I guess with this popping off as much as it has I should mention that APWOT was built on the premise that games are inspiring and life affirming things and if you also think that then please check the mag out.
My absolute favorite part of the finales of 1 and 2 are how it flips it on the final line. You're not copying anymore, you're the leader now. You've actually made it, and the game mechanics reflect it.
Finding and reading all the Survivalist's Notebooks in the Fallout New Vegas expansion, Honest Hearts. It's some of the best writing in a game full of it.
“Our Lady of Silver… hear me!” Dame Aylin punching the ground and starting her transformation sequence as the most goosebumps-inspiring music kicks in…
Act 2 of Draon Quest XI is both heartbraking and heartwarming: how everyone lost everything and still managed to find some reason to keep fighting for a better tomorrow. It ended on such a great note that it made me hate how act 3 basically retconned it...
nothing in a video game has stuck with me more than the ending of Swollen To Bursting Until I Am Disappearing On Purpose. it has genuinely made me a better person and helped me appreciate my own self in ways i hadn't before
I had already forgotten the beginning by the time I reached the end because I was so enchanted by the journey -- itself I think part of the point! -- so when it all came together on the top of that mountain, I was startled to realize the circle had closed. Just so moving and satisfying.
As a non native speaker, life affirming might be a little too abstract to me, do you mean like in an emotional and soul-touching way (whatever this is)?
It's a bit more than that. OP is asking for moments where the game developer has created a message to the player that expresses faith in and love for them, in a way that doesn't feel cheap or fake.
Real Crono is actually dead forever ,only a separate dimension one lives on, the party will always have to live with the fact they are dealing with a doppelganger to appeass their grief
Guitar Hero & Rock Band. As a dyspraxic person my hand-eye coordination is rubbish, but having worked my way up from easy mode to being able to do most songs on hard and a lot on expert was an amazing experience.
Citizen Sleeper, babysitting. CZ is a masterclass in “system matters” — all the mechanics support its thesis of the important of community/family, and the life of a disabled person. In this interaction, if you’ve built the trust, the activity restores your energy. It’s LITERALLY life-affirming.
I think CZ is a stunning work of art that even when it’s lauded, the folks talking about still don’t seem to really get how profound and capital-i Important it is. Every time I think about this scene I want to cry. It’s absolutely beautiful.
Was hoping to find this one.
A legendary first game for a studio that continues to make incredible games, honestly a super influential title. It's honestly hard to choose just one from them.
Library of Ruina. Taught me a lot of important things on letting go of shame and guilt and becoming the person I wish I was by letting go of my cycles of relapsing trauma.
For me, it was the cutscene right after the final trial in FFXIV Endwalker. Your journey becomes the answer, and you reflect on not just the in game quests, but on everything you’ve been through yourself during the course of playing through it, and the meaning of life gets imparted onto it.
I dunno if I could call Passage "life-affirming" exactly, maybe more of a memento mori kind of thing.
Oh, the E ending of Nier Automata, where (spoilers) you find out that a total stranger deleted their save file in order to help you see the ending, and then you are given the choice to do the same?
I don't know if you'd count it as the game is more a series of emotive vignettes than a coherent narrative, but the final level of Flower. The previous level is miserable, in both theme and gameplay, it crushes you. The final level is soaring, lively, empowering. It felt wonderful.
Mutazione, the emotional gardening game, hit me hard with its messages of feeling lost and starting to find yourself. Growing a flower correctly has never made me so emotional with sheer implication and affirmation.
And then the characters send you postcards with new seeds in real time afterwards 🌿
I very nearly said Ouendan's ending! I prefer it overall, but the "EBA! EBA!" chant that segues into the opening of Jumpin' Jack Flash is a real stroke of genius. It was the one moment it managed to match the original game's impact for me
Yes. Yes, there is.
-
In times of trouble, when there are hard choices to make, the words of Gordon Freeman are always my guide.
-
Not to mention the words of Dr. Isaac Kleiner:
“For what the Combine fear the most is not any tangible human weapon...
(1 of 2)
...but our will, our intellect, our ability to respond selectively and rationally to every terror they turn against us. We place our firmest hope in the human spirit, even knowing how easily it may be shattered.”
(2 of 2)
Secret Little Haven made me cry for eight hours straight after I beat it. Just an absolutely beautiful moment of raw vulnerability and acceptance that I'll carry with me for the rest of my life
I could answer this in so many ways but since I’m on an Okami kick lately, hearing Descent of the Great Goddess play after purifying Shinshu Field ✨🌸☀️
Xenoblade Chronicles 3, upon reaching a destination at *the beginning* of chapter 5. I found it to be an incredible payoff for the first 4 chapters of world-building and absolutely life affirming.👏
People get mad about Nero's strength there but totally miss the point that he found the right reason to fight for, while Dante and Vergil had gone completely astray. It's exactly the convo that Dante and Urizen have.
Some good ones already mentioned. I'd add:
- Lil Gator Game (end)
- Celeste (end)
- Sable (end)
- Unpacking (end)
- Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (the end and THAT bit just before the end)
- Ori & Blind Forest (ginso tree)
there's a part in the 3rd hello charlotte game where 2 of the characters are at the lowest part of their lives and they're just repeating "it's not my fault" to one another over and over on the floor. so many other really good quotables from that game, i think about it so much
Towards the end of Catherine where main and side characters are resolving their problems and this track plays, I feel like there are plenty of life affirming things said.
People took my other answers (Nier Automata, Disco Elysium) so: despite how sad much of it is, Kentucky Route Zero's ending, and just the fact that the devs actually nailed it after such a long time
In Another Eden, there is a particular quest line, in a village removed from the normal flow of time, and it will emotionally destroy you, but goddamn is it satisfying to finish
Yeaaah weirdly the AE protagonists being unable to fix everything through time-travelling shenanigans for *once* does feel life-affirming in the sense that life resists being just a solvable puzzle 🤔
Superliminal. The ending just hits all the right notes. I’m always excited to see people experience it for the first time. It’s a perfect message for when you’re feeling like you’re just not enough.
Will try to describe it vaguely for spoiley reasons but that first bit of dialogue between Emil and Kaine in the second chunk of Nier, especially when you're in route B it hits so hard
So many have already been expressed in this thread, so here's one I haven't seen: At the end of Yakuza: The Man Who Erased His Name, when the grown-up kids from Kiryu's orphanage visit his grave. Genuinely affecting, especially if you've been following him through his whole life.
Weirdly enough, Omori. I played it about 3 yrs ago when I was still going through therapy. Despite all heartache in that game, it made me realize how much I grew since my teen years. It holds a special place in my heart right up with "A Silent Voice" and "The Boy and the Heron" for that reason.
“I’m not ready for this to end… I’m not ready for you to leave… I’m not ready to say goodbye to someone like you again…” from Undertale
In Pentiment: Andreas telling his son “I loved you, little boy.” in Act II, and his son telling him “Daddy, it’s okay.” in Act III. I couldn’t stop sobbing
This might be a weird thing to say about a game which is "space helicopter blows up evil robots and their mine for an evil space corporation" but the first time I looked down the huge central drop in Descent 1 level 10, I felt my spirit lift.
I could fly, I could dance in this huge room, I was free
There were moments from The Talos Principle that inspired self-love and made me feel loved by others too. I don't think many others got that from the game but it's an experience I hold dear.
I also found Shadow of the Colossus very moving, both in the sense of loneliness evoked by its vast, empty world, and the growing sense of unease you feel at what you're doing.
The first time I encountered "Fear Not This Night" in its instrumental form playing through the story of Guild Wars 2. ("The Source of Orr" ending.) What follows after this for the base game is the end of the storyline but THIS moment is what I considered the climax.
Sayonara Wild Hearts, the first chorus of "Begin Again", when the protagonist jumps to her certain death and just FLIES, I get chills just thinking about it
a lot of the dialogue in PoE:Deadfire, especially when helping companions with their predicaments, or challenging the gods in their hubris. if you decide to not be stoic or asshole-y, of course. the fact you can finish the game just fine being a dick makes the tender moments even more impactful imo
The finale of FFXIV Endwalker hit me so deeply I still haven't truly recovered. Unbelievable experience of a game, felt like a breath of fresh air and a hand pushing me forward through dark times.
I'm kinda sad that some games get underestimated and no one mentions them. I really like Norco's emotive story, specially towards the end of the game and the pearls of wisdom that some characters have in Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines.
During the revelation scene in KOTOR when Mission says "I don't see the Sith Lord standing here - I see a friend who's been with us through thick and thin" just really lightened my heart after being bullied in high school to the point of mental illness.
A lot of people have mentioned Journey, but I'd also like to add one with a similar aesthetic: Monument Valley. All of them are life-affirming, but the ending of the first one always gets me.
The world seems wrecked, and you're partly to blame. Can you fix things? What must you give up to do so?
I don’t have an image, but when Yakka finds writing on the blitzball bench saying “all of my best memories are here” before he puts that life behind him, despite their team never winning once, in final fantasy x spoke to me in a way I’m still unpacking. Small moment but PERFECT writing
YES!! I was hoping someone would mention Chicory! It's such a wonderful game with such heartfelt messaging, it hits so perfectly every time 😭The mountain is one of my favorite parts!
This. That game had me stop and just...exist.. so many times. The environment was every present and regardless if areas were a part of the platform to engage,they were very much integral to the game experience. Not one part of that game was forgotten or less than. Every bit of it got 💯% of dev⌛️
Choosing who to nuke in FO:NV. The weight of your actions, the understanding that there was no 'good' option, just shit and less shit, us and them politics at its most brutal
It's from an indie visual novel from 2012, so a really early example, called Katawa Shoujo. It's about high student who gets abruptly diagnosed with a heart condition transferring to a specialty school for disabled teens.
It's really good and very heartfelt, even if some parts are a little dated.
Oh snap I've heard of this. Thought it might be.
I only know the blind girl's route I think?
Hmm, might have it downloaded.
The early part of the game when u get diagnosed filled me with so much dread I put it down
If the dread of the theme is bothering you, it's not as immediately deeply relevent in the other routes as it is in Lilly, the blond girl whose route you played,'s route in the other 4 routes. It's very much comes up but the dread is far less of a factor in the others.
There's a scene towards the end of Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door where, just as you're struggling in the final boss, there's a big montage of characters from the previous chapters cheering you on. It's a little cliché, but it gets me every time.
Not gonna lie..Blue Archive. The game gets flak cause of how fucking creepy it's fanbase is, I am not one of those, please don't judge. But it gets some REAL emotion out of you. Like you don't see the students as characters in a game, I've gotten angry when they are upset or hurt -
A certain conversation towards the very end of Disco Elysium affected me so deeply that however many years later I'm still loathe to spoil it, but I will tell anyone starting the game not to skip the cryptozoology quest line.
Sometimes I think about the ending to The Dig and how good it made me feel. Years later I heard James Garrett again as Roku in Avatar:TLA and my head exploded.
Endwalker. Just all of it. It helped me learn to slow down, take my time, and to not fear failure. Life goes on and there will be hardship, but past those hardships will be great things.
The first time I played, my companion and I lost each other during the final sequence. I arrived at the ending gate and stood there a long while, profoundly sad at the thought that I’d have to walk through it alone.
One of my favorite playthroughs was with someone showing me all the scarf fragment locations. It was genuinely heartwarming. The game gets into your head, but in the best way possible.
I love the part at the end of the last stage of Space Channel 5 where your sound system goes out and all the people you've saved sing the music acapella for you to win with. https://youtu.be/UZbybO887C8?t=233&si=c9w2CepLwv2oG_tt
For all it's mediations on grief, loss, identity, and what it means to be alive in the first place, and how nihilistic it seems on the surface... all of the Nier games (including Drakengard 3 in there), especially with the post credits ending for E in Automata.
"A normal lost phone" was very influencial for me. I came out a couple of month after playing the jam version in 2016. I made a game to help me talk to my friend about it and that game was the inspiration.
The entire ending of Metal Gear Solid 2. Going into the final battle with Solidus, the game takes you pretty low emotionally, but then coming out the other side to Snake's wise words is a true ray of sunshine, in my opinion. The game puts you through the dark so that you can truly see the dawn
It has to be the encounter with the Insulindian Phasmid in Disco Elysium. I can't pinpoint exactly why but I feel lile it healed a bit of my soul. https://youtu.be/4v9pwl0auyw?si=D6X0VxSucay6PVRC
@elizhargrave.bsky.social suggested a board game answer so I’ll give one. Sleeping gods give plenty of chances for moral decisions and the fact that my game group couldn’t choose the murder-hobo options was life affirming to me.
Not a game, specifically, but a time. When the 360 came out and headsets were prevalent for the first time, there was definitely some shit talking, but it was mostly good-natured. It was a very brief period, but multiplayer pre-"gamer" was basically making new friends every night.
“I learned a lot, by the end of everything. The past is past, now, but that’s… you know, that’s okay! It’s never really gone completely. The future is always built on the past, even if we won’t get to see it.
There are two that immediate spring to mind, but paradoxically they’re both built on sadness. The endings of Brothers:AToTS and Rime. Genuinely emotional, both.
Every time you cleared a curse from a guardian tree in Okami, it would do a little cut scene showing the curse zone being swept away and nature taking its place once again. Never tired of it.
The whole of Persona 3 being a huge metaphor about doing as much as you can before you pass on is genuinely such a huge motivator for me. The ending gets me every time.
Comments
https://shop.apwot.com
APWOT is the book version of when people say something is a "love letter" to something else 💌
PS: let me know if I need to resurface the email about #5's collab, Cas! I know you've been with a lot lately, so just making sure it's not lost :D
Passage was also lovely. Quite the warning.
I am both keen to replay it, and see a few missed moments, and emotionally unprepared to do so.
For me it was when Frog first drew the Masamune and declared his oath.
"Grow brighter. Around one constant, they revolve."
The end of Journey.
The pacifist run of Undertale.
Many parts of the To The Moon series games.
The end of Sayonara Wild Hearts.
Beating bosses in Souls-likes.
Yeah, there's quite a few I think 🤣
Not just knowing that the story was over but that almost of a decade of playing this game had come and gone.
Not being able to truly [redacted] was incredibly frustrating in the moment and incredibly meaningful in retrospect. Such a great moment!
“…
A legendary first game for a studio that continues to make incredible games, honestly a super influential title. It's honestly hard to choose just one from them.
Pyre in particular feels incredibly important in these current times.
Broken Age
The city appears.
The synth kicks in.
And nothing else was the same.
Oh, the E ending of Nier Automata, where (spoilers) you find out that a total stranger deleted their save file in order to help you see the ending, and then you are given the choice to do the same?
And then the characters send you postcards with new seeds in real time afterwards 🌿
Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan!
Such great games, all of them.
-
In times of trouble, when there are hard choices to make, the words of Gordon Freeman are always my guide.
-
Not to mention the words of Dr. Isaac Kleiner:
“For what the Combine fear the most is not any tangible human weapon...
(1 of 2)
(2 of 2)
It's where the game ceases to be a power fantasy, and you just... get it.
You are a god protecting your people. You can. You will.
Especially Chapter 6 and the end, but truly all of it.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/972660/Spiritfarer_Farewell_Edition/
- Lil Gator Game (end)
- Celeste (end)
- Sable (end)
- Unpacking (end)
- Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (the end and THAT bit just before the end)
- Ori & Blind Forest (ginso tree)
https://youtu.be/Lj5YeYvt93c?si=oDuu3Dri9OyEI970
https://youtu.be/AUXGW6sWYDY?si=u2gkduZG2rlzYoiP
At a point, your given two different choices: Go on a warpath or save a traitor.
Live with the world and move on, or reset everything in a vein hope things improve.
I chose to save the traitor and move forward and that whole, beautiful sequence...
Things are hard yes, but Ill keep going
https://youtu.be/LlhTkLrg51c
https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/sykine/be-with-you/metal/
In Pentiment: Andreas telling his son “I loved you, little boy.” in Act II, and his son telling him “Daddy, it’s okay.” in Act III. I couldn’t stop sobbing
I could fly, I could dance in this huge room, I was free
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xV6PsSUs5ow
https://youtu.be/Layq-ev4hI0?t=102
Beckett is the only closest thing to Right this game has, and I love him
The world seems wrecked, and you're partly to blame. Can you fix things? What must you give up to do so?
* Grow Home + Grow Up
* The Talos Principle
Alba and both Grow games are both in story and gameplay. Talos is only life affirming in its story.
-Thorn
It's really good and very heartfelt, even if some parts are a little dated.
I only know the blind girl's route I think?
Hmm, might have it downloaded.
The early part of the game when u get diagnosed filled me with so much dread I put it down
The writing was really strong
-Thorn
"You're home."
Hits me every single time.
But personally, it ended up with me marrying and having a kid with my guild mate who lived across the country.
https://youtu.be/X8hvNlIeY8A?si=wgpS3zImLPSIYSwS
https://youtu.be/2FZkTXs3Td8?si=Ne4roKxfcyy_sAlD
that game was a change of perspective for me in a lot of ways. Especially the scene with the stained glass window (no spoilers!)
it literally got me to change my fursona from a fox to a mouse
https://youtu.be/UZbybO887C8?t=233&si=c9w2CepLwv2oG_tt
The entire Yakuza series as a whole, frankly
ARRIVING.
ON THE SCENE.
Issun's speech during the final boss battle never fails to get me so choked up. What an incredibly special game Ōkami is.
NieR Automata ending E. The "popups." All the way to the end.
Earthbound, when you defeat the final boss. You know why.
Metal Gear Solid 2, at the end, when Raiden checks his dog tags.
Gee, all mine are from endings. But that's okay.
Still, it’s um, time for something new, now.”