As weird as this sounds, sometimes gamers want to play games that make them feel sad. From experiencing the growth of characters to finding the pain that they face within their stories relatable, players seek emotional connections to many fictional worlds.

If you are one of these players or someone intrigued by this concept of having emotional experiences, I will be listing down some of the games that have made me cry in this article.

What Are Visual Novels?

I will be focusing on a genre of games called “Visual Novel” games, which is one of my favorites. It can be questionable if these works can be classified as “video games” as their gameplay is primarily reading text to consume a story. However, many of these games include visuals and audio to enhance their stories, which separates them from being digital novels. There are also ways that players can interact with the story with dialog options that can branch the game’s narrative.

The visual novel genre originated in Japan, where the term differs by the subgenre that a game belongs to or sometimes the demographic it is being targeted towards. A locally common term for these games would be “Novel Games or “Sound Novels” as coined by the studio Chunsoft (which is now called Spike Chunsoft), for a series of their visual novels from the 90s.

Don’t worry, the games featured here have full English translations or come from an English-speaking country. All of these games have gotten me to choke up while I read them, and for anyone who wants to experience emotional rollercoasters, I highly recommend checking these games out!

8

The House in Fata Morgana

Novectacle’s avant-garde mystery game, The House in Fata Morgana, follows the fates of the owners of an ethereal mansion that appears throughout different areas of Europe in different time periods. Although the game seems like it is an anthology of stories, they all connect back to the mysterious “White-Haired Girl” that consistently appears throughout the game.

This game has the player connect the links of emotional trauma possessed by the inhabitants of the mansion throughout time. Love is at the forefront of these stories, and all have their own Shakespearian-like tragedies occurring at the end of them. The House in Fata Morgana feels like it was made for people who enjoy “doomed love” as well as mysteries that have heart-gripping solutions.

The House In Fata Morgana

Released

May 13, 2016

ESRB

m

Developer(s)

Novectacle

Publisher(s)

Dramatic Labs

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7

Emily is Away

Kyle Seeley’s 2015 indie hit, Emily is Away, gained popularity with its unique way of storytelling through telling the game’s narrative in an early 2000’s chat client. Players follow the story of two college students’ conversations over the course of five years, with each year documenting a different stage of their friendship.

This game goes into the tumultuous feelings of being in love as young adults, and how certain decisions can lead to a change in the social dynamic between friends. For those who have lived through their young 20’s, the feelings expressed by both the player and Emily are very relatable, which can hit you hard emotionally as the game continues. Emily is Away is free on Steam and I highly recommend trying it out if you have an hour or two to spare.

Emily is Away

Released

October 16, 2015

6

CLANNAD

Studio Key’s CLANNAD is similar in themes to Emily is Away in how it tells another story of young love. The game follows the high school to young adult lives of the delinquent Tomoya Okazaki and the shy Nagisa Furukawa as they help reform their school’s defunct drama club that disbanded during Nagisa’s sick leave from school.

This game slowly has the pair grow closer to each other as they help classmates with their personal life issues as they come to face their own traumas from the past. In the game’s after-story portion, they begin a new stage of life together before the game takes an unexpected twit. CLANNAD has created a hole in my heart that has remained a decade after I first read this masterpiece. The game takes over 50 hours to play in its entirety, but if you really want your heart broken, you must play it.

Clannad

Released

April 28, 2004

ESRB

T For Teen: Drug Reference, Mild Language, Mild Violence, Suggestive Themes, Use Of Alcohol And Tobacco

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5

Narcissu

Upon reading the premise of the indie romance game, Narcissu, by the group Stage-nana, you know it’ll be sad. The game follows the relationship between the player and a woman that they meet in the hospital called Setsumi who, like the player, has a terminal illness. As you both find comfort in each other through being in similar health situations, you go off on a journey to die peacefully outside of hospice.

This melancholic game follows as you travel across the different prefectures of Japan as you find a place to die together. The approach Narcissu takes to the mortality of life makes you appreciate the time you have remaining more, though it does not make the ending of the game any less devastating.

4

The When They Cry Series

Although Ryukishi07’s games are normally considered to align more with the horror genre, his When They Cry games have their fair share of tear-jerking moments. The themes he covers in his stories primarily relate to the love that people have in their personal relationships with family and friends, which serve as a backdrop to the mysteries covered in the games.

The Higurashi portion of the franchise follow the lengths a group of friends will go to for each other in light of a mystery of annual murders occurring during their village’s “Cotton Drifting Festival,” while the Umineko games cover the complications of love prior to an intense murder mystery on their remote island. Both of these stories have moments that left me bawling at how passionate the characters are for each other, even in the most dire situations.

Higurashi When They Cry Hou – Ch.1 Onikakushi

Released

December 15, 2009

Developer(s)

07th Expansion

Publisher(s)

MangaGamer

Engine

Unity

Steam Deck Compatibility

Verified

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3

STEINS;GATE

5pb. and Nitroplus’ sci-fi epic, STEINS;GATE, has been renowned as one of the best “time travel” tales of all time. In this story of science, there are quite a few sad moments as the game shows the reasons why people would want to change the past. Despite his facade of being a crazy mad scientist, the game’s main character, Rintarō Okabe, cares deeply for his friends and will change the worldline for them.

However, the game in its ladder half does not relent on Okabe, as despite his good intentions the universe is not happy with his changes to time. I found myself at odds with what STEINS;GATE was making its main character do, as you find yourself wanting to go against doing what’s right for the world for the benefit of the other characters.

Steins;Gate

Systems

Released

October 14, 2009

ESRB

Mature 17+

Developer(s)

MAGES

Engine

game engine

2

Our Life: Beginning and Always

Our Life: Beginning and Always is a bit more grounded in reality compared to these last few list items. This game is a coming-of-age story following the player’s relationship with their shy next-door neighbor, Cove, in the fictional town of Sunset Bird, California. There are multiple endings where you can explore the different paths your relationship could take from adolescence to early adulthood.

Where this game truly hits you in the feels is its DLCs, where the characters reminisce on the actions you did with them while you were younger. These reflections make you feel like you have impacted the character’s lives as they remember what you’ve done throughout your hours of gameplay.

1

Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet

I will end today’s list with another game from Key, Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet. This game follows a “Junker” who salvages the remains of a post-apocalyptic world to survive. During one of his outings, he finds a damaged robot named Yumemi Hoshino who seems unaware of the destroyed state of the world.

As the game reveals the backstory of Hoshino, you come to learn more about the world before it was destroyed. The nostalgic reminiscing that occurs between characters got me to think about how much people can lose from destruction. Planetarian expresses an “anti-war” message that will prompt players to think about the things we lose through conflict.

Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet

Released

November 29, 2004

This is only a short list of the visual novel games that have made me feel heavy emotions. If you want to invest in a story that’ll make your eyes water, then I highly recommend checking these titles out!

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