All forms of entertainment have the power to elicit powerful emotions from people. While you may not think of videogames as being prominent on that list, it actually happens more often than you think, and largely because of the attachment gamers develop to characters. These eight moments were some of the saddest we can remember in the world of videogames.
Don’t see your saddest moment? Tell us what it is in the comments!
NOTE: There will obviously be some spoilers ahead. Tread carefully.
Jenny’s Death – The Darkness
In The Darkness, Jackie Estacado is trying to get back at his Uncle Paulie for trying to have Jackie killed. After Jackie does some serious damage to Paulie’s business by killing off a dealer and burning down a warehouse full of money, Paulie retaliates by kidnapping Jackie’s girlfriend. When Jackie shows up to try to free her, he is restrained by the Darkness and forced to watch as she is murdered. It’s a powerful scene, and it leaves Jackie so distraught that he commits suicide, only to wake up in the Otherworld.
Max Payne’s Nightmare – Max Payne
Max has taken a lot of abuse throughout the series, but probably none of it was more disturbing than the nightmare he has about the death of his family. In it, he’s running through his house in a sort of slow-motion gait, hearing the cries of his child and the screams of his wife. There’s even a section where Max fires three shots, which has led to argument over whether he’s the one who killed his wife, or if he’s just punishing himself by dreaming it that way.
Dom Finds Maria – Gears Of War 2
Gears Of War 2 isn’t the sort of game you expect to find a tear-jerking moment in, but the scene where Dom finds his lost wife Maria definitely qualifies. Dom had heard that she’d been captured by the Locust, and he was desperate to locate her. When he finally finds her, it takes Marcus pointing out what’s happened for him (and us) to see it. Even worse, Dom realizes that she’s a broken husk of what she once was, and he can’t save her. Finally, we hear the shot that Dom uses to put her out of her misery from offscreen. It’s a moment that you can’t forget, and it colors Dom’s character for the rest of the series.
Mordin’s Sacrifice – Mass Effect 3
Mordin is one of the most popular supporting characters from the Mass Effect series. As one of the creators of the genophage that sterilized the Krogan race, Mordin later feels that this choice was wrong, and sets out to cure the genophage. Although there are several outcomes depending on your choices, in this one Mordin prepares to deploy the cure, but sabotage threatens to thwart him. He ascends to the top of tower, leaving Shepard with the words, “Had to be me. Someone else might have gotten it wrong.” We last see Mordin singing his Gilbert & Sullivan tunes as the tower explodes. It’s a fitting end to his arc, and a powerful, yet saddening, moment for gamers.
Layton And Claire – Professor Layton And The Lost Future
You may not think of the Professor Layton games as tear-jerkers, but the short-lived reunion between Layton and his lost love Claire definitely qualifies. After traveling through time and saving London, the Professor is finally reunited with Claire. She had been accidentally transported into the future 10 years, and Layton thought she was dead. However, their time together is all too brief, as Claire’s body is trying to return to her own time, where she died in an explosion. The scene is made all the more memorable by Layton removing his hat, the first time in the series he does so.
John Marston’s Last Stand – Red Dead Redemption
Although John Marston is just looking to settle down with his wife and son after escaping life as an outlaw, his past catches up to him in Red Dead Redemption. After making a deal with the government, the agents turn on him and show up at his farm looking to take him down. It’s a fight John can’t win, so he sends his wife and son off on a horse, and then walks into the guns. He does so knowing that he won’t make it, but also that his family suffer if he doesn’t confront the issue. What makes it sadder is that he’s tried to keep his son away from the outlaw life, but John’s death leads his son to seek revenge.
Sarah’s Death – The Last of Us
The Last of Us is one of the best games in recent memory. Joel, one of the main characters, is trying to get a little girl to safety. His actions are colored by his experiences and the death of his daughter, which we get to experience at the beginning of the game. It’s all the more sad because Joel had gotten her to the safety of military protection, only to see the very people he was hoping would help try and gun them down. It’s rare to see this moving a moment that early in a game, and made all the more so because of how rare it is to see children die in a video game.
Lee’s Death – The Walking Dead
Telltale’s The Walking Dead had a number of emotional moments, but none more so than Lee’s death in Episode 5 of Season 1. Not only are we losing a character that nearly everyone had grown attached to over the course of the first season, but we’re seeing the effect that loss has on the character of Clementine. Whether you choose to have Clem shoot Lee, or simply leave him chained to the radiator to turn into a walker, you can see that it’s the most difficult decision Clem has ever had to make, and that it will affect her for the rest of her life.
