Games have the potential to be one of the most powerful mediums through which to tell a story. You’re not passive in the same way that you are whilst reading a book or watching a film. You’re very much complicit in carrying out the actions of the protagonist, creating a bond between you and them that deepens your attachment to the story.
With that in mind, it can be oh so very easy for a game to totally rip your heart out. I’ve lost track of how many times I shed a tear playing through The Last of Us Part I and II, Red Dead Redemption, Final Fantasy VII, Telltale’s The Walking Dead, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Horizon Forbidden West, and Gears of War 3 … I could go on. They’re all very emotionally affecting tales and I’d struggle to pick any singular moment as the ‘most tragic’. Halo: Reach fans have a very worthy suggestion though for the title: Noble Six’s death.
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The question “Which game character’s death was too sad for you?” was posed by Reddit user Benjuto12 and quickly garnered well over 1,000 responses. It was Noble Six’s death that cropped up a lot though. “Noble Six. Dying alone with no hope against a horde of enemies was sad,” wrote FSD-Bishop, garnering 1,200 upvotes. “The whole squad getting picked off one by one, usually out of nowhere, will never not be shocking,” added z3anon.
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“Kat was so brutal. Jorge got to go out thinking he was a hero, Kat just got plinked,” commented one fan, with PoorLifeChoices811 following with, “The even sadder thing about Kat's death was that she and Carter were the last two original members of Noble team. They both watched all their friends die and get replaced until it was just them.” Well now I’m reliving the emotional trauma in my head.
It was far from the only death to be brought up. Mordin from Mass Effect 3, Arthur Morgan from Red Dead Redemption 2, Soap in the original Modern Warfare 3, and Brok in God of War Ragnarök were also all popular shouts. Oh video games, how you move us.