Looking for games that will make me cry

I beat Outer Wilds right after my first kid was born and it absolutely tore me to pieces.

To The Moon, was such a good story. The music from that game still floats around my head to this day.

Spiritfarer. I loved it on switch, but it's also on steam.

"Spiritfarer® is a cozy management game about dying. As ferrymaster to the deceased, build a boat to explore the world, care for your spirit friends, and release them into the afterlife."

https://thunderlotusgames.com/spiritfarer/

For some shorter experiences I haven't seen mentioned when skimming through a few comments here, I definitely recommend trying Transistor. It was one of the strongest emotional experience I've ever had in a game. I've managed to play it in a single sitting, but it is around 6 hours long. Supergiant games make such a uniquely perfect audiovisual experiences, that every game from them is a treat, but Transistor is the strongest emotional experience I've played from them.

Another one would be two-hours long walking simulator with amazing environmental storytelling - What Remains of Edit Finch. You can play it in a single sitting, and it's gorgeous and really well done.

You should also play Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice . It's also around 8 hours long, and you definitely want to play it with headphones, it's such a strong emotional experience. The audio and game design is so well done, and the game has stuck with me for such a long time. It's one of the few games where just seeing the trailer again tears me up and gives me chills. And after you play it, I recommend watching the documentary about how they tried to protray the mental illness of the main character through game design - it's such masterfully done that I didn't even realize most of what they are doing, but it has stuck with me and it worked wonders to make the experience even better.

And for some even more unique game design - Before Your Eyes. What makes this experience so strong is the whole premise of looking over your life and memories after you've died, with the main mechanic of how to advance time being by blinking - physically blinking, because the game can work with your camera. That makes for a pretty strong metaphor that makes it even more emotional experience.

And just to mention some games others have mentioned, to add to their recommendations - Outer Wilds, Ori and the Blind Forest, Life is Strange, Planet of Lana, all are really good games!

Red Dead Redemption has an emotional ending.

This War of Mine.

Life is Strange

Life is Strange: Before the Storm

I was going through a really rough time when I played both of those games. There was something in Before the Storm that I know was coming but I cried anyways, multiple times. I’ve never been that invested in a game before and I don’t know if I’ll ever be again.

Chrono Trigger. A timeless game that will make you laugh and cry and experience all that in between. The sequel Chrono Cross is also great but the original is just unrivalled.

UNDERTALE goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway.

Firewatch made my heart hurt. Twice.

Every time a 95% shot misses in XCOM (or X-Com), I cry.

"getting over it" but you'll cry for different reasons

Mass Effect trilogy made me pretty emotional at times.

I cried at the ending of Outer Wields. Its was very beautiful. You need to search the story for yourself and complete little puzzle. At the end when you get the full story its just beautiful and scary.

I'd have to say Nier Automata, as well as the recent remaster of the game that came before it, Nier Replicant (ver 1.22...). Both are soul-crushing, which is helped by their amazing soundtracks. I definitely recommend them if you're looking for something to make you cry.

New vegas, trying to continue playing as the game crashes incessantly will drive you to both tears and violence

Braid
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
Also reiterating The Walking Dead, but only the first season.

Ori and the Blind Forest would be my recommendation. Prologue starts strong and the rest of the game doesn't let it down.

Okami is pretty good too, if you're into the traditional Japanese art aesthetic

Journey

These are the games that came to mind:

• The Last of Us

• Life is Strange

• Final Fantasy X

• Another recommendation for the first season of Telltale's The Walking Dead

Hopefully you haven't played these already.

Two things that readily come to mind:

• The whole To The Moon series hits really hard. Note that if it sounds interesting to you to see the perspective of doctors meddling with people's memories before they die (so they die on a happier memory, basically), don't watch anything major about this. Giving too much away ruins the impact.
• If you are fine with the low-ish production values, the old-ish VN Katawa Shoujo works really well. Instead of showing ordinary people in extraordinary situations, it shows extraordinary people in completely ordinary situations. But as a result of how our memories of our teenage years distort with age, this works really well on adults. In particular for me, Rin's route was really good and made me cry a lot.

Brothers: a tale of two sons. You play as both brothers, working together to find a cure for their father sickness. Pretty sure I traumatized my SO with this one...

To The Moon.

Rakuen.

Life is Strange.

Last Day of June.

All of those made me cry, and they seem common recommendations on this kind of request.

Horizon Zero Dawn. The story itself isn't especially emotional, but learning the secret history of the world broke me, mostly because it seemed entirely plausible in our not-too-distant future.

Disco Elysium made me cry after a short conversation with a random man on the street. I haven't played much of it yet, so I can't speak to the majority of the content, but what I have played of it evokes more emotion than any game I've ever played before.

I know you probably didn't ask for emotional games, but I implore everyone to try Before Your Eyes. It is one of the most unique games I've played.

Didnt see anyone suggesting Bastion. Great game and will definitely make you cry.

I very rarely cry from games, but Ori and the Blind Forest made me shed a tear or two. Ori and the Will of the Wisps made my full-on ugly cry, and I was literally distraught for days.

Spiritfarer is an absolutely wonderful experience that is somehow both a casual open world chill game and a game that delves deep into the topic of death, being prepared for it, and leaving people behind. Really special game.

I really liked Before Your Eyes, it's a game that advances every time you blink.

I don't know if I'm just weird but Ori and the will of the Wisps did it for me.

This may be from a different angle, but here are two games about grief:
Spiritfarer
That Dragon: Cancer
Reply All did a truly heart-wrenching episode on the second one.

To the moon. That game for sure 100%

Y'all might think I'm crazy but Halo 1-2-3 is so fucking epic that I cried at the ending of 3

Xenoblade 3.

a world where each person only has only ten years to live and is forced to fight throughout in a never-ending war between two nations in a decaying land. There's a lot of depth surrounding the main characters, especially joint protagonist Mio who has only 3 months life remaining at the start of the story. Game gets real fucking dark.

And nah you don't need to play the first two to enjoy it, as long as you avoid the DLC expansion as that's the series conclusion.

Edit: also the most believable and well written romance between two characters I've ever seen in a game and the fantastic VA makes a huge impact (all UK talent - Mio's VA is better known for Peaky Blinders, Jenna Coleman is better known for Dr Who, for example). And anyone who says they didn't cry in chapter 5/6 is a liar.

Rime

I cried so much in the end.

The ending of Transistor made me feel things. There may have been a sob or two.

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League of Legends Solo Queue will break you! At some point you are going to cry.

It might not fit entirely in, but check out Spec Ops: The Line. It's more or less linear shooter, but the story (and ending) makes it quite unique and very different from any other game I've played. Could too get pretty emotional at times.

The thread is quite large at this point, so sorry if it's been recommended already. GRIS is definitely a very emotional game. It's quite short, probably on sale quite often, visually stunning, and very sad.

How has A Plague Tail not been mentioned? Most of these mentioned a good games with a sad scene or two thrown in. Plague Tail, especially the sequel will make a grown man ugly cry.

I played Heavy Rain and somehow managed to get the ending where everyone died. That kept me off gaming in general for quite a while. Brothers was mentioned here, I can recommend it too. Papo y Yo is a allegory of your relationship with an alcoholic abusive father, and it didn't make me cry outright but was pretty heavy.

Slime rancher always makes me cry at the end, but it deffo requires you reading the random notes and emails, and then also giving a shit about characters you never actually interact with. I can’t remember why it’s so emotionally effective, but this is the exact trap that keeps leading me back to replaying it and crying at the end again.

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter! I'm not going to say anything, except that you need to do all the "side" quests. If you miss any, the map at the end will show which you missed. See the ending!

Dear Esther is also quite special, the monologues change every playthrough and everyone interprets the game differently. Very impactful.

My first thought is definitely Valiant Hearts: The Great War. That one, I found, to be devastatingly sad. Regularly on sale for super cheap, including right now. Also available on mobile if you prefer

I can recommend all games from SIGONO's OPUS series https://store.steampowered.com/publisher/sigono/#browse

You don't mind porn? Go and play the AVN Acting Lessons. It's on Steam. It's not too long but the punch it packs... it has this reputation of "the AVN you'll never wanna play again". I like to compare it to Requiem for a Dream.
If you want less heart-rending tears, I just finished chapter 3 of Being a Dik and there were tears, but the kinda good emotional kind. I'm the first surprised, but it seems to be a signature of the author and I quite like it.

Otherwise I'm playing Metro Exodus and man, that game is oozing with that uniquely Russian despair. No tears yet, but I'm preparing for some dark moments and the whole thing is just... wow. Mad Max had beautiful everything, but M:E has fantastic writing throughout. It all feels deeply personal and with that dreadful feeling of inevitability. And you only get to see/hear it if you want, mostly. Very glad I gave this game a second chance (it's very... clunky. Again in that typical slavic way, I guess; but it works if you accept it as it is).

Yakuza 0. That ending. Bruh.

The ending of metal gear solid three hurt me pretty good.

Try SIGNALIS ! It is extremely depressive, emotional and evocative, and to an extent it is a homage to stuff like Silent Hill 2

Ori and the Blind Forest? I know it's not quite as mature as some of the things suggested here, but it really knows how to hit you hard at some points throughout the story.

The Last Day of June is quite lovely.

Rakuen was the most recent game I played that did that for me

Cyberpunk 2077 and Horizon Zero Dawn are both fantastic games with an emotional storyline.

It was short and sweet but Planet of Lana got me in the feels a little bit.

Detroit: Become Human had a really great character focused narrative where basically everyone can die. Give that one a go

Don't think I've seen anyone mention Oneshot. Amazing little game.

In Bindinc of Isaac you cry a lot.

But on a more serious note. The Life is Strange series can be very emotional, if you like the style of the games.

S.O.M.A has a moment.

Have you played Plague Tale 1 and 2? I'm not considered a very emotional person, but the dynamic really got to me. Just a really solid game, enjoyable combat. They're two of the very few games I binged to completion.

The House in Fata Morgana. Nice thing is that'll it be both sad and happy tears.

It's been a few years and listening to the soundtrack snaps me back. I only wish I could I could play it again for the first time.

Plague Tale (Both games are solid, but 2 was sooooo good)

Telltale Games Walking Dead. Not a game, but a whole series.

Tales, Xenogears

That Dragon, Cancer. Part game, part visual novel.

Rime is hauntingly beautiful in a way that hits you as it finishes.

Death Stranding

Papers, Please. Maybe not crying, but could definitely put you into a depressed mood if you manage to get into character. Needing to make a choice between letting some poor bastard's wife follow him without proper papers and feeding your family is tough.

Mother 3 got me tearing up when I first played it

Persona 4 Golden is a beautiful game that made me emotional more than once.

Portal 2. But you should play the first part before sequel, if you haven't already.

Haven't actually played it yet but a video about MOTHER 3 made me cry just talking about the story (not only that but the part where he talked about the story made me a little emotional)

Here is the video btw

You may already know it but Omori was heavily inspired by the mother series and especially Mother 3: https://twitter.com/_omocat/status/1384687971929006080

Had a quick scroll through and didn't see it anywhere yet, so:

Dear Esther.

Actually, reminds me I should play through it again, it's been a few years.

Titanfall 2... Goodness that ending had my kiddo misty eyed. As for me, there was dust in my hand room or my allergies were acting up.

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People already recommended some Final Fantasies, but really all of them can get you quite emotional at times.

If you like VNs, Umineko no Naku Koro ni made me cry so many times...

Edit: Just remembered Once on a Windswept Night, it's just a short game you can complete in a hour, but for some reason it made me really emotional.

Last Day of June was also a lovely and emotional experience for me. I hope you'll enjoy it as well!

They probably aren't your cup of tea but thought I'd add some more variety.

Final Fantasy XIV; an mmo with focus on story and the story arc from the past 9 years is wrapped up and brought me lots of tears.

Honkai Impact 3rd; ARPG gacha game (I know, I was skeptical) also with years of story following a relatively small cast of characters.

The most recent one to make me cry was...

"I Was a Teenage Exocolonist"

One I've not seen mentioned but made me bawl my eyes out is 'Presentable Liberty' Im not sure about the remake, but the original was pretty short and was gripping, despite the low level of action.

Final Fantasy X.

Probably gonna get hate for it but I'm a man in my 40's and some of the Genshin Impact story lines have left me in tears.

Yakuza Zero has a story that is excellent, albeit goofy at times. In the end, it got me good.

Lisa: the Painful

I dont know if its listed here yet.

Red Dead Redemption 2 made me bawl my eyes out.

Rimworld - Randy Rough

I may be a bit late to the party but The last of us 1&2 had a pretty emotional impact on me. The game is pretty brutal, in every meaning, but the overall experience and story telling is hard to top.

I highly recommend to not get spoiled and play it in order of release!

Final Fantasy XIV (specifically the level 73 quest line in ShB and the final part of Endwalker)

Disco Elysium shattered me half a dozen times. Two moments in particular made me step away from my desk and go on a walk. It's the best-written game I've ever played.

Firewatch. Gorgeous, emotionally honest game that wrings you out.

Inside. More of a stressful, cathartic cry, but it applies.

Mass Effect 3 - but only if you play the first two. Incredible story that beats you over the head with yearning .

Les Soldats Inconnus

Bastion hit me like no other game really has. The start of supergiants fantastic game repertoire and I feel it gets overlooked due to its age. The music and narration is fantastic, and the story that unfolds is beautiful.

If you've ever experienced grief, then Gris. I still listen to the beautiful soundtrack regularly

Golf club wasteland made me cry. It's a quick game, but I found it very touching.

I mean, you could try one of Jason Oda's games. Continue?9876543210 or Waking.

God of War: Ragnarok got me close to bawling. Father son moments always get me in movies and games, and this was one of the best.

Ghost Trick is a very twisty game, but a few of the twists had me tearing up.

Omori. If you don't cry when playing that game, you are a monster...

But more seriously, even though it's the best storytelling I've seen in ages, I wouldn't recommend it if you are depressed, that game hits hard.