The form "Emotional Games" is no longer accepting responses, sorry. I need to analyze the received submissions now.

Aww, i really wanted to participate, waaah... :'(

I don't believe i missed it! Now i am sad!

:(

don't you remember the jedi code?!
"there is no emotion, there is peace"

I wanted to do it now since I've only seen this thread before work today, but: Only three days? oO

Check the year in which the first post was written. :)

Aww what a mean necro. My inner calender still hasn't reached 2015 yet but I knew it was may!

Yep -- I've edited the first post to mention that the survey is no longer in effect. It wasn't until today that I realized that EVERY title in my pinned list is showing new responses! :o

Yes, that one really is a roller-coaster ride!

Not in my opinion. I've played some that were "soulless", fluff, mindless, and/or "just" a game with very little substance.


I can see that I need to bump Dear Esther and Planescape: Torment up on my to-play list!

I prefer an alarming lack of emotion in my games.

Dear Esther is very hit-and-miss. The entire gameplay is this: You walk very slowly on a completely linear path through beautiful landscapes, while a voice occasionally reads short snippets of a story in randomized order. Then the game ends.

It didn't touch me at all, in fact I found it horribly boring and pretentious. The maps provide barely any opportunity for exploration, and if you do stray from the path, you end up at a dead-end from where you have to slowly, slowly crawl back. The story is not very well written - it's just random thoughts circling around the same event. Once I figured out what happened (after about 40% of the game, I think), it was very boring and I just waited for it to end. The designer has my respect for trying to tackle a serious topic in an experimental way, but imho this experiment failed completely.

There are people who enjoyed the game, though. There are also people who rage at the game for "not being a game", so it "shouldn't be allowed at Steam", which is rubbish. Of course it's a game, just a very boring one.

this made me giggle while eating a burger... it's not sexual innuendo but still could be.

Limbo for me was an excellent example of an emotional game that didn't require narrative in the form of words. On first playthrough, one doesn't have a full bearing on the possible symbolism of the settings/dangers/puzzles. However, the ending hits like a ton of bricks and subsequently playing through the game again opens up space for many possible interpretations.

Also, one you are already familiar with, Valiant Hearts. Just the trailer alone has the power to move. And the game itself... (′︿‵｡)

I agree, To the Moon was very emotionally evocative. I found the game as a whole very uneven, but the middle act with the two big reveals were extremely well done. I just wish the beginning and ending had been reworked a bit and the gameplay mechanics tightened, those issues hold the game back quite a bit but there are definitely flashes of brilliance in the narrative.


I totally agree with you here; Dear Esther was a disappointing experience for me. I don't mind pretense if it is handled in a certain way, but the game as designed has issues with pacing and cohesiveness due to a sort of forced exploration bent which messes with the ability for the narrative to achieve any sort of flow. The game has its moments in the middle and towards the end were things start clicking, but they were too few and far between for me to give the game a high recommendation.

Oh yes, VH: TGW will forever be installed on my hard drive. I love this game; totally worth having to deal with Uplay!

One I don't think I've mentioned yet is Nihilumbra. The story portion, which last about 2 hours, was very evocative for me. I really enjoyed the puzzle aspect of this platformer, but it's the story that really made it shine for me. I should mention that the game continues well past the main storyline ;)

Yes, Nihilumbra was great but how far did you get in the second run?
The difficulty went straight from Kindergarten to sadistic game design from hell after the first playthrough imho.

The Swapper, Limbo, Dear Esther, Nihilumbra have all been mentioned that I very much enjoyed from an emotional perspective.

I also enjoyed <span class="bold">And Yet It Moves</span> but it has been sometime since I last played it so I don't remember much, just that when I played it felt meaningful even if it could end up too difficulty in certain situations.

Another one is <span class="bold">Papo &amp; Yo</span>. I think you need to complete it to really understand why but I throughly enjoyed the experience.

The last game I played that I would add to this thread is <span class="bold">Ori and the Blind Forest</span>. Highly recommended.

Last but not least: <span class="bold">Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons</span>.

haha, yeah it did! XD I got to a puzzle I couldn't figure out, and stopped there. I think I'll replay from the beginning and try again when I get back to that point. :)

I like games with a tiny bit of emotionality, like Ori.