Looking for emotional game recommendations

Submitted ⁨⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨seliaste@lemmy.blahaj.zone⁩ to ⁨games@lemmy.world⁩

My favorite games are Omori, Disco Elysium and Outer Wilds. I cried for hours at the end of those games, and I think the common point in them is high-quality emotional writing and stellar OST (music really affect me).
I’ve been trying to find something similar, so hss anybody any recommendation?
I’d like to add that I basically hated Nier Automata (way too pretentious imo) and Before your Eyes (I wasn’t a fan of the game concept, and found the story pretty weak), and really loved the horror aspects of Omori.

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bionicjoey@lemmy.ca ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Life is Strange made me cry. It has a good soundtrack too.

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- seliaste@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I played through the original and True colors, it was great!
  
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  - drasglaf@sh.itjust.works ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Play Before The Storm if you haven’t, it’s a prequel to the first game.
    
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Aremel@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
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.

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- seliaste@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Already played through Spec ops the line and loved it, but not as muxh as those other games.
  
  I never played TLOU, might try it out
  And yeah Halo wasn’t for me at all
  Ori has been also recommended a lot to me but isn’t it hard to get attached to characters with the presentation the game is going for?
  
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  - Aremel@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Yeah, Ori is emotional but there isn’t much to attach you to the characters if that’s what you’re looking for.
    
    Might I recommend Witcher 3? I didn’t play the other ones, but I found myself getting attached to the characters by the end all the same.
    
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  - runner_g@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    The Last of Us can be very intense, and the ending of both 1 and 2 are heart wrenching. I definitely recommend them both. Also take reviews of 2 with a grain of salt. A lot of red pill misogynists hated it.
    
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- dlpkl@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  The Last of Us 1 has been the only game to ever make me emotional. It’s still the gold standard for what a video game is capable of in terms of narrative. The sequel was jarring, but not heart wrenching in the same way the first was.
  
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ryathal@sh.itjust.works ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
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.

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- Chenzo@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I was so scared for and protective of Clementine.
  
  So good.
  
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  - Cocodapuf@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    But not even a mention of everyone’s favorite character, Kenny?
    
    Kenny will remember that.
    
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MegaUltraChicken@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Haven’t seen Spiritfarer mentioned, worth checking out.

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- morphballganon@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Seconded. Very emotional, and many kinds of emotions.
  
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Ltcpanic@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I thought Ori and the blind Forest was rife with emotion

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- dandroid@sh.itjust.works ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Ori and the Blind Forest made me shed a few tears. It was a beautiful game that was full of emotion while telling an amazing story.
  
  Ori and the Will of the Wisps made me bawl like a baby for days.
  
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edgemaster72@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
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.

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- seliaste@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Gotta check Transistor it looks cool af
  
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Zess@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
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🎵

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- Dremor@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Transistor too, from the same studio.
  
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k110111@feddit.de ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Brothers a tale of two sons.

It is very emotional

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- Chenzo@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Came in here to mention this.
  
  Easy and fun to play. Totally full of feels
  
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- seliaste@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Lots of people recommended it, I’ll look into it
  
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clampy_boi@sh.itjust.works ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
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.

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- seliaste@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Oneshot looks like it’s what I’m looking for. I’ll try to play it soon! Thank you
  
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  - clampy_boi@sh.itjust.works ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    You’re welcome, I hope you have a good time!
    
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OmanMkII@aussie.zone ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
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.

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- FabledAepitaph@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Took me over a year to recover from Outer Wilds. Can’t explain it…
  
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Stopthatgirl7@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
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.

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- Theharpyeagle@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Thank you for reminding me of this. I loved Detention, they did a great job of transitioning to an intriguing story once the horror elements got less scary (as they naturally do as you get used to a horror game.)
  
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  - Stopthatgirl7@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    If you haven’t played Devotion, I really can’t recommend it enough. It’s a completely different style from Detention, but they did that same really good job of transitioning to the story.
    
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- seliaste@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Woha never heard of that, I’ll look into it
  
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  - Stopthatgirl7@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    You can only get Devotion on Red Candle’s website, thanks to Chinese censorship bullshit. It got pulled off Steam, then when GOG said they would sell it, they freaked out because they were worried about CP2077 sales and claimed “gamers” complaining made them change their mind (but wouldn’t respond to anyone asking for specifics).
    
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tiny_electron@sh.itjust.works ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Gris

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- watersnipje@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Ooh, yes! A game without words, but incredibly beautiful.
  
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Adderbox76@lemmy.ca ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
This War of Mine

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Eggyhead@kbin.run ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
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.

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- Theharpyeagle@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Edith Finch is pretty squarely a “walking simulator,” but by far the best one I’ve played (Firewatch is up there, but didn’t stick with me the same way). It makes the most of its relatively simple gameplay by adding in a bunch of unique gimmicks and visuals for each section.
  
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- Omegamanthethird@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I loved Crisis Core. But Final Fantasy X got me a lot more emotional.
  
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  - Eggyhead@kbin.run ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Funnily enough, I own FFX on like three different platforms but still haven’t played it through to the end.
    
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- seliaste@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I played ff7 crisis core when I was 10 or so… It was wonderful I never heard of Braid
  
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  - Eggyhead@kbin.run ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Braid is a side-scrolling puzzle platformer with a mind-bending and somewhat heartbreaking twist at the end. I played it ages ago, but will never forget it. I don’t think it was very long.
    
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B0NK3RS@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Death Stranding had me all over the place. Also the first episode 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.

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- seliaste@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  As an MGS fan I’m trying to get into death stranding but struggle to do so…
  
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  - B0NK3RS@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    It took me a couple tries with DS too. The first few chapters don’t do it justice but once you get past that it’s just amazing.
    
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  - Wahots@pawb.social ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    It’s worth it. Mads Mikkelsen and Léa Seydoux should have won awards for best supporting actor(s). Emily O’Brien had some tearjerker parts too. It’s far more than the sum of its parts.
    
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Ashtear@lemm.ee ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
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.

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- seliaste@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Huge RPGs kinda scare me… But Ive heard a lot about Persona 3 that might get me to play it
  
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  - Ashtear@lemm.ee ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Persona 3 is one of the “shorter” ones in the contemporary Persona series at a mere 60 hours. Persona 5 Royal is a beast, though. Hard to get through that one in under 100 hours without rushing.
    
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brsrklf@jlai.lu ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
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.

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- seliaste@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Unfortunately I think I kinda got spoiled a few months ago… But I’ll consider it
  
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  - brsrklf@jlai.lu ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Not sure what part exactly was spoiled to you, but I’d be surprised if it can ruin the emotional impact.
    
    There is one twist I can see that might take a bit out of it, but I am not sure how you’d encounter such a specific story beat in isolation. Not convinced even that would completely spoil it too.
    
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Dremor@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
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.

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- seliaste@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Spiritfarer has been on my backlog for a while, I might actually try it someday
  
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  - Dremor@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    I’ll also add Celeste to the list, amazing OST, lovable characters, but damn, it is hard ! But that’s because I play it at the default settings, you can change them all, even getting immortal if you just want to enjoy the story itself.
    
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cafuneandchill@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
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

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lemmyng@lemmy.ca ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
The Witcher 3 has some really emotional scenes, and an immersive soundtrack.

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- seliaste@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I’m trying to get into it, played 15 hours already but I struggle to get attached to the world or characters
  
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  - lemmyng@lemmy.ca ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    The game takes a while to warm up the plot. It picks up with the Baron quests, and the big emotional parts come out full steam towards the last third of the story.
    
    If you manage to finish it, replay it with different choices. Some of the character reactions can be really endearing, others can be terribly heartbreaking.
    
    Both expansions also have excellent stories, one with a Faustian plot, the other with dark stories in a fairy tale veneer.
    
    I would suggest you try to make it as far as the botchling quest. If you still don’t care for it after that then I’ll concede that it’s not your style of game.
    
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Bombastion@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
To the Moon was great. It’s made with RPG Maker and it shows, but it hits hard.

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- Cocodapuf@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I started playing this game about a month after my dad died of cancer, I had to just nope out entirely. I could dig my teeth into Stellaris or build a flying guitar in Kerbal space program, but I couldn’t handle To the Moon or Firewatch.
  
  Oh hey, there’s a recommendation, play Firewatch, it’s got some big feelings too.
  
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- seliaste@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Already talked about it in my post
  
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TheSambassador@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I know it has a bit of an intense fan base, but Undertale would definitely fit here.

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- seliaste@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Played it already 8 years ago, but I agree it was great!
  
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oji@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Xenoblade Chronicles 1-3 & X

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- curiousPJ@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Bought a switch just for this series. Well worth.
  
  I wish I can play Xenoblade 2 for the first time again.
  
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  - Theharpyeagle@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    I know a lot of people dislike 2 for how anime it is compared to the other two, but being the first one I played, I have such a soft spot for it. And it’s fun, to boot.
    
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farcaster@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Huh. Hardly ever met anyone who watched Hana-bi, let alone liked it as much as I did. And Outer Wilds is one of my favorite games of all time.

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”

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any1th3r3@lemmy.ca ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I would wholeheartedly recommend the A Plague Tale duology (Innocence and Requiem). They both had a lasting impact on me (especially Requiem) and the OSTs are the overall presentation is really great IMO.

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Blubber28@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
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!

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- Drummyralf@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  +1 for Life is Strange and Detroit Become Human Both are on my favoeutie games list.
  
  Also check out The Beginners Guide.
  
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- seliaste@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Kentucky route zero seems very nice!
  
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bbb@sh.itjust.works ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Telltale’s The Walking Dead games. Made me cry more than when my dog died.

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- Cocodapuf@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  A thousand times, this.
  
  Playing the walking dead games made me finally realize what the zombie genre is really all about. Zombie apocalypses are really a metaphor for the experience of life, In the end death takes everyone, in a zombie apocalypse it’s just accelerated. But death is a reality we all face, there’s no escaping it, there’s no running from it, there’s no outsmarting it; eventually you slip up or maybe you’re careful and responsible the whole way through, it actually doesn’t matter, you’ll still die in the end. What does matter are the choices you make along the way, the people’s lives that you touch, the world you can either leave better than you found it, or worse.
  
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ajoebyanyothername@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
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.

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- Cocodapuf@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Absolutely! You are going to feel some very big feelings about these little squares and rectangles.
  
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EmoDuck@sh.itjust.works ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Rage and anger are emotions so I’d suggest League of Legends

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StoneyDcrew@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
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.

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