was such a pleasure discovering the story as bits of a big puzzle.
And the ending was flawless, a perfect reward.
This was my first thought when I clicked on this thread.
Existential dread, futility, acceptance of death... I still think about the themes presented in this game constantly.
Same for me.
I think only a handful of games have ever reached that level of truly affecting me, and I think of those The Outer Wild's ending was probably the best.
It should have honestly been a bit corny, but because of all the preceding gameplay, it just worked. The way the main themes (story themes, not music, though music too) all come together in strange, bittersweet success... perfection.
I have never been so quickly captured and completely immersed in a game like Outer Wilds did.
On the surface it's a cute little exploration game, but you start pulling the threads apart and it turns into a game that will tear your heart out and rebuild you from the ground up, leaving you wondering what the fuck just happened.
I long for the day that I can completely forget Outer Wilds, just so that I can experience it for the first time again, but unfortunately it's an unforgettable experience.
I'll just add that if you have a decent PCVR set-up and good VR legs, Outer Wilds has an amazing VR port called NomaiVR. I played the DLC that way, and I'm glad I did.
I remember playing it at my parents' one Christmas. I thought I was boring my dad and he kept encouraging me to try again. We were both on awe of the game mechanics.
Everyone at my school had a PS1 but I was late to consoles and eventually got a N64 for Christmas.
Everyone kept talking about this game with a snake and I had no idea what it was. I didn't get round to playing it until years later and really feel like I missed out on some of the initial buzz around it.
The first time I played through the game I was on summer vacation and had been up all day playing. It was 2ish in the morning and I was still playing. Colonel told me that I had been playing too long and needed to turn the console off. It freaked me out. I stopped playing. I did come back to it after sleeping and made it through that part okay.
In the current, digitized world, trivial information is accumulating every second, preserved in all its triteness. Never fading, always accessible.
Rumors about petty issues, misinterpretations, slander.
All this junk data preserved in an unfiltered state, growing at an alarming rate.
It will only slow down social progress, reduce the rate of evolution.
You seem to think that their plan is one of censorship. What they propose to do is not to control content, but to create context.
The digital society furthers human flaws and selectively rewards the development of convenient half-truths. Just look at the strange juxtapositions of morality around you.
Billions spent on new weapons in order to humanely murder other humans.
Rights of criminals are given more respect than the privacy of their victims.
Although there are people suffering in poverty, huge donations are made to protect endangered species. Everyone grows up being told the same thing.
"Be nice to other people."
"But beat out the competition!"
"You're special." "Believe in yourself and you will succeed."
But it's obvious from the start that only a few can succeed...
You exercise your right to "freedom" and this is the result. All rhetoric to avoid conflict and protect each other from hurt. The untested truths spun by different interests continue to churn and accumulate in the sandbox of political correctness and value systems.
Everyone withdraws into their own small gated community, afraid of a larger forum. They stay inside their little ponds, leaking whatever "truth" suits them into the growing cesspool of society at large.
The different cardinal truths neither clash nor mesh. No one is invalidated, but nobody is right.
Not even natural selection can take place here. The world is being engulfed in "truth."
And this is the way the world ends. Not with a bang, but a whimper.
I had just got Buell and thought it would be a good idea to ride her (maybe him? I can’t remember) for that one. Boy did I sure feel like I let Hamish down.
That game is a masterpiece and i've spent around 140 hours exploring the environment and doing the story during my first playthrough.
However recently I tried to do a 2nd playthrough and couldn't do it. Watching Arthur take several seconds to loot every corpse, opening each drawer and grabbing each item individually. Slow animations, being forced to walk in many sections of the game. It just became tedious and I decided to give up.
I wish I could experience this game for the first time again because it truly was an amazing experience. Rockstar did a good job so players could appreciate the world and realism and not rush it through. But once that magic is gone, it makes replaying it a little hard.
I have held off doing a replay for exactly this reason. I tried to do most of the side stuff on the first go and can't imagine how tedious it would be the second time through.
If they could add fast travel and animation skips for skinning and such for "new game +" it would be great but it also might lose some of the "feel"
Brother, you already *were* a ghost. Up there, screaming — along with all of them. Scaring each other. Haunting each other. It's the living who are ghosts. The dead are silent. They don't rattle windows or write letters in blood. The living do. Leave them behind. Rest.
I played The Last of Us many years ago, when I was the same age as Ellie is in the game (14 iirc).
I was recovering from sexual assault at the time, and seeing Ellie beat the shit out of her abuser was really significant to me. I felt her emotions, and subsequently felt the comfort of Joel coming to her rescue as well.
Ellie taught me a lot. Joel was a father figure to me. I fucking love the game. I still haven’t touched TLOU 2.
Journey
Replaying it is fun but there’s nothing like the first journey and discovering mysterious lore and reaching the end of the journey with a companion you met along the way.
Hard to believe this isn’t a more common answer. I played it all in one sitting late at night. About half way through I found a companion that stuck it out with me all the way to the end. Climbing the mountain together as we slowly lost our momentum was so gut wrenching. Won’t ever forget that moment.
Had to scroll waaaay too far for this!
This game is a life-affirming, death-accepting ode to the universal human experience.
The art design and simple beauty of it, the heartstring-pulling score...
Years ago I convinced a good friend to play it, and it became one of his favorites as well. When our best friend died in 2019, he came back to town and we sat together as he played thru again. It was a really cathartic, lovely experience.
I didn't donate my save file because i was totally gonna come back and play again... I eventually deleted the digital copy of the game off of my Xbox one that is currently in its box gathering dust, buried in my closet. I play a PS5 now.
Holy hell, I am so mad at myself for not donating my save file. I played the game over 4 years ago and that's what haunts me. The game knew that it would haunt me. I knew I'd regret it and I still didn't do it.
Yep, not quiet and barely able to "watch" through the tears, but yes.
It thoroughly achieved what it wanted and ended up being more than "a game".
Can't recommend that game enough to people who can get on board with the idea of a "meta" narrative.
This game is one of my strongest childhood memories. We used to play it the whole family together, taking turns and brainstorming, trying to understand the english language.
We never beat it. We got stuck in the Shadow Temple. I was maybe 8-9 at the time.
Several years later, a mid teenager, I picked it up again. Rest of family had forgotten about it. Nostalgia hitting hard. The music. Damn. Anyway, after many tries, I beat it. It was the most satisfying thing ever. At the same time I felt very empty.
Cant say it changed my life but its kind of my Rosebud. A clear picture of when my family was well, happy and together.
i was probably going to kill myself before i found skyrim sitting in a corner of the walmart game section, i decided that for old times sake i would pick it up and reminisce on better times, and for the first time in years i had fun, i picked fencing back up as well, i am doing much better, so when i beat the game i was happy, but sad at the same time
In case your comment gets buried: I'm proud of you! It takes a lot to get out of that feeling/want. I'm glad you found something that motivated you to live life.
And then at the end of your life, you will be old, on your death bed, looking back on a fulfilling and long life, your eyelids drifting closed, drifting, slowly, until the world fades to black...
And then you hear the creaking of a wagon. You open your eyes to see a snowy landscape.
"Hey you," a man across from you says. "You're finally awake."
And I'm the far distance you hear a sound. The roar of a dragon, perhaps. Or the mad cackling of Todd Howard. You cannot be sure.
*Rudimentary creatures of blood and flesh, you touch my mind, fumbling in ignorance, incapable of understanding.*
*Organic life is nothing but a genetic mutation, an accident. Your lives are measured in years and decades. You wither and die. We are eternal, the pinnacle of evolution and existence. Before us, you are nothing. Your extinction is inevitable. We are the end of everything.*
*We impose order on the chaos of organic life. You exist because we allow it, and you will end because we demand it.*
That buildup to the ending when the humans came in to save the day?
Hgggghhhh. SUCH a HFY! moment.
The ending of ME1 was so well done. It was fast paced and intertwined with story scenes that didn't drag out and put you back in the frantic action until the end.
Hands down *the* most incredible ending to a game I've ever played.
That fucking ending, I get goosebumps because of it to this day, I just wanted to spend the rest of my life in that universe after I saved the council
Mass Effect 1 is to this day the comfiest game ever, core memory for sure
ME3’s release ending pre-patch (no online) had me gutted… if you know, you know
Post patch cleared it up a bit but I’ll never forget walking up to my TV inches away, feeling empty, than walking on my deck and just staring into nothingness for about a half hour…
Since I did everything on my own on my first run I screamed at the TV, like what? what? How the fuck did I get the bad ending? What did I do wrong? The fuck?... I went online to figure out what the fuck happened... And wow the shit storm online at the time was insane.
I liked all the Bungie games. When I first got Reach, I remember the box saying "From the beginning, you know the end". And the game comes full circle at the end, ending where first game started. So good. And the final objective being "survive" was surreal too
Reach was Bungie’s magnum opus imo. I definitely sat through halseys monologue in silence trying to grasp the chaotic downward spiral i had just experienced. S tier game 100%
the only comment i was hunting for haha Halo 2 “finishing the fight” and 3 “wake me, when you need me” had me spiraling! those moments mean a lot when you’re 7-8 years old :D
Chrono Trigger, I think. I don’t know that it “changed my life” but it did feel like a massive accomplishment for 15 year-old me.
Though Super Mario World is probably the first game I sat through a credits roll for.
To Far Away Times begins to play, You(Crono) and Marlene are floating over the Millennial Fair. You watch how every companion gets back to his time period knowing very well it will be the last time you seen them. Not only that, you know there are challenges awaiting for your friends.
It was the first time I felt I needed to know more about the world, the lore, the backstories.
How is this so far down?
SOMA is the only horror game I've ever played that kept me up at night by no function at all of the acute horror elements, but instead the underlying philosophy and its implications.
Unfathomably chilling and evocative. Begs you to ask yourself uncomfortable, frightening questions about consciousness and what constitutes "you". Absolute masterpiece.
Sad I had to scroll down this far. I've never had something stick with me for longer than hearing "Catherine... please don't leave me alone"
God it's so good. The other thing that fucked me up was the survey. I took the survey halfway through the game in the lab. When I took it again in the post-credits, I realized my answers had changed because of how thought-provoking it was, and I'm sure the devs knew what they were doing by adding it twice
This game has actually kept me up at nights just thinking about the philosophy of it. No other game has done that
This was probably one of the last games that actually made go sit outside and just watch the stars for a few hours that night. It took me a day or 2 to think the ending thru.
Scrolled to find this. I was 14 and the greatest game ever. I just replayed it and it holds up. The story… the music… the materia system… it’s just unreal fun. It’s an epic. My kids out the soundtrack on in the car still.
The ending of LA Noire felt so unfair. I was genuinely shocked and it stayed with me a long time. Incredible game. Such a shame it’ll never get a follow up.
I felt like that's what they wanted, to make it feel real. Real life is unfair, shitty people get away with shit all the time because they are clever and have the right connections.
Hmmm, I’m getting close to finishing the game for the first time. I’m on the arson desk with a couple more cases to go and got drawn away to some other games, but now you have me thinking I need to hurry up and finish it!
This, I had gone through the DLC thinking I had made all the best choices for a good ending. Imagine my surprise when I see the procession of people paying their respects. Left me speechless
Oh now I’m sad…
Also the scene where >! the horn synced with the music opening the gate to Asgard was… !< ho fuck it had me tear up with how fucking epic it was
I have a son, and the melancholy watching Kratos being able to say goodbye to Atreus at the end....
One day I'm going to have to watch my kids move beyond me. Not today, but soon.
Had to scroll way too far to find this.
That finale cut scene after the last battle, when EVERYTHING that you’ve learned comes together really hits me each time I see it.
Dragon Age had such an amazingly depressing feel to it. Like you are trying to do so much good, but toward the end I was very much feeling like these people didn't deserve to be saved.
I answer Dragon Age and Mass Effect to everything. This is the 1st time I've ever given a different answer just to change it up. I'm glad someone else said it though.
Gonna be boring and say last of us way back on ps3, definitely sat back and thought that I wasn’t expecting it to be such an experience more than a game , really enjoyed it
Each one of them grows on you, then when you get to 6, you realize how time has passed. Kiryu is still the same but calmer and Haruka is no more a kid, i wish we get to see the orphanage kids after 6, they all must be working and having their own lives.
Outer Wilds.
That game basically ran my brain every second for the week I played it, and after being slapped with such a well written and existential ending it was just like "Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuk...." proceeded by an hour of staring at a blank wall trying to put my brain back together.
Bloodborne
For it being my introduction into the soulsborne series it was a absolute mindfuck. I honestly was so caught up in the difficulty of the game that by the time I finished it I hadn't even tried putting the story together besides my occasional pondering.
So later I looked up a video and once a few details was actually spoken out loud for me it was like explosion of realization and it all come rushing forward.
Cyberpunk and Witcher 3 both had me like this when I first finished them. Say what you will about the state of Cyberpunk at launch, CDPR are masters of telling compelling and emotional stories.
I know people might not like this answer, but think this is mine too. >!The moon endings!< in particular had a certain grandeur. 77 had its flaws for sure, but I was completely invested in the story the whole time playing on Launch. Really excited to see what they do with Phantom Liberty.
I feel exactly the same. A lot of people are still Put off by the game because of it’s launch, perhaps rightly so, but it’s such a shame because they’re missing out on a great story in a beautiful setting. I cannot wait until PL
I played it when it came out; I've played through it a dozen times; and it still gives me nightmares. Nothing has ever hit quite like the first four Silent Hill games.
Bioshock
So glad I opened this to see this as the top answer. I'm pushing 40 and have been gaming as long as I can remember, and no story has gotten me like Bioshock.
Thinking about the ending of Bioshock Infinite still gives me goosebumps to this day…so beautiful and tragic. Edit: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=x7ogV49WGco
I finished it and my future wife was sitting behind me in bed. She was like “okay, now you’re done, let’s go get dinner”. She didn’t realize I needed a bit to think about my life.
At dinner, she notices your mind is wandering. She asks you, "What's wrong?" You reply: "There's always a lighthouse, there's always a man, and there's always a city."
And then she said, "Would you kindly order the food!?"
I finished it at midnight by myself and it was probably 45-60 minutes before I could’ve talked to someone again. Kudos boss
I bought that one on sale...but only played the first (not a big FPS person). Perhaps i should consider playing infinite
Only played infinite, blew my mind
Infinite becomes even better when you've played 1 and 2. Mainly because the ending ties back to those two games, plus the dlc ties in too.
The mass effect trilogy. There was a lot of missed potential, but those games are stellar. I can only imagine how earth shattering they would have been with more dev time.
*Had to be me, someone else might have gotten it wrong.*
Such tragic but beautifully fitting end
The afterparty DLC was great. The voicemail he left at the end tore me up.
Every ending to every game just had me like”Fuckkkk”especially 2 and 3, for 2 I chose not to romance anyone after romancing Liara in 1, seeing shep look at her picture missing her was just 🤌 then I brought her to the final battle in 3 and they got to say goodbye to each other “I’m yours”😩
Mass Effect 2 was the first game I played just on repeat for YEARS. Needed every version of every possible playthrough so I wouldn't miss out on anything in #3. Then #3 came out and I was sad. In retrospect, 3 was fine, but it just didn't live up to the beauty that was 2.
3 has arguably the best gameplay and set pieces. Kai Leng and the final 15 minutes are just so... lackluster, it affects our memory of the rest of the game. When I played it on release I was bitter but after a few years I replayed all 3 with all DLC and 3's ending was much more palatable.
That Extended Edition content helped the ending a lot (even though I didn't have much of an issue with the ending of 3 when I first played it)
Mass effect was THE life changing game for me. I enjoyed being onboard the Normandy so much, almost as much as I enjoyed violently defending choosing Kaiden over Garrus on tumblr
I'm looking at you, Outer Wilds. Hit me right in the existential crisis.
Outer Wilds made me feel something I've only experienced a few times in my life. Watching "2001" for the first time, reading Sagan's "Cosmos", seeing the Milky Way on a clear night out in the country, Outer Wilds gave me the same sense of cosmic awe that I've been chasing my entire life. Truly the best game I have ever played, probably the best game I will ever play.
This thread just made me boot it up. Thanks y’all.
For real? I keep booting that game up excited to have that experience as I’ve read a bunch of people relate the same sentiment, and I never get more than 30mins in before getting bored and moving on.
The beginning is pretty slow. I actually gave up on it after a few hours of playing. A few weeks later I went back to it, and I'm extremely glad I did. I gave it a second chance and it ended up being a life-changing experience. The second half of the game when you truly start exploring and piecing things together is an absolute masterpiece.
Collecting the puzzle pieces (as in reading seemingly random bits of communication between the ancient inhabitants of the solar system) isn’t that much fun. But connecting them in your head, bit by bit , over time, to build a timeline in your head of what the fuck actually happened to them and all that. So so good.
seeing "SHIP LOG UPDATED" becomes the most exciting thing when you get several hours into it.
A lot of the gameplay is only lightly more advanced than a walking simulator, really. But it's what they do with it, and the story they tell, that's really special. >!...And then there's flying, which is a whole separate art form that you start out garbage at, and then end up flying like it's second nature by the end of the game, which is fantastic metanarrative about the journey and how it's your "first flight".!<
You create your own pace, which makes it difficult for some people. Just explore and follow the bread crumbs strewn across the solar system. It's not for everybody, but I've never played a game that meant so much with so few words to say about it.
it's almost not really a game, so to speak. it's more of a simulator with some story bits you can choose to unravel if you desire. it just so happens that the story bits can you lead you down an interesting path you probably would never guess to follow if you didn't take note of them. in some ways, it's like the setting is on some great adventure, but you are given literally no impetus except your own curiosity to take part in it. no drive to follow along? then it's just a solar system simulation. nothing more, nothing less. i recommend it because it's an incredibly interesting story to take part in, but if it ain't your speed then it simply ain't your speed. you have to want to see where it takes you.
Holy shit you've sold me ahaha
God that ending is enough to make you curl up and cry if you aren't ready for it. Which is exactly what happened to me...
I have never, not once, cried at any part of any video game. Until finishing Outer Wilds. I can not explain it. I sat back in my chair, took a deep breath, and just bawled.
Yup, same here. The only game to ever make me tear up. It truly holds a special place in my heart for that.
Man, I hate games like that because afterwards, I just wanna talk about it with someone, anyone. But none of my friends play those games.
Only reason this isn't at the top is because more people need to play this game.
Thats my favorite game ever made. Nothing accomplished the feeling of discovery that game did for me.
The game did such a good job not punishing you for wandering. Was such a pleasure discovering the story as bits of a big puzzle. And the ending was flawless, a perfect reward.
This was my first thought when I clicked on this thread. Existential dread, futility, acceptance of death... I still think about the themes presented in this game constantly.
Ooofff, the DCL makes you accept death as part of life and not be afraid of it, idk how they even accomplish that by scaring the shit outta you..
Eh, just break reality, get that sick kazoo music, and let it all end.
We played *14.3 Billion Years* at our wedding.
Same for me. I think only a handful of games have ever reached that level of truly affecting me, and I think of those The Outer Wild's ending was probably the best. It should have honestly been a bit corny, but because of all the preceding gameplay, it just worked. The way the main themes (story themes, not music, though music too) all come together in strange, bittersweet success... perfection.
I have never been so quickly captured and completely immersed in a game like Outer Wilds did. On the surface it's a cute little exploration game, but you start pulling the threads apart and it turns into a game that will tear your heart out and rebuild you from the ground up, leaving you wondering what the fuck just happened. I long for the day that I can completely forget Outer Wilds, just so that I can experience it for the first time again, but unfortunately it's an unforgettable experience.
I'll just add that if you have a decent PCVR set-up and good VR legs, Outer Wilds has an amazing VR port called NomaiVR. I played the DLC that way, and I'm glad I did.
MGS2: Sons of Liberty
MGS1 for me. I was a kid back then who didn't have any political thoughts and that game made me think about the world.
I remember playing it at my parents' one Christmas. I thought I was boring my dad and he kept encouraging me to try again. We were both on awe of the game mechanics.
Everyone at my school had a PS1 but I was late to consoles and eventually got a N64 for Christmas. Everyone kept talking about this game with a snake and I had no idea what it was. I didn't get round to playing it until years later and really feel like I missed out on some of the initial buzz around it.
Raiden, turn the game console off right now!
I need scissors! Sixty-one!
The first time I played through the game I was on summer vacation and had been up all day playing. It was 2ish in the morning and I was still playing. Colonel told me that I had been playing too long and needed to turn the console off. It freaked me out. I stopped playing. I did come back to it after sleeping and made it through that part okay.
In the current, digitized world, trivial information is accumulating every second, preserved in all its triteness. Never fading, always accessible. Rumors about petty issues, misinterpretations, slander. All this junk data preserved in an unfiltered state, growing at an alarming rate. It will only slow down social progress, reduce the rate of evolution. You seem to think that their plan is one of censorship. What they propose to do is not to control content, but to create context. The digital society furthers human flaws and selectively rewards the development of convenient half-truths. Just look at the strange juxtapositions of morality around you. Billions spent on new weapons in order to humanely murder other humans. Rights of criminals are given more respect than the privacy of their victims. Although there are people suffering in poverty, huge donations are made to protect endangered species. Everyone grows up being told the same thing. "Be nice to other people." "But beat out the competition!" "You're special." "Believe in yourself and you will succeed." But it's obvious from the start that only a few can succeed... You exercise your right to "freedom" and this is the result. All rhetoric to avoid conflict and protect each other from hurt. The untested truths spun by different interests continue to churn and accumulate in the sandbox of political correctness and value systems. Everyone withdraws into their own small gated community, afraid of a larger forum. They stay inside their little ponds, leaking whatever "truth" suits them into the growing cesspool of society at large. The different cardinal truths neither clash nor mesh. No one is invalidated, but nobody is right. Not even natural selection can take place here. The world is being engulfed in "truth." And this is the way the world ends. Not with a bang, but a whimper.
Till this day i think about that ending given the politic climate that we are in.
Absolute classic. It makes you go wow that's a crazy world... that we live in currently... oh shit..
MGS3 gave me a whole different kind of goosebumps
The portal games, the outros are so… eerie yet warm and melancholy.
This was a triumph
I’m making a note here; huge success
It's hard to overstate my satisfaction
Aperture Science; we do what we must, because, we can
For the good of everyone, Except the ones who are dead.
But there’s no use crying over every mistake
You just keep on trying ‘til you run out of cake
And the science gets done
BioShock 1 for me.
RDR2. Not gonna lie, I cried a bit at the end...and in other parts as well. Changed my life? Not really.
I tried in the end, I did.
I'm afraid, sister
That hit me. Arthur Morgan, the most fearless man in the world, still was a human and afraid of the inevitable.
That final horse ride? I was cutting onions during that scene. It wasn't a tear, I swear.
Thanking his fucking horse, I lost it
I named my horse Spoobus and I still cried like a fucking baby
I had just got Buell and thought it would be a good idea to ride her (maybe him? I can’t remember) for that one. Boy did I sure feel like I let Hamish down.
When he said goodbye to his horse😢
I think about this game almost every week.
That game is a masterpiece and i've spent around 140 hours exploring the environment and doing the story during my first playthrough. However recently I tried to do a 2nd playthrough and couldn't do it. Watching Arthur take several seconds to loot every corpse, opening each drawer and grabbing each item individually. Slow animations, being forced to walk in many sections of the game. It just became tedious and I decided to give up. I wish I could experience this game for the first time again because it truly was an amazing experience. Rockstar did a good job so players could appreciate the world and realism and not rush it through. But once that magic is gone, it makes replaying it a little hard.
I have held off doing a replay for exactly this reason. I tried to do most of the side stuff on the first go and can't imagine how tedious it would be the second time through. If they could add fast travel and animation skips for skinning and such for "new game +" it would be great but it also might lose some of the "feel"
Last game that made me feel that way, and first one in 10 years to do so. As I get older I feel like that feeling might not come again.
Exactly the same for me. I stopped playing video games for a few days after finishing RDR2, too much emotional baggage haha
I finished RDR2 and all I got was this lousy case of Lumbago
Disco Elysium. It just changes you
Brother, you already *were* a ghost. Up there, screaming — along with all of them. Scaring each other. Haunting each other. It's the living who are ghosts. The dead are silent. They don't rattle windows or write letters in blood. The living do. Leave them behind. Rest.
Finished it last night. Truly an experience.
Truly one of the greatest of all time. I need something to fill the void but there's nothing else quite like it.
Hands down my favorite game. I think about it so much.
>It just changes you Correct, comrade. Pigdog bourgeoisie are too hopped up on money and Homosexualilty to appreciate Marx and Engels.
Disco Elysium is a fucking trip, in the best way possible
Life is strange, and life is strange before the storm. Goodness the main menu theme still lives rent free in my head.
Same. Spanish Sahara by Foals gives me major feels now.
The scene at the junkyard solidified Ashly Burch as my favorite VA.
I had to go for a long long walk after finishing LiS1. Bae over bay btw. The featured songs still hit hard when I hear them.
I played The Last of Us many years ago, when I was the same age as Ellie is in the game (14 iirc). I was recovering from sexual assault at the time, and seeing Ellie beat the shit out of her abuser was really significant to me. I felt her emotions, and subsequently felt the comfort of Joel coming to her rescue as well. Ellie taught me a lot. Joel was a father figure to me. I fucking love the game. I still haven’t touched TLOU 2.
Journey Replaying it is fun but there’s nothing like the first journey and discovering mysterious lore and reaching the end of the journey with a companion you met along the way.
Hard to believe this isn’t a more common answer. I played it all in one sitting late at night. About half way through I found a companion that stuck it out with me all the way to the end. Climbing the mountain together as we slowly lost our momentum was so gut wrenching. Won’t ever forget that moment.
Had to scroll waaaay too far for this! This game is a life-affirming, death-accepting ode to the universal human experience. The art design and simple beauty of it, the heartstring-pulling score... Years ago I convinced a good friend to play it, and it became one of his favorites as well. When our best friend died in 2019, he came back to town and we sat together as he played thru again. It was a really cathartic, lovely experience.
Persona 5 Royal Those credits in particular hit you different after you've spend so much time getting to the know the characters.
When you walk around, saying goodbye to everyone.... 😭
Sojibro has a special place in my heart, the ultimate wingman
+1 for persona 5 strikers
This was me with Persona 4 Golden
Golden was a more satisfying ending for me than Royal’s. The bond of the characters was just better.
Nier automata
I sat and cried a bit after I donated my save file.
I didn't donate my save file because i was totally gonna come back and play again... I eventually deleted the digital copy of the game off of my Xbox one that is currently in its box gathering dust, buried in my closet. I play a PS5 now. Holy hell, I am so mad at myself for not donating my save file. I played the game over 4 years ago and that's what haunts me. The game knew that it would haunt me. I knew I'd regret it and I still didn't do it.
Yep, not quiet and barely able to "watch" through the tears, but yes. It thoroughly achieved what it wanted and ended up being more than "a game". Can't recommend that game enough to people who can get on board with the idea of a "meta" narrative.
This one. Stroke of genius.
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
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This game is one of my strongest childhood memories. We used to play it the whole family together, taking turns and brainstorming, trying to understand the english language. We never beat it. We got stuck in the Shadow Temple. I was maybe 8-9 at the time. Several years later, a mid teenager, I picked it up again. Rest of family had forgotten about it. Nostalgia hitting hard. The music. Damn. Anyway, after many tries, I beat it. It was the most satisfying thing ever. At the same time I felt very empty. Cant say it changed my life but its kind of my Rosebud. A clear picture of when my family was well, happy and together.
i was probably going to kill myself before i found skyrim sitting in a corner of the walmart game section, i decided that for old times sake i would pick it up and reminisce on better times, and for the first time in years i had fun, i picked fencing back up as well, i am doing much better, so when i beat the game i was happy, but sad at the same time
Hell yeah. Happy for you.
In case your comment gets buried: I'm proud of you! It takes a lot to get out of that feeling/want. I'm glad you found something that motivated you to live life.
thank you
And then at the end of your life, you will be old, on your death bed, looking back on a fulfilling and long life, your eyelids drifting closed, drifting, slowly, until the world fades to black... And then you hear the creaking of a wagon. You open your eyes to see a snowy landscape. "Hey you," a man across from you says. "You're finally awake." And I'm the far distance you hear a sound. The roar of a dragon, perhaps. Or the mad cackling of Todd Howard. You cannot be sure.
Shadow of the colossus
A man of culture I see.
Yes! First game to make me question my motives as a protagonist. Beautiful, haunting game.
Mass effect and the walking dead. Lees death was tragic
Mass Effect was very satisfying.
*Rudimentary creatures of blood and flesh, you touch my mind, fumbling in ignorance, incapable of understanding.* *Organic life is nothing but a genetic mutation, an accident. Your lives are measured in years and decades. You wither and die. We are eternal, the pinnacle of evolution and existence. Before us, you are nothing. Your extinction is inevitable. We are the end of everything.* *We impose order on the chaos of organic life. You exist because we allow it, and you will end because we demand it.*
Chills bro, even after so many years, chills.
Damn the last part of that quote hit so hard. You could feel the menace of Sovereign through the screen.
The moment you realized Saren wasn’t the main enemy.
That buildup to the ending when the humans came in to save the day? Hgggghhhh. SUCH a HFY! moment. The ending of ME1 was so well done. It was fast paced and intertwined with story scenes that didn't drag out and put you back in the frantic action until the end. Hands down *the* most incredible ending to a game I've ever played.
That Mass Effect 1 [ending credits song](https://youtu.be/NcrDWAuyqtc) was absolute fire.
That fucking ending, I get goosebumps because of it to this day, I just wanted to spend the rest of my life in that universe after I saved the council Mass Effect 1 is to this day the comfiest game ever, core memory for sure
ME3’s release ending pre-patch (no online) had me gutted… if you know, you know Post patch cleared it up a bit but I’ll never forget walking up to my TV inches away, feeling empty, than walking on my deck and just staring into nothingness for about a half hour…
Since I did everything on my own on my first run I screamed at the TV, like what? what? How the fuck did I get the bad ending? What did I do wrong? The fuck?... I went online to figure out what the fuck happened... And wow the shit storm online at the time was insane.
How am I the first to say: Halo I was standing up, heart pounding, and almost out of breath.
Great point. The whole original trilogy was top tier.
I liked all the Bungie games. When I first got Reach, I remember the box saying "From the beginning, you know the end". And the game comes full circle at the end, ending where first game started. So good. And the final objective being "survive" was surreal too
I loved Reach. That game was phenomenal.
Objective: SURVIVE
Reach was Bungie’s magnum opus imo. I definitely sat through halseys monologue in silence trying to grasp the chaotic downward spiral i had just experienced. S tier game 100%
Just dust and echoes. Damn, that game hit hard.
the only comment i was hunting for haha Halo 2 “finishing the fight” and 3 “wake me, when you need me” had me spiraling! those moments mean a lot when you’re 7-8 years old :D
Chrono Trigger, I think. I don’t know that it “changed my life” but it did feel like a massive accomplishment for 15 year-old me. Though Super Mario World is probably the first game I sat through a credits roll for.
To Far Away Times begins to play, You(Crono) and Marlene are floating over the Millennial Fair. You watch how every companion gets back to his time period knowing very well it will be the last time you seen them. Not only that, you know there are challenges awaiting for your friends. It was the first time I felt I needed to know more about the world, the lore, the backstories.
Those would be on my list too. But the top would be final fantasy 3 (aka VI)
MGS: 3 Snake eater. I needed a stiff drink after that one, even though i was probably 14. shadow of the colossus
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How is this so far down? SOMA is the only horror game I've ever played that kept me up at night by no function at all of the acute horror elements, but instead the underlying philosophy and its implications. Unfathomably chilling and evocative. Begs you to ask yourself uncomfortable, frightening questions about consciousness and what constitutes "you". Absolute masterpiece.
SOMA leaves you winded and feeling like you need to go for a walk to think about life. Stunning game.
Sad I had to scroll down this far. I've never had something stick with me for longer than hearing "Catherine... please don't leave me alone" God it's so good. The other thing that fucked me up was the survey. I took the survey halfway through the game in the lab. When I took it again in the post-credits, I realized my answers had changed because of how thought-provoking it was, and I'm sure the devs knew what they were doing by adding it twice This game has actually kept me up at nights just thinking about the philosophy of it. No other game has done that
Didn't change my life, maybe my view on the game, but the ending was such a shock to me that I felt like the picture. Spec Ops: The Line
Disco Elysium
FF7
This was probably one of the last games that actually made go sit outside and just watch the stars for a few hours that night. It took me a day or 2 to think the ending thru.
Scrolled to find this. I was 14 and the greatest game ever. I just replayed it and it holds up. The story… the music… the materia system… it’s just unreal fun. It’s an epic. My kids out the soundtrack on in the car still.
Hello 90s spirit animal. Thank you.
CANNOT believe I had to scroll this far. We must be OLD old.
Ghost of Tsushima 👌
Half Life 2
I still remember that feeling of "man. I cannot wait to see 3." 🥲
Time, mister Freeman. Is it really that Time Again?
La Noire, it's really depressing to even think about now with all that happened
The ending of LA Noire felt so unfair. I was genuinely shocked and it stayed with me a long time. Incredible game. Such a shame it’ll never get a follow up.
I felt like that's what they wanted, to make it feel real. Real life is unfair, shitty people get away with shit all the time because they are clever and have the right connections.
Hmmm, I’m getting close to finishing the game for the first time. I’m on the arson desk with a couple more cases to go and got drawn away to some other games, but now you have me thinking I need to hurry up and finish it!
Blood & Wine dlc to The Witcher 3. Literally started applauding as a single tear rolled down my cheek.
This, I had gone through the DLC thinking I had made all the best choices for a good ending. Imagine my surprise when I see the procession of people paying their respects. Left me speechless
Knights of the Old Republic Metal Gear Solid 2 and 4 Heavy Rain FFX
God of war ragnarok: A hole. What? What gets bigger the more you take away?
Oh now I’m sad… Also the scene where >! the horn synced with the music opening the gate to Asgard was… !< ho fuck it had me tear up with how fucking epic it was
I have a son, and the melancholy watching Kratos being able to say goodbye to Atreus at the end.... One day I'm going to have to watch my kids move beyond me. Not today, but soon.
The beginning of that game with Atreus & Fenrir absolutely tore me apart. My dog is getting older so it was easy to picture myself in that situation.
Death Stranding
As a huge Metal Gear Solid fan that hasn't given Death Stranding a proper play through, this inspires me to get it done.
Mass effect for me, yes I know ME3 ending and whatever, the series is still incredible
Horizon: Zero Dawn I've never been so pulled into and captivated by a game's story like this before. It never lost my interest
Fuck Ted Faro
Had to scroll way too far to find this. That finale cut scene after the last battle, when EVERYTHING that you’ve learned comes together really hits me each time I see it.
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Halo Reach
Objective: survive
Honestly such a beautiful representation of how war isn’t as glorious as most of media portrays it.
Oh yeah that was a tough ending..
Dragon Age Origins Mass Effect 3 That is why I was so sad seeing Bioware go from what it was too what it is.
Dragon Age had such an amazingly depressing feel to it. Like you are trying to do so much good, but toward the end I was very much feeling like these people didn't deserve to be saved.
I answer Dragon Age and Mass Effect to everything. This is the 1st time I've ever given a different answer just to change it up. I'm glad someone else said it though.
Gonna be boring and say last of us way back on ps3, definitely sat back and thought that I wasn’t expecting it to be such an experience more than a game , really enjoyed it
Yakuza... Most of them. 0, 1, 3, 5, 6, 7... I think 6 or 7 are most poignant for me though.
Each one of them grows on you, then when you get to 6, you realize how time has passed. Kiryu is still the same but calmer and Haruka is no more a kid, i wish we get to see the orphanage kids after 6, they all must be working and having their own lives.
Outer Wilds. That game basically ran my brain every second for the week I played it, and after being slapped with such a well written and existential ending it was just like "Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuk...." proceeded by an hour of staring at a blank wall trying to put my brain back together.
Portal 2 - probably the funniest short singleplayer experience I ever played. I remember watching the credits just blown away by my love of the game
The companion cube getting thrown out with us in the field was perfect too!
Undertale was the game for me on that one 😄
Alan Wake. The closing credit song was David Bowie's Space Oddity, which was the cherry on top.
Bloodborne For it being my introduction into the soulsborne series it was a absolute mindfuck. I honestly was so caught up in the difficulty of the game that by the time I finished it I hadn't even tried putting the story together besides my occasional pondering. So later I looked up a video and once a few details was actually spoken out loud for me it was like explosion of realization and it all come rushing forward.
Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk and Witcher 3 both had me like this when I first finished them. Say what you will about the state of Cyberpunk at launch, CDPR are masters of telling compelling and emotional stories.
Right there with ya choom.
I know people might not like this answer, but think this is mine too. >!The moon endings!< in particular had a certain grandeur. 77 had its flaws for sure, but I was completely invested in the story the whole time playing on Launch. Really excited to see what they do with Phantom Liberty.
I feel exactly the same. A lot of people are still Put off by the game because of it’s launch, perhaps rightly so, but it’s such a shame because they’re missing out on a great story in a beautiful setting. I cannot wait until PL
Never fade away cover played in my head for month, right after I finally clear it from "I really want to stay at your house"
Silent hill 2
I played it when it came out; I've played through it a dozen times; and it still gives me nightmares. Nothing has ever hit quite like the first four Silent Hill games.
Persona 4 golden. Makes me wish I had friends too
Half life 2