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what games made you think about life and its meaning ?
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mansoor1980
Gold Member
silent hill 2
Punished Miku
Human Rights Subscription Service
NieR Automata is the top pick for this example. Really gets into the meaning of life, moral relativism, artificial life. It's literally almost entirely about the meaning of life. Masterpiece of a game.
Citizen Sleeper also has some really interesting dark themes. Just barely scraping by enough to survive on a space station, half human half machine. Definitely makes you wonder about purpose. Another masterpiece.
Citizen Sleeper also has some really interesting dark themes. Just barely scraping by enough to survive on a space station, half human half machine. Definitely makes you wonder about purpose. Another masterpiece.
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atyourservice
Neo Member
All of them, to some extent. To give some specific examples: Death stranding, Pillars of eternity, How fish is made/mouthwashing, Hyper Light drifter, Disco Elysium, etc.
Nickolaidas
Member
Amazing experience. Good ending had me in tears.
Retro_Stew
Member
MasterDerico
Member
Indika has some deep dialogues...
TrueLegend
Member
I cant believe I am sharing this. Mario fucked me up. If you don't land on flag and cross over well that was my existential nightmare.
RoadHazard
Gold Member
Outer Wilds. It's a game about accepting that all things, including life itself, must come to an end. And that's okay.
Herbspiceguy
Member
I don't think a game ever has, and it's not what I'm looking for in a game.
The Cockatrice
Gold Member
Cyberpunk 2077. If you think our real world is any different, well you're probably living in a bubble. Our future is grim, and our lives are pretty much controlled by corporations. It will only get worse even if technology advances, which is pretty much a cyberpunk future.
DAHGAMING
Member
Assassins creed 1 and 2 (Brother hood and Revelations included). I think a mix of Society and life.
Its just a game but the meaning of Nothing is true, everything is permitted is deep and has more meaning in recent years.
And the fact that over 3 games, all we go through with Ezio, from a young man untill hes old age, and he is just a messenger. Some people spend so much time worrying about there purpose in life, thinking they need to do something great or amazing, when that thing could be somthing that seems small to yourself but is massive to others, eg being a good parent, husband or wife, maybe allowing them togo on to achieve somthing that in your eyes is truely purposeful.
Its just a game but the meaning of Nothing is true, everything is permitted is deep and has more meaning in recent years.
And the fact that over 3 games, all we go through with Ezio, from a young man untill hes old age, and he is just a messenger. Some people spend so much time worrying about there purpose in life, thinking they need to do something great or amazing, when that thing could be somthing that seems small to yourself but is massive to others, eg being a good parent, husband or wife, maybe allowing them togo on to achieve somthing that in your eyes is truely purposeful.
Kaachan
Member
First game to give me existential crisis was Ōkami and it wasn't because of the thematic or anything like that. I barely got any sleep for my first playthrough and I just realized mid playing early in the morning ''fuck, we're all gonna die and I don't want that''
Haven't been able to really get over that fear ever since it happened
Haven't been able to really get over that fear ever since it happened
ForAcademicPurposes
Gold Member
Shadow of the Colossus and Demon's Souls:
Planet Earth will one day go the way of the dodo and something like this would remain. Nothing but ruins.
A lot of Japanese developers want to send a subliminal message through their games in art form and without exposition.
Half Life 2:
Do I need to say more? 1984 with a a twist.
Planet Earth will one day go the way of the dodo and something like this would remain. Nothing but ruins.
A lot of Japanese developers want to send a subliminal message through their games in art form and without exposition.
Half Life 2:
Do I need to say more? 1984 with a a twist.
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Guileless
Temp Banned for Remedial Purposes
I remember reading 20 years ago on the old Blizzard WoW forums about people taking weeklong vacations from work and spend the whole time raiding 12 hours a day and it made me so depressed that I quit playing WoW myself.
This game gave me depression as a kid. I cried incessantly after the game ended.
It truly felt like the characters were my friends and our adventure together came to an end. I will never see them anymore and we will live our lives without each other.
It has a lot of existential theme, loneliness, longing for love and belongingness embedded in the characters’ arch and story. And the last song played “Melodies of Life” at the end is just perfect.
TerribleAtThisGame
Member
SOMA is the only game I can really think of that "hit hard". There's a moment where you x-ray yourself and I had such a visceral reaction to that sequence. It was really surprising to me in terms of how much it affected me.
Zephyranthes
Member
FFXIV Endwalker builds a lot of its narrative around a single question:
"Why, given life, are we meant to suffer and die?"
It's one of the many ways that Endwalker brings the overarching story of FFXIV full circle, since this same question was posed by the song that played during A Realm Reborn's opening cutscene back in 2013. Different characters arrive at different answers to this question, and their answers guide their actions, for better or for worse.
"Why, given life, are we meant to suffer and die?"
It's one of the many ways that Endwalker brings the overarching story of FFXIV full circle, since this same question was posed by the song that played during A Realm Reborn's opening cutscene back in 2013. Different characters arrive at different answers to this question, and their answers guide their actions, for better or for worse.
Holammer
Member
Figment got some concepts, but rather than moved to tears I was more upset how they butchered the story.
In the game your player character represents a man in a coma after a traffic accident, a figment of the imagination if you will. Exploring and fixing problems in different areas which represent parts of the brain. At the end he wakes up.
It's cleverly paced so the player should figure it out the twist halfway through the game, except they spell it out in the intro!
farmerboy
Member
King Dazzar
Member
I found Skyrim a spiritual escapist experience at times, I loved being in its world so much.
poppabk
Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
Same, there is always a disconnect for me that prevents a game from having any significant emotional impact like a book or a movie can.
Shake Your Rump
Member
I'm curious if you have any children.
I don't see how any father could play the intro of Last of Us without getting emotional.
Child-less cat people can play The Last Guardian through to the end for your tears. I get emotional just remembering it. Building that bond and watching the finale...
poppabk
Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
I have two kids. Last of Us is a good example - the show had an emotional impact, the game I followed the story but the daughters death was just a plot point.
Angry_Megalodon
Member
Soma
Nier saga
The Talos Principle
Stray
Edith Finch
Nier saga
The Talos Principle
Stray
Edith Finch
cireza
Gold Member
My pick as well. NieR Automata is precisely about this topic.
killatopak
Gold Member
Surprisingly, God of War.
I mean it's obvious Kratos is a piece of shit, rage and lust filled brute.
He is meant to be despised. I just felt like for all his failures, to still push through redemption not for himself but for his son, that hit me.
I could have been the most worthless person in the past but if I strive to change people's lives for the better, not for myself but for them, I can find a sense of value and peace.
I haven't played Ragnarok yet so I don't know if something changed.
I mean it's obvious Kratos is a piece of shit, rage and lust filled brute.
He is meant to be despised. I just felt like for all his failures, to still push through redemption not for himself but for his son, that hit me.
I could have been the most worthless person in the past but if I strive to change people's lives for the better, not for myself but for them, I can find a sense of value and peace.
I haven't played Ragnarok yet so I don't know if something changed.
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Edellus
Member
I came to say this.
To me it was also about the importance of every moment of your life. For all the things you choose to do and not do; all the things you choose to say and not to say, matter. None of us live in a void, and by just existing we change each other and the future of everything that exists with us and after us.
It also made me a traveler (a wanderer). That cutscene where she told us why she loves the world, loves being, hit me hard. Specially that question about our journey being worth it. Yep, I'm going to make sure it is worth it. I will live, die, and know.
Aguero9320
Member
Bioshock Infinite - circumstance as much as anything. My mum had just died and it was the first game I played after that life incident, when the credits rolled it hit me hard. Still listen to that version of that song every know and again.
SOMA was incredible... has to be the most memorable game for me in recent years.
Humdinger
Member
None. Not to sound snobby, but I was mid-30s when I got into videogames, and I'd already thought long and hard about life, death, and meaning before that. Nothing videogames had to say held a candle to the philosophical, religious, or psychological material I had read. It was like child's play in comparison, or at best the ramblings of a stoned teenager who thinks he's being deep.
I thought Journey was a cool game, though. It touched on these topics effectively. I think its effectiveness came partly from the fact that it didn't say a word - there were no characters delivering supposedly profound speeches. It let the action do the talking.
I thought Journey was a cool game, though. It touched on these topics effectively. I think its effectiveness came partly from the fact that it didn't say a word - there were no characters delivering supposedly profound speeches. It let the action do the talking.
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