9 Emotional Video Games That Will Totally Break You
You'll be a different person after Telltale's The Walking Dead.
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00:00 From the motion-captured performances of The Last of Us 2 and Red Dead Redemption, to the
00:04 incredibly touching subject matter of something like Celeste or Chicory, there are some games
00:08 that can play your heartstrings beautifully.
00:11 Whether it be heart-wrenching subject matter or shocking last-minute twists, I'm Scott
00:14 from WockCulture.com and these are 9 Incredibly Emotional Video Games That Will Totally Break
00:20 You.
00:21 Number 9 - This War of Mine
00:23 Inspired by the siege of Sarajevo that took place across 1992 and 1993, This War of Mine
00:28 is a unique look into the one portion of the populace we tend to forget about in gaming
00:32 - civilians.
00:33 Framed as a survival game through and through, you'll attempt to survive as many nights
00:37 in this bombed-out city as possible.
00:40 Mainly this involves sending one of your group out into the night to scavenge for supplies.
00:44 Doing so opens up a number of moral quandaries though, as there are plenty of other families
00:47 and individuals doing the same.
00:49 Do you attempt to sneak past them, maybe craft a makeshift weapon and take it with you?
00:53 How about bringing along a stack of food and medical supplies to trade?
00:57 Remember you're not an action hero with a plan outside of whatever you can improvise.
01:01 Altercations will often go sour, injuries will occur and your home base will likely
01:06 get raided.
01:07 Shoot someone like in any other game and there's a chance your character will get depression
01:10 or question why they get to live at all when someone else doesn't.
01:14 All of this forces you to feel the ramifications of pulling the trigger.
01:18 This War of Mine is absolutely unforgiving, and with your salvation happening on a random
01:22 day after a certain amount of time has passed, it genuinely feels like you're just barely
01:26 holding on at every turn.
01:29 Firewatch Dealing with life's individual hardships
01:32 can make for incredibly involving fiction, and it's because Firewatch is such a deeply
01:36 personal tale that you end up getting swept along for the ride.
01:40 Playing as character Henry following a turbulent series of events, he takes a job atop a watch
01:44 tower in the middle of the Wyoming wilderness to get away, letting Campo Santo's unique
01:49 feels start to unravel.
01:50 Whilst the surrounding forests are forever cloaked in a gorgeous orange hue thanks to
01:54 Olly Moss' sublime art direction, it's paired off against Henry's isolated mindset,
01:59 allowing you to build an optional relationship with fellow Firewatcher Delilah.
02:03 Through contextual dialogue options, you'll dictate how close this relationship becomes,
02:07 alongside another revelation that you seem to be being monitored by an unknown company.
02:11 Everything is also juxtaposed against characters the Goodwins, a father and son combo who have
02:16 spent time in your vicinity, mirroring that need to get away.
02:19 There are bumps in the night, mystery elements that reinforce how tranquility can turn to
02:24 too quiet on a dime, and some of the most bone-chilling reveals and jump scares in gaming.
02:29 All serving to reroute back into that opening ten minutes, before rolling credits and letting
02:33 the player digest everything they've just seen.
02:36 7.
02:37 The Walking Dead - Season 1
02:39 Taking The Walking Dead mythology as a baseplate and moving away from the increasingly ridiculous
02:43 actions of the TV counterpart at the time, it allowed Telltale to strike gold after so
02:48 many middling releases.
02:50 Carrying a mature narrative that was wholly original in 2013 to a modernised take on the
02:54 point-and-click genre, sadly Telltale could never match the success of this season, but
02:59 it's still very much worth playing.
03:01 This more considered pace lets you really get into the mindset of multiple characters,
03:05 before implementing a series of decisions that shape the story, deciding who lives or
03:09 dies and which character's motivations truly get fleshed out.
03:12 Taken as a whole, the story of Clementine is pretty astonishing, especially because
03:16 it was told across seven years and a lot of development hell.
03:20 Someday it feels like a superbly polished version of these games will get the recognition
03:24 they deserve, but Season 1 is more than worthwhile if you need a starting point.
03:28 6.
03:29 A Normal Lost Phone
03:30 Directly addressing various prejudices often levied against the LGBT community, A Normal
03:35 Lost Phone is available on Switch and Steam, but is best played on mobile.
03:39 Why?
03:40 Because this app is designed to mimic another phone entirely.
03:43 It's framed around the idea that you, literally you, have discovered what you'll find out
03:47 is the main character's phone.
03:49 One where there are text messages asking what happened, before you then attempt to figure
03:53 that out.
03:54 Some of the puzzles are a little obtuse as you deduce passwords and secrets locked away,
03:58 and it does all feel a bit invasive to troll through someone's personal life, but the
04:02 story here gives you a really unique agency and payoff.
04:06 A massively important game, A Normal Lost Phone will leave a mark on all those who see it
04:10 through.
04:11 5.
04:12 Gone Home
04:13 It's easy to forget how huge Gone Home was, how essential it is as an interactive
04:17 story and all the conversations that came after about whether or not it was a video
04:21 game.
04:22 Many years later, it still works best when you go in completely blind, but regardless
04:26 we can still cover some major positives.
04:28 Playing as one Caitlin Greenbrier as she returns home following a gap year, you'll be greeted
04:33 not by hugs and an open-armed family, but with a note on the door from your sister,
04:37 apologising.
04:38 From here, you're tasked with finding out precisely what happened in the year you were
04:42 away, by exploring your new house and inspecting every last item or piece of information on
04:47 offer, listening to a variety of audio recordings from your sister herself.
04:51 Needless to say, there are plenty of twists and turns along the way, but the true genius
04:55 of Gone Home is how it plays with the established narrative conventions of first-person storytelling
05:00 and horror games overall.
05:01 The more years you've been a gamer, the more the game can play with your expectations,
05:05 and that, alongside a stellar narrative, is the thing that makes Gone Home such a treasure.
05:10 4.
05:11 Inside When we talk about emotions in games, it
05:14 tends to be negative, or more specifically, sequences that made you sad.
05:17 For Inside, it'll stir up a number of primal feelings, culminating in one of the most raw
05:22 and powerful sequences of all time, meaning that as the credits finally creep up the screen,
05:26 you'll need a minute or two to come back down.
05:29 Playing like a side-scrolling puzzle platformer, you're cast as a small boy infiltrating
05:33 a series of industrial structures, the whole game pulling off various visual nods to the
05:37 likes of George Orwell's 1984, as it frames a world full of the drudgery of sheer production
05:42 and people being fed to the machine.
05:45 Come the close of the game, and this is the one entry I'll do vague spoilers for, though
05:49 everything is interpretational anyway, you'll become part of a larger, sentient mass of
05:53 congealed flesh - essentially a metaphor for any violent uprising against the upper classes,
05:58 breaking out of your watery prison and barrelling through offices and rooms as you decimate
06:02 any onlookers.
06:03 It's this contrast, this sudden rush of pure mob mentality, power and destruction
06:07 as you wipe out authority figures and innocents alike, knowing the shift is coming doesn't
06:12 distill its impact, and overall Inside is a masterpiece of game design, underpinned
06:16 by a building emotional connection that culminates like nothing else.
06:20 Number 3 - Brothers, A Tale of Two Sons
06:23 A severe left turn after the all-action delights of The Chronicles of Riddick, Starbreeze released
06:27 Brothers, A Tale of Two Sons as an unexpectedly brilliant adventure game.
06:31 Helmed by the now very well-known Joseph Farris, Brothers is pure talking in its framing of
06:36 a couple of villagers leaving their quaint little dwelling to journey out into the world
06:40 in search of a cure for their father.
06:42 Yet the unique beats of gameplay come from controlling the pair simultaneously.
06:46 One analogue stick and a shoulder button each is all you'll get, which once you've overcome
06:49 the mental acrobatics necessary to process both characters' movements at once, opens
06:54 up a number of really innovative and memorable puzzles that are fun to solve and literally
06:58 get your head around.
06:59 Of course, there's an emotional throughline to Brothers' story too, but it's all handled
07:03 in such a fairy tale fashion.
07:05 The game can rise up to the heights of soaring through intertwining canyons on the back of
07:09 a griffin, before seeing the characters embrace each other during a moment of pure peril.
07:13 If you're yet to experience Brothers for yourself, it is truly outstanding.
07:17 Number 2 - That Dragon Cancer
07:19 What was surely one of the most harrowing and quite confusing games to put together
07:23 from the creator's point of view, That Dragon Cancer is the real-life story of developers
07:27 Ryan and Amy Green's young son, Joel, and his sad battle with the titular life-taking
07:32 disease.
07:33 Already through subject matter alone, you'll know whether or not it's the sort of story
07:37 that's going to be a bit too much for you, but the way the Greens implemented their own
07:40 experiences into the game is nothing short of brave in the purest sense.
07:45 Graphics take on a deliberately dreamlike and artistic hue as a way of getting around
07:49 the lack of voice acting, instead relying on basic animations that are often more effective
07:53 overall, as you end up transporting yourself into the scene.
07:57 Going through each day as it came, like they once did.
07:59 A truly raw experience that had the fortitude to tackle one of humankind's most harrowing
08:04 topics, That Dragon Cancer is a testament to the power of interactive storytelling as
08:08 a force for good.
08:10 And Number 1 - To The Moon
08:11 Of all the underrated masterpieces Ken Gow's To The Moon most deserves your attention.
08:16 Focusing on an Inception-like tale of granting an old man's dying wish, you play as two
08:20 scientists who rewrite core memories, meaning any dying or otherwise incapacitated patient
08:26 can believe they've achieved the impossible before the end.
08:29 Already that is a very touching setup, and from then on out, To The Moon is a heartstring
08:33 puller of the highest order.
08:34 Gow's script walks the line between unbelievably emotional exchanges as you discover what this
08:39 man called Johnny's life was like before his life-threatening condition, alongside
08:43 some humorous exchanges between scientists Neil and Eva.
08:46 It's a tricky balance to get right, but Gow does so with the utmost confidence.
08:50 The concept brings you in immediately, and despite it not having the graphical chops
08:54 of something like Telltale's best work or the newer Don't Knot games, To The Moon
08:58 excels above and beyond by believing in both its subject matter and video games as a delivery
09:03 mechanism.
09:04 And those are just 9 incredibly emotional video games that will totally break you.
09:08 Let me know your favourites down in the comments below, and please subscribe to the What Culture
09:12 Gaming Podcast.
09:13 For now, I've been Scott from WhatCulture.com, and I'll catch you soon.