Generally speaking, most of us jump into avideo gameto unplug from the real world, blow off some steam, and have a good time. The medium is typically a nice way to distract yourself from your mundane job or the concerning state of real-world events.
10 Saddest Video Game Endings, Ranked
These games have pretty impactful endings!
Occasionally, however, games get released that aren’t exactly enjoyableby most standard metrics, but still present their ideas in such a meaningful, poignant, or unique way thatthey become “must-plays” despite the traditional fun factor being at a minimum—or sometimes non-existent entirely.
These games are ones that you’ll really have to be in the right mindset for.Titles that will challenge you emotionally, sometimes even existentially. Sure, we mightmostlyprefer video games to leave smiles on our faces, but there is also so much value in experiencing these powerful journeys that are willing to go deeper than most of their contemporaries.
Most of these are games you’ll probably only want to play once in your life, and that’s okay. The titles below are heavilyfocused on a deep narrativein place of bombastic gameplay, so your replay value with these will typically be pretty low for good reason.
With all that out of the way, let’s take a look at 10 games that are absolutely worth your time—even if you won’t always be having fun while playing them.
10Maquette
Love, Loss, And Moving On
A first-personpuzzlegame at its core, Maquette is definitely more about the backstory of the main character retelling the story of falling in love, his relationship falling apart, dealing with grief, and somehow deciding that he needs to move on with his life.
To be entirely fair, the puzzles aren’t bad at all, and the dioramas you’ll explore that represent each stage in the romantic relationship growing and dying are visually stunning and a pleasure to take in, despite the eventual sad and dark tone behind some levels in the later stages of the game.
Still, this will be a game that you won’t ultimately see to the end for the fun factor of the actual gameplay alone. Your movement is pretty basic and slow, while puzzles mostly rely on rearranging pieces of the dioramas from different perspectives to be able to progress to the next part of the story.
There are better puzzlers and more fun to be had in similar games, butthe heavy emotional content of Maquette is still second to none in the genre, and is a game worth sticking with in order to get some closure to our protagonist’s heartbreak.
Some entire levels are designed for you to just walk through and somberly take everything in, which works very well despite a lack of exciting gameplay.
9Gone Home
A Haunting House
It’s a little reductive to labelGone Homeas awalking simulator, but the truth of the matter is that you really aren’t doing much of anything in this game besides slowly creeping around your family’s home in Oregon and sifting through a collection of letters, invoices, pictures, and magazines.
This is a game that thrivesmore on intrigue, atmosphere, and a general melancholy and lonely feeling,rather than any traditional source of entertainment.There’s no combat, no thrilling movement, and not another soul in sight.
But none of that disqualifies Gone Home from being an interesting and great game in its own right.
Sometimes, it’ll make you feel like you’re in a horror movie, while others, like a family drama, as you piece together more and more details about people you thought you knew, who have much more bubbling under the surface than you’ve realized for your entire life.
While notfun, this short 2-or-so-hour experience is still worth embarking on as you uncover dark, sad, humorous, and surprising details about your loved ones the entire time.
8Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
Truly Gets Inside Your Head
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
The originalHellbladehad a significant impact on the gaming world upon its release in 2017. It was so well-received and creative that it also eventually had a sequel released in 2024, although I would consider the first entry in the series much more successful overall in terms of the ideas it conveyed.
Hellblade is full of stunning visuals and world design, a great story, and some of the best sound design in gaming history. The game recommends playing it with a good set of headphones, and this is a suggestion you should definitely take the developers up on.
Senua, our main character, suffers from schizophrenia and has had a decidedlyroughlife as a result of it. You’ll hear every single voice she has in her head, every doubt and negative thought she has about herself, and every horrifying hallucination. Each death you suffer in the game only makes matters worse.
10 Scariest Moments In Video Games, Ranked
If you’re looking for the scariest moments in video games, look no further!
It’s an absolutely awesome premise that makes for one of the most unique and interesting playthroughs in recent memory, but it’s also a title that thrives much more on serious themes and struggles at the expense of fun.
The gateway puzzles can honestly be pretty annoying and unclear, and none of the combat in the game is particularly engaging either.
You’re here for the vibes, not to fight your way to thrilling victories. Still, what Hellblade brings to the table is more than worth the price of admission—it’s just not one you’ll likely come back to after you experience it once.
7This War Of Mine
A Largely Unexplored Type Of War Game
This War of Mine
A side-scrolling survival game,This War Of Minedoes have some more mechanical things going on with its gameplay compared to some others on this list, but at the crux of it, it’s a game about simply staying alive in a warzone that’s been absolutely ravaged by military action that’s completely out of your control.
In most other video games in similar settings, we’d control a soldier who’s going on fun and exciting missions to fight for his people and get some rewarding headshots along the way.This War Of Mine is not that type of game.
If I had to choose one word to describe this game, it would be “oppressive.” As you’d expect, a game of this nature is not one you’re playing to have a good time and to unplug from the horrors of the world.
The War Of Mine puts you smack-dab in the middle of a fight for survival that we all desperately hope we never have to experience ourselves, while understanding that things like this do actually happen around the world.
This game will make you deal with insane moral dilemmas, death, suffering, violence, and the absolute worst (and best) aspects of human nature all at once.
It’s not for the faint of heart, and it’s also not fun to experience much of this subject matter. But the game is important and poignant, still making it something you need to experience whenever you’re up for something so bleak.
6The Last Of Us Part 2
Revenge, Isolation, and Pain
The Last of Us Part 2
Despite the fact that this game is easily the most action-packed and dynamic of the games listed,The Last Of Us Part 2is still not at all a title I’d ever label as “fun”
Yeah, you’re killing zombies and members of rival factions, but doing so all in the name of revenge and absolutely nothing else makes this game feel far too heavy from start to finish ever just to be an enjoyable romp.
Clearly, that’s all okay, as TLOU2 is by and large regarded as a masterclass in video game design and storytelling, even thoughmost of the game is just downright depressing.
You likely already know the big spoiler from this game, which sets the tone in the first couple of hours that this journey is simply going to be excruciating. Ellie and Abby’s own experiences in the world are extraordinarily painful for different reasons, and you’ll see each and every last harrowing detail alongside them as you play through the game.
If you’re like me, by the end, you’ll stare at the screen as the credits roll, feeling particularly dead inside in a way that almost no other video game is capable of making you feel.
Exploring the actual world in the game is fine, but not ever especially thrilling, and there are handfuls of tedious puzzles to complete, as mundane as powering a generator to open a gate to move on to your next sad set piece.
It’s really not a fun game at all, but I still absolutely love it for evoking emotions that no other game can.
5The Banner Saga
I’m Here For The Art And Story
The Banner Saga
The actual gameplay ofThe Banner Sagarevolves around turn-based, grid-based combat between your traveling party of fantasy characters and the enemy race called the Dredge.
It’s not the most basic example of gameplay in this genre I’ve ever seen, but it’s also moderately unremarkable and ultimately can feel like it’s just getting in the way of the rest of the game.
That’s becausethe art, characters, story, and writing are just so freaking good in The Banner Sagathat actually fighting your grid battles quickly begins to feel like more of a chore or a necessary way to still keep this title a video game, even though you’ll surely be more interested in other things besides the actual gameplay.
Yeah, it’s thrilling that many of your party members die permanently if they fall in battle, but this mechanic really makes the game more stressful and sad compared to actually being fun.
By the end of this one, you’re required to make one of the hardest choices I’ve ever had to make in a video game, and it still sticks with me to this day, all these years later.
You won’t really play this one for super-fun, turn-based combat, but absolutely everything else that surrounds the gameplay of The Banner Saga is truly top-notch.
4Detroit: Become Human
A Little Cute With QTEs
Detroit: Become Human
If you played either of Quantic Dream’s previous games beforeDetroit: Become Human, you could’ve pretty much guessed what you were getting into with this one.Heavy RainandBeyond: Two Soulsare absolutely branching narrative experiences first, video games second.
Detroit: Become Human is no different. It’s essentially an old-school adventure game with the inclusion of QTEs upon QTEs that will determine how successful your android characters are in their endeavors, and if you’re able to keep them all alive till the very end.
Look, I don’t mind QTEs in video games, but Quantic Dream games are so reliant on them to the point that they’rereallythe only source of real gameplay in their titles, in addition to just walking around and interacting with the world around you.
To be sure, nothing you’ll ever do in this game is overtly fun, butthe story and writing are insanely compellingas you wrestle with the idea of Artificial Intelligence rights in a rapidly changing and evolving America. Interestingly, it’s a story that only feels more and more relevant the further removed we get from it.
This game is primarily a “choose your own adventure” title where every choice matters, and tons of story branches and multiple endings can absolutely keep you coming back for more despite never actually doing anything super exciting in the game yourself.
3The Walking Dead
A Thoroughly Bleak Adventure Game
The Walking Dead
Throughout the 2010s, Telltale Games became notorious for their own brand of adventure games based on some original ideas, but mostly pre-existing, mega-popular IP.
The Walking Deadwas the main reason for all the eventual success this team found, and sadly, they never really recaptured what was so special about The Walking Dead ever again.
Even at its time, The Walking Dead was pretty rough around the edges. It never ran particularly well, and the proprietary in-game engine that Telltale used was riddled with severe bugs and optimization issues that plagued their games for years with every subsequent release.
All of this, combined with honestly pretty basic adventure genre gameplay and QTEs galore, absolutely willnotmake you shout out “I’m having so much fun!“But at least for The Walking Dead, none of this mattered.
The story and characters here are so,sogood. You’ll have to make impossible choices about who lives and dies in this version of a zombie apocalypse.
Seemingly, everyone will double-cross you. And you’ll likely shed real gamer tears by the conclusion of the story.The story here is so good that you’ll thankfully be able to overlook the myriad flaws with the actual gameplay.
2Papers, Please
A Dire Desk Job
Papers, Please
Papers, Pleaseis about as mundane a premise as you could concoct for a game, but it still manages to pull off something pretty remarkable despite this.
As a border crossing agent in a fictional country, your one and only job here is to receive paperwork from civilians trying to enter your country and determine if they meet the ever-changing mandates from your higher-ups to ultimately grant them access inside.
People will argue with you about their legal status in the country, you’ll mess up and get in trouble with superiors, and every single thing you do directly impacts the amount of money you take home at the end of the day to take care of your own family.
10 Most Realistic Open World Games
These games will fully immerse you into their worlds.
There is no gameplay here aside from alotof reading, juggling, and interpreting unclear instructions from above, and stamping paperwork with an “approved” or a “denied” when you ultimately make your verdict on the human being standing in front of you.
It’s a simple premise and not particularly exciting, but it doesdelve wonderfully into real world themes of humanity, control, politics, struggle, discrimination, and survival, and it’s absolutely worth experiencing for all of the above reasons, and to get a new perspective on the world that you may not have really considered before otherwise.
1That Dragon, Cancer
A Devastating Slice Of Life
That Dragon, Cancer
If you’ve heard of That Dragon, Cancer, then you already knew it would be here. This isemphaticallynot a fun video game whatsoever, but it is absolutely one that needed to exist and that everyone should experience once.
For those who haven’t heard of this one, the game follows the story of a real-life family that dealt with the devastating diagnosis of cancer in their one-year-old son, Joel. From there, That Dragon, Cancer joins them on their journey until the absolutely heartbreaking and untimely death of Joel at 5 years old.
The developers themselves were the parents of Joel, so the game offers an incredibly realistic look at what this process is like for anyone else going through something similar.
The actual gameplay is both abstract and unique at times, as players experience the raw emotions and pain of several different story sections, which range from incredibly surreal to soberingly real. Few other games have dared to dive this deeply into genuine human turmoil, grief, and loss.
You won’t want to come back to this game ever again, but that’s not the point. Getting an inside look at something so personal and emotional for the developers and their families is a truly important and powerful privilege.
You’ll walk away from this one pained for the family’s loss and others in similar situations, grateful for your own good fortune, sad for those you’ve lost, and perhaps, a little more willing to make the most of the time you have left with the people you love.
11 Most Emotional Video Game Openings
How are you supposed to play the rest of the game when you’re so busy drying your tears?
