The human being is a complex machine. And if, ordinarily, we tend to repress our strongest emotions, it can happen that we seek to provoke them. With video games navigating such vast waters, some are particularly good at opening the floodgates to your tear glands wide open.
Whether it's typically “indepressing” titles or bigger clog games that know how to be moving at the bend of a striking scene, our medium is rich in the sensitivity of the people who write them.
Necessarily subjective (but at least collegial), this selection offers you a bit of both. We warn you in advance: there are obviously some missing. But that's also the purpose of the site's comments section, isn't it?
Spiritfarer
Available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox and Switch
An independent hit released in 2020, Spiritfarer puts you in the shoes of Charon's replacement, having to guide souls towards death. Before arriving at their destination, you will have to get to know them (your passengers take the form of adorable anthropomorphic animals) and do them a favor… before leading them to the gates of their last journey.
Don't you dare play it without a box of tissues nearby.
Life is Strange 2
Available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox
Leader of the movement of depressing narrative games, mimicking American independent cinema, Life is Strange is a highly recommended license if you want to cry a good time. Probably the most dramatic installment of the three, Life is Strange 2 follows two brothers on American roads while on the loose.
Grey
Disponible sur PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox, Switch, iOS et Android
Remarkable for its artistic direction, Gris is also a game which, despite its silence, has a lot to tell us about mourning and perseverance. We embody Gris, a young woman who has lost her voice but whose singing helps shape the surroundings. A 2D platform game with an incredible design and an unforgettable soundtrack.
The Last of Us / The Last of Us Part II
Available on PS4 and PS5
Sometimes you have to go back to the obvious. The Last of Us and its direct sequel, The Last of Us: Part II remain among the most dramatic games of our era to this day. Starting from a post-apocalyptic world and zombie base, Naughty Dog tells an unforgettable story thanks to wonderfully written characters and high-level narration. Unmissable.
NieR / NieR Automata
Available on PC, PS4, PS5 and Xbox
Grand master of the strange, Yoko Taro must also be recognized as a formidable storyteller. If the red thread of science fiction that links NieR and NieR Automata is finally quite agreed, it plays like no other in its game design to involve the player or the player in its scenario and to make us measure the consequences of our actions. Quite cryptic at first, NieR is one of those games that ends up “clicking” around an unbearable revelation.
Brothers : A Tale of Two Sons
Disponible sur PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox, Switch, iOS et Android
Before playing the troublemakers with It Takes Two, Josef Fares delivered a very personal first game called Brothers. A third-person action-adventure title, whose particularity is that each stick of the controller is used to control one of the two brothers. The goal is to solve puzzles and progress to the top of the Tree of Life, whose nectar is believed to heal their ailing father.
Final Fantasy VII
Disponible sur PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox, Switch, iOS et Android
As the first Final Fantasy to be released in our country, this seventh episode is cult – and in more ways than one. Technical revolution of his time, he is also one of the first to offer his players such a rich narrative. Journey of about forty hours, FFVII is rich in strong moments in emotions. One in particular traumatized an entire generation. You have been warned.
Journey
Available on PC, PS4, PS5 and iOS
Already 10 years ago, the release of Journey was a founding moment in contemplative video games. Contributing to the democratization of the "walking simulator" genre, Journey is an adventure game which, like Gris, saves words to offer us a bewitching atmosphere and magnificent images carried by the memorable compositions of Austin Wintory. The expression "beautiful to cry"? We owe him a lot.
What Remains of Edith Finch
Available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox and Switch
Remaining to this day among the most commendable Annapurna games in its catalog, What Remains of Edith Finch is a narrative "walking simulator" retracing the tragic history of the various members of the Finch family. A tribe of eccentrics living in a cliffside house, the game mixes moments of deep tenderness with spine-chilling morbid tales. A poignant game that you won't soon forget.
Death Stranding
Available on PC, PS4 and PS5
Hideo Kojima is a visionary. Which doesn't mean he writes good screenplays. On the other hand, his boundless love for the cinema taught the director the science of directing. And the bugger cleverly doses the dramatic charge of the slightest shot of his strange post-apocalyptic delivery game. The melancholy of the Death Stranding universe would be enough to justify its presence in this list, but let's say that Kojima Productions pushes the vice so far as to ask us to accomplish the unthinkable.
Your favorite game is not on this list? Don't panic, it's completely normal. Share your favorite in the comments, and remember that all sensitivities are in nature. It seems that a member of the JVFR team cried in front of Duke Nukem Forever, that is to say if everything happens.
