Patient Gamers

I beat Outer Wilds right after my first kid was born and it absolutely tore me to pieces.

For some shorter experiences I haven't seen mentioned when skimming through a few comments here, I definitely recommend trying Transistor. It was one of the strongest emotional experience I've ever had in a game. I've managed to play it in a single sitting, but it is around 6 hours long. Supergiant games make such a uniquely perfect audiovisual experiences, that every game from them is a treat, but Transistor is the strongest emotional experience I've played from them.

Another one would be two-hours long walking simulator with amazing environmental storytelling - What Remains of Edit Finch. You can play it in a single sitting, and it's gorgeous and really well done.

You should also play Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice . It's also around 8 hours long, and you definitely want to play it with headphones, it's such a strong emotional experience. The audio and game design is so well done, and the game has stuck with me for such a long time. It's one of the few games where just seeing the trailer again tears me up and gives me chills. And after you play it, I recommend watching the documentary about how they tried to protray the mental illness of the main character through game design - it's such masterfully done that I didn't even realize most of what they are doing, but it has stuck with me and it worked wonders to make the experience even better.

And for some even more unique game design - Before Your Eyes. What makes this experience so strong is the whole premise of looking over your life and memories after you've died, with the main mechanic of how to advance time being by blinking - physically blinking, because the game can work with your camera. That makes for a pretty strong metaphor that makes it even more emotional experience.

And just to mention some games others have mentioned, to add to their recommendations - Outer Wilds, Ori and the Blind Forest, Life is Strange, Planet of Lana, all are really good games!

This War of Mine.

Every time a 95% shot misses in XCOM (or X-Com), I cry.

I cried at the ending of Outer Wields. Its was very beautiful. You need to search the story for yourself and complete little puzzle. At the end when you get the full story its just beautiful and scary.

To The Moon, was such a good story. The music from that game still floats around my head to this day.

Life is Strange

Life is Strange: Before the Storm

I was going through a really rough time when I played both of those games. There was something in Before the Storm that I know was coming but I cried anyways, multiple times. I’ve never been that invested in a game before and I don’t know if I’ll ever be again.

Mass Effect trilogy made me pretty emotional at times.

Firewatch made my heart hurt. Twice.

New vegas, trying to continue playing as the game crashes incessantly will drive you to both tears and violence

Two things that readily come to mind:

• The whole To The Moon series hits really hard. Note that if it sounds interesting to you to see the perspective of doctors meddling with people's memories before they die (so they die on a happier memory, basically), don't watch anything major about this. Giving too much away ruins the impact.
• If you are fine with the low-ish production values, the old-ish VN Katawa Shoujo works really well. Instead of showing ordinary people in extraordinary situations, it shows extraordinary people in completely ordinary situations. But as a result of how our memories of our teenage years distort with age, this works really well on adults. In particular for me, Rin's route was really good and made me cry a lot.

Ori and the Blind Forest would be my recommendation. Prologue starts strong and the rest of the game doesn't let it down.

Okami is pretty good too, if you're into the traditional Japanese art aesthetic

Red Dead Redemption has an emotional ending.

Spiritfarer. I loved it on switch, but it's also on steam.

"Spiritfarer® is a cozy management game about dying. As ferrymaster to the deceased, build a boat to explore the world, care for your spirit friends, and release them into the afterlife."

https://thunderlotusgames.com/spiritfarer/

"getting over it" but you'll cry for different reasons

Horizon Zero Dawn. The story itself isn't especially emotional, but learning the secret history of the world broke me, mostly because it seemed entirely plausible in our not-too-distant future.

Brothers: a tale of two sons. You play as both brothers, working together to find a cure for their father sickness. Pretty sure I traumatized my SO with this one...

UNDERTALE goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway.

Disco Elysium made me cry after a short conversation with a random man on the street. I haven't played much of it yet, so I can't speak to the majority of the content, but what I have played of it evokes more emotion than any game I've ever played before.

I'd have to say Nier Automata, as well as the recent remaster of the game that came before it, Nier Replicant (ver 1.22...). Both are soul-crushing, which is helped by their amazing soundtracks. I definitely recommend them if you're looking for something to make you cry.

Chrono Trigger. A timeless game that will make you laugh and cry and experience all that in between. The sequel Chrono Cross is also great but the original is just unrivalled.

Didnt see anyone suggesting Bastion. Great game and will definitely make you cry.

To The Moon.

Rakuen.

Life is Strange.

Last Day of June.

All of those made me cry, and they seem common recommendations on this kind of request.

I know you probably didn't ask for emotional games, but I implore everyone to try Before Your Eyes. It is one of the most unique games I've played.

Spiritfarer is an absolutely wonderful experience that is somehow both a casual open world chill game and a game that delves deep into the topic of death, being prepared for it, and leaving people behind. Really special game.

I don't know if I'm just weird but Ori and the will of the Wisps did it for me.

Braid
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
Also reiterating The Walking Dead, but only the first season.

I really liked Before Your Eyes, it's a game that advances every time you blink.

Rime

I cried so much in the end.

The thread is quite large at this point, so sorry if it's been recommended already. GRIS is definitely a very emotional game. It's quite short, probably on sale quite often, visually stunning, and very sad.

My first thought is definitely Valiant Hearts: The Great War. That one, I found, to be devastatingly sad. Regularly on sale for super cheap, including right now. Also available on mobile if you prefer

I played Heavy Rain and somehow managed to get the ending where everyone died. That kept me off gaming in general for quite a while. Brothers was mentioned here, I can recommend it too. Papo y Yo is a allegory of your relationship with an alcoholic abusive father, and it didn't make me cry outright but was pretty heavy.

These are the games that came to mind:

• The Last of Us

• Life is Strange

• Final Fantasy X

• Another recommendation for the first season of Telltale's The Walking Dead

Hopefully you haven't played these already.

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter! I'm not going to say anything, except that you need to do all the "side" quests. If you miss any, the map at the end will show which you missed. See the ending!

Dear Esther is also quite special, the monologues change every playthrough and everyone interprets the game differently. Very impactful.

To the moon. That game for sure 100%

Y'all might think I'm crazy but Halo 1-2-3 is so fucking epic that I cried at the ending of 3

How has A Plague Tail not been mentioned? Most of these mentioned a good games with a sad scene or two thrown in. Plague Tail, especially the sequel will make a grown man ugly cry.

League of Legends Solo Queue will break you! At some point you are going to cry.

I very rarely cry from games, but Ori and the Blind Forest made me shed a tear or two. Ori and the Will of the Wisps made my full-on ugly cry, and I was literally distraught for days.

You don't mind porn? Go and play the AVN Acting Lessons. It's on Steam. It's not too long but the punch it packs... it has this reputation of "the AVN you'll never wanna play again". I like to compare it to Requiem for a Dream.
If you want less heart-rending tears, I just finished chapter 3 of Being a Dik and there were tears, but the kinda good emotional kind. I'm the first surprised, but it seems to be a signature of the author and I quite like it.

Otherwise I'm playing Metro Exodus and man, that game is oozing with that uniquely Russian despair. No tears yet, but I'm preparing for some dark moments and the whole thing is just... wow. Mad Max had beautiful everything, but M:E has fantastic writing throughout. It all feels deeply personal and with that dreadful feeling of inevitability. And you only get to see/hear it if you want, mostly. Very glad I gave this game a second chance (it's very... clunky. Again in that typical slavic way, I guess; but it works if you accept it as it is).

I can recommend all games from SIGONO's OPUS series https://store.steampowered.com/publisher/sigono/#browse