Looking for emotional game recommendations

Life is Strange made me cry. It has a good soundtrack too.

The first walking dead game from telltale was good, but if you've played anything they've done its largely the same.

Papers please can get emotional, but it's mostly intense pressure.

I haven't played it myself, but I've seen playthroughs of The Last of Us. Even though there's a sequel, I've heard the first one is better. Anyway, if engaging story is what you're after, I'd check that out.

I've also never played this one, but I've heard SpecOps: The Line is also a gutpunch.

It's a bit of a commitment, but I always found the Halo series to be kinda emotional to me, but then I also grew up with it and got invested in the characters. Your mileage may vary with Halo.

Final recommendation would be Ori and the Blind Forest if you're into platformers.

Haven't seen Spiritfarer mentioned, worth checking out.

I'm not super familiar with the examples you gave but I'm gonna say anything from Supergiant Games: Bastion, Transistor, Pyre, Hades. Fantastic music always, I would say the storytelling is done best in Transistor and Hades.

I thought Ori and the blind Forest was rife with emotion

I just finished OneShot this week and I think it could be what you're looking for. It certainly would if you play the whole game.

You can get very personally attached to the characters in a way that I've not had in a game before. It was very hard to finish the game amongst all the tears.

Brothers a tale of two sons.

It is very emotional

Since you’re ok with horror, I highly recommend both Detention and Devotion by Red Candle Games. Both of them start out as horror, then gut punch you as you realize what’s going on. Devotion is an amazing example of domestic horror (the horror that can happen inside the home), and Detention is the horror that people do when they don’t realize the consequences of their actions. Devotion has stuck with me, and to this day the last line makes me want to cry.

Bastion has a good story and great OST. There's a pretty heavy moment toward the end of the game.

🎵I'm coming home, sweet home🎵

This War of Mine

Mass effect and dragon age series from bioware are excellent, they're a little involved but the story telling is incredible in both. While it has aged and may be depending on a love for star wars, their knights of the old republic series was also excellent.

They're really damn good at making a story that's worth being part of, often one of my first recommendations aside from the last of us, outer wilds, and a couple of others I've seen here already.

Maybe What Remains of Edith Finch? Also, maybe it was just a weird time in my life, but I think I bawled hardest at the end of FFVII: Crisis Core back in the PSP days. Braid is an emotionally weird one as well.

Gris

Death Stranding had me all over the place. Also the first season of Telltales The Walking Dead.

Basically anything with kids can set me off and I find somewhat difficult nowadays as I have children of my own.

Final Fantasy X still holds my personal ugly-cry record. To this day, I can't hear some of the music from it without tearing up. It's one of those games that has emotional react videos on YouTube.

Shadow of the Colossus manages to be emotional with very little explicit story. A lot of it has to do with its use of dynamic music in an orchestral soundtrack.

Persona 3 just had a remake, and that's part of a series that can really gets its hooks into you. A big part of it is the parasocial gameplay, but even if you're not the type to get into that, the story is still very moving. Persona series composer Shoji Meguro recently said the ending theme in this game was his magnum opus.

I really wanted to suggest Nier Replicant, but, seeing as you didn't like Automata, I guess there's no point. I enjoyed both, though, since I kind of was in a specific headspace the time I played them. I also took both at face value initially, which has helped

Other than that, may I suggest Beacon Pines? It's all about the story, so I think you'll love it. The way you discover different branching paths the story takes is also quite novel.

I also loved FAR: Lone Sails. It's more of a "show, don't tell" kinda story

There's also this itchio game I found once -- Under a star called Sun. It's super short, though

My recommendation would be RiME and Spiritfarer, both managed to make me cry.
Spiritfarer talk quite a bit about death, sometime through diseases (cancer, demencia, etc.), but in a different way than To The Moon, and you may find it ok.
RiME topic is a bit different, but cannot be spoiled unless you want to diminish the impact. In my case I went blind and damn it hit me like a truck 😅.
On the stellar OST side you could try Gris. Pretty emotional too, but in a way more abstract way than the first two.
On the topic of war and its horrors you got Torn Away, as well as This War Of Mine, both very emotional journey.

It's a long game, but Xenoblade Chronicles 3 messed me up in all the right ways. Especially if music moves you, I recommend it. Mostly standalone too, if you didn't play the other 2 main games.

This game has very powerful moments.

I found "Journey" to be very emotional at the end. Also, although it's real slow and not everyone's cup of tea, "Everybody's Gone To The Rapture"

Xenoblade Chronicles 1-3 & X

I would wholeheartedly recommend the A Plague Tale duology (Innocence and Requiem). They both had a lasting impact on me (especially Requiem) and the overall presentation is really great IMO.

I know it has a bit of an intense fan base, but Undertale would definitely fit here.

To the Moon was great. It's made with RPG Maker and it shows, but it hits hard.

I immediately thought of Arise: A Simple Story.

There's no dialogue, but the imagery and soundtrack are very powerful.

You might like Inmost.

The Talos Principle, despite being a puzzle game, has a gorgeous story if you take your time to listen to the audiologs and read the files you find in the world.

Iconoclast is an action platformer with great story and characters. It takes a bit to become interesting imo, but it grew on me the more I played it and I remember it fondly.

Signalis is a survival horror game that combines a presentation similar to that of old school Resident Evil games with lovecraftian cosmic horror. The story is very cryptic and requires a bit of effort on the player's part, but I really enjoyed it both for its themes and the characters (more than the actual gameplay).

A Plague Tale Innocence/Requiem are two action adventure games with an enthralling story, well written characters and a gut punching ending. The disease aspect of the story is not prominent in the first game, and the ending is satisfying imo, so you could stop there if diseases are a no-go for you.

I really liked Life is Strange 2 and its themes really resonated with me, but it is very divisive among fans.

I also enjoyed Haven's sci-fi love story, and found it one of the best depictions of an actual relationship in gaming: where most games tend to end when two characters declare their love/share a kiss/whatever, Haven's beginning is well after they got together and the entire game is them being together, talking and joking and stuff. If you're a bit sentimental, you may like it.

These are just games from the current/last gen, but you can find other great stories if you are willing to play with an emulator or have old consoles lying around. Xenogears is a JRPG from the old PS1 days, and it's still the best one of its genre. Oddworld Abe's Oddysee is a puzzle platformer with very modern themes despite its age, and its mix of fairy tale-like storytelling and horror/splatter presentation is very unique and engaging. I still think of Rue's story in Threads of Fate as one of the most emotional stories I've played as a kid.

I could go on, but I already listed waaay too many titles lol

Permanently Deleted

@seliaste
I just finished Enderal (Skyrim Total Conversion mod). That left me crying at the end (and one quest in between as well)

If it's emotional you want, you can't beat To the Moon and its sequel, Finding Paradise. They're walking sims, but they've got great stories that'll make you ugly cry

The Witcher 3 has some really emotional scenes, and an immersive soundtrack.

Rage and anger are emotions so I'd suggest League of Legends

Several games I'd have recommended have already been said, so I'll chuck in a nod for Thomas Was Alone, incredibly moving despite the only 'characters' being a range of shapes.

Telltale's The Walking Dead games. Made me cry more than when my dog died.

I too love emotional games. Here are my personal favourites. Some of these have been recommended by others but idc:

What Remains of Edith Finch - as Edith Finch, you go back to the house you grew up in and explore your family's history. The Finch family have had much misfortune, and many did not grow old. As you explore the house room by room, you see that person's last moments. I cannot recommend this game enough. It's only 2 hours long and best enjoyed in a single sitting.

Life is Strange - you (Max) have recently returned to the town you grew up in for a prestigious art programme at the Blackwell Academy. One day, you discover you have suddenly gained the ability to rewind time. In this game, you explore your powers and reunite with your old childhood friend, Chloe. Don't worry too much about the superpower thing, it's without any Marvel BS.

Detroit: Become Human - in this game, you explore a world where robots are servants to humans from the POV of three robots. There are three stories that you follow that do meet each-other at some points. Not all stories are equally exciting, but two of the three are pretty great imo. It really makes you think about what it means to be human.

Kentucky Route Zero - this is an odd duck that you may enjoy as well. You start as Conway, an old man driving for an antiques shop doing his last delivery, as the shop will close down soon. As you try to find your way, a gas station attendant gives you cryptic directions to Highway Zero. As Conway and several other characters, you explore the surrealist world beneath Kentucky. It's a game filled with mystery, grief, loss, and being lost. This game is more like a strange dream rather than a videogame, and is therefore best played in the later hours of the day.

I hope there are some interesting picks here for you. Enjoy!

Brothers: A tale of two sons.

Only game that ever made me cry alone.

I'm surprised no one mentioned it. Hellblade (full title: Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice) had me in literal tears. Not only it's a decent game, it's also an essay on heavy topics like mental health and the story of viking invasions.

Borderlands 2, then the expansion Tiny Tina's assault on dragon keep.

Baldurs Gate 3.

I am into emotional storytelling as well, I think what gets you involved most are well drawn characters.

I would recommend planescape torment for an epic adventure full of stories, characters and heartbreak.

Really good stories/characters are few and far between in computer games but "The longest journey" comes to mind and even the first Witcher game.

Unavowed comes to mind as well as a rather affecting story.

And a couple of dozen books, but that's not what you asked for...

The last of us 1 and then 2. There are video games and then there's TLoU p1&2. If you can, play 1 on pc. The controls aren't great in 1 (IMHO) but kb&m made that so much better. P2 they made the controls much better. It's a more fun game to play in my experience with less frustrating sections, and whilst people prefer 1 or flat out don't like 2, I think the drivers for that aren't to do with the story or game not being good, in fact, I would say p2 is the best story driven game I've ever played (better than rdr2 which I loved and is another one you should consider, 1 and 2 actually). People will just not like 1 specific thing or another (there are lots of small things in the game that certain people will have issue with, you'll understand when you play it) and then because of that 1 thing say the whole thing is bad. People that complain are often louder than those who praise.

I'd recommend "in stars and time". It is a turn-based RPG with loveable characters. I think it is best played blind so I'm hesitant to tell you more, but if you like games like undertale then I think you would like it.

Undertale and Deltarune are easy recs, emotional and fun to dig into the lore and details. Deltarune in particular is an ongoing series, so there's lots of speculation and theory crafting if that's your thing. Amazing soundtrack as well. Undertale should be played first, though. Deltarune isn't necessarily a sequel, but Undertale gives some context to certain things. Both are best played blind.

Inscryption is a really fun deck builder with a very intriguing story and some surprising twists and turns. Even if you're not much into deck builders, the game is structured such that it's pretty much impossible not to get a winning deck over repeated runs. The atmosphere is also top notch.

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective isn't on steam, but it's definitely worth a buy on one of its supported systems if you have them. Great puzzle game with a lot of humor and mystery. Not quite as emotional, but very strong characters and an ongoing mystery that kept me invested.

Oxenfree is a really intriguing mystery game with some horror elements and a great soundtrack (I originally checked it out after hearing Beacon Beach and loving it). Overall the game really scratched the itch of that feeling of reading horror stories before bed.

There's also a free, short Silent Hill game on PS5 called The Short Message. It has mixed reviews, but my friends and I found it surprisingly engaging. At first it seems pretty on the nose with its message, but things get a little deeper as you go on. Aside from some cartoonishly evil characters and a somewhat frustrating final sequence, it's worth a look.

Before Your Eyes

Kattawa Shoujo.

Drops mic

Stray!

The LISA games.

Immortal Defense.

The Last Guardian

Death stranding, a space for the unbound, celeste, Dust: an elysian tale, pokemon mystery dungeon Red rescue team (GBA) or blue rescue team (DS). Baldur's gate 3 has some personal stories that are extremely wonderful. Bad things happening to good people, and things largely working out depending on how you play. Battlefield One's campaign had some stories that made my heart ache for characters. People laying down their lives so that their friends can get back to their families.

Detroit: become human was SO close if not for a hamfisted twist. Inscryption isn't as emotional but packs a wildly interesting story.

My recommendation would be God of War (2018). Haven't played Ragnarok yet, so I can't talk about that one. You really attach to the characters. Their personalities are well defined, and it presents some father/mother/son dilemmas along the journey. Great OST, too.

I know it's not known as "emotional," but it's the only game I recall that made me cry a little at the end,

I don't think playing previous GoW games is mandatory. A quick recap is enough.

If you hated Nier Automata then perhaps Drakengard 3 would be more up your alley?

It's still emotional by the end but that game has more humor and is more whimsical/strange - especially during route A. The initial humor can be a hit or miss but I think it's used nicely to contrast with later parts of the story.

Unfortunately it's a PS3 exclusive and considering how the game runs on that system the best way to play it is emulation.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits was pretty good

If you enjoy platformers, I'd recommend Sanabi.

I'll give a recommendation for something that hasn't been posted yet. Danganronpa: trigger happy havoc is a very emotional game and has a well written story that takes you on a journey.

Heard good things about this one

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Before_Your_Eyes

The Stillness of the Wind is a short, peaceful, beautifully scored farming game that will fuck you right up. Have a huggable blåhaj nearby.

Mother series. especially Earthbound (Mother 2) and Mother 3

Dark Souls 1 can be emotional with a strong and deep atmosphere but the narration is kind of loose.

Shenmue 1. Really special game focused on the feeling of losing a relative with emphasis on the story. Tons of bittersweetness in that game.

Resident Evil HD remaster has some very sad moment, even if overall it is more scary than sad.