Video games have been known for decades as the ultimate refuge for those who want to live many lives, not just their real one. They’re also known as the press scapegoat for every crime ever committed since the dawn of time (hey, GTA), but that is another story entirely.

When gathering my thoughts about an entry for Archdruid’s Emotional Game Moments contest, I couldn’t come up with a sole idea. No matter how hard I tried to narrow it down, there was no way that I would be able to sum up over a couple of decades of gaming into one single text, one single emotion.

Nope, like many, if not all of you, I’ve lived it all. Felt it all. So, after much consideration, I decided to include all the feelings that I’ve ever been able to experience through video games, or at least those that we are able to express with words.

TERROR

Terror is probably the most primary of emotions that a video game can stimulate. While most games resort to cheap jumpscares, there are quite a few horror franchises that manage to evoke this constant fear of the unknown without much effort. I could go through many series but if I must pick one that was the scariest of them all, it would be Project Zero a.k.a. Fatal Frame.

First and foremost, I hate ghosts. I consider myself to be a very rational person, but just as everyone else, I get startled by a weird thump in the middle of the night. I’m fairly confident that this sound wasn’t caused by a zombie, alien or mutant, so that leaves the unseen ghostly presence as the only logical explanation – probably.

Project Zero, more specifically the second game, tuned in on this fear of mine and was probably the only game that I remember causing my hands to sweat. Looking for spirits and trying to photograph them, watching them creep out of the most unlikely places… this game truly gave me nightmares for a few days after I had finished it.

STRESS / ANXIETY

Games can also leave me stressed – that is weird, considering that I usually play them not to feel stressed, right? Throughout Outlast 2, I just felt like this foreboding presence was watching me, and I just couldn’t shake it off. But it was during the chase sequences that I felt the most stressed, heart pounding like it wanted to jump out of my chest, as if I was truly running for my life – that infamous cornfield made me hate corn for life.

I felt tired, stressed, after each one of these sequences. It’s a true accomplishment when something “virtual” – let’s use that word – can give you some very real, health hazardous emotions. I needed a minute to settle down after ending a chase, and I’m glad I don’t have any kind of heart condition – yet, as I’m bound to develop one sooner or later if I keep playing these games.

LAUGHTER

I wish there were more games to tickle my funny bone. I feel like the heyday of comedy games happened in the nineties, when point and click adventure games were the big deal. LucasArts with the Monkey Island series, Sierra with Leisure Suit Larry and so many others delivered the goods when it came to playing a game and having a blast.

But there are some recent games that really made me happy. The one that I loved the most for its cast and comedic timing was Portal 2 – this genuinely felt like one of the funniest things I’ve ever experienced, movies included. Wheatley was incredible, but Glados the potato was a riot. Recently, we’ve had Chuchel, but despite scoring some gags, I felt like that game tried a little bit too hard to be funny every single second. Still a good time, though.

SADNESS

Some games are meant to be funny, others are designed with the intention to pull at your heartstrings. Ori and the Blind Forest is widely regarded as a top-quality platformer, but also as the game that can make you shed a few tears right during the intro. That’s right, no need to pick up the controller, less than ten minutes and you’re probably sobbing unless you are an insensitive brute.

Such is the power of video games, a mere combination of characters and music will be enough to convey a strong message and hit you when you least expect it. Other games managed to break my defences, such as the RPG Maker adventure To the Moon (further proof that you don’t need great graphics to deliver a powerful story), or the platformer Unravel. Tears are indeed part of the life of a player, and I’m sure that many of you have stories that include the words Final Fantasy and Aeris.

RAGE

Oh, don’t get me started on this, I can already feel my blood boil! The newest generation will surely claim that Dark Souls (pick a number) is the hardest game ever devised, and they wouldn’t be wrong. While I’m not a fan of the eternal retries of the series, I admit that it featured some clever and impressive fights, along with amazing boss creatures that would give you chills. However, nowadays I’m more of a fan of peaceful, enjoyable experiences and couldn’t do anything but become enraged by my umpteenth death at the hands (legs?) of that big-ass spider. ‘I’m too old for this shit!’, to quote a known Hollywood celebrity.

And Cuphead, of course. Man, was I trolled when I got this game expecting a fun old-style platformer – instead I got a freaking devilish side-scrolling Dark Souls boss fight rush or something like that. Rage is a slight word to express the feelings when I died dozens of times at the same boss, day after day, until I finally quit. I never threw a controller in my life, but the temptation was real.

But if you want real, unadulterated rage, just go play some 16-bit games like Project X, Chaos Engine or Alien Breed. Now those were hard times!

LOSS

Silent Hill 2 was an amazing experience from start to finish, but it was the sense of loss that impressed me right from the beginning. Stepping into the shoes of James, a man who lost his wife, I really felt his need to delve deep into the foggy roads of Silent Hill and get to the end of the mystery of his dead wife’s letter. I felt his struggle, his desperation, and his confusion when this Maria character stepped into his life.

This feeling is heightened by Maria’s repeated deaths and our inability to protect her from harm. It’s loss, over and over again, losing this mysterious character who could be a slightly warped representation of our dead wife. We get attached to her, and suddenly we lose her again. It wasn’t easy to cope, not knowing where the story of the game was leading us.

AWE

I also love playing games that are able to convey this feeling of grandeur, of being a tiny, insignificant spot in a huge world. You know, just walking around with your jaw dropped, looking at impressive places or creatures and wondering just how blessed you are just for being able to experience this.

Shadow of the Colossus provided me with these memorable moments, where you had to look up to see these magnificent beasts minding their own business, until you remembered that you had to take them down by whatever means. It was a work of wonder, of true scale that made me open my mouth in awe more times than I was expecting from a game that is mostly about boss battles. Journey also managed to give me the same chills, with a world that more often than not surprised me, with a climax where I could barely see anything and yet it felt like the most wondrous thing ever. Some games are made to stun players first, and to be played second.

BLISS

Oh, how my ears are thankful to video games! I’ve had some of the most pleasant aural moments in my life when playing some game or another, suddenly realizing that I was enjoying this music too much instead of actually playing the game as I should be. It’s impressive how the right music makes some games infinitely better and increases the emotion factor by a thousand.

The amazing chant in Ori and the Blind Forest, the creepy vibes by the piano tracks in Silent Hill 2, the indie joys of Life is Strange, or the Scandinavian delights from Unravel – no matter how hard of hearing you may be, I’m pretty sure that you can close your eyes right now and remember a track that stayed with you for years, even decades. Right now, I’m getting great vibes just by thinking of the bouncy and eternal Bubble Bobble main track, and Nitro's amazing thumping tune.

CURIOSITY

Curiosity killed the cat, and probably tons of unaware players. But this is a feeling that we can’t help having when playing many games, mostly due to the desire to know just what is going to happen. But in some other cases, it is a more tangible, more primal curiosity that sparks your interest: who is he/she?

I had this curiosity factor at max levels while playing Firewatch. In case you didn’t play this game yet, go do it right now as it is absolutely worth it. Anyway, as you may know, our Ranger is in constant radio communication with his colleague Delilah, and she can be so mesmerizing, so intriguing that I spent the entire game hoping for the moment when our characters would finally meet in person. Sure, fires were happening, conspiracy stuff was seemingly going on, but my main drive was to finally meet Delilah.

Damn…

SURPRISE

What about the feeling of surprise? The great stories that seem to be going one way and suddenly, out of nowhere, turn into unexpected territory? Is that even considered a feeling? Well, I guess we could be feeling ‘tricked’ by the game developers, but I’m stretching myself a bit.

Anyway, you only need to play games such as Doki Doki Literature Club to know what it feels like to be surprised. Yes, it’s a visual novel and it involves a lot of reading and repeated playthroughs to make sense of all of it, but it will definitely surprise you – it’s better to go in without knowing a single thing about it. But if you prefer something more mainstream, then Life is Strange has a couple of twists that will surprise you as well. I could go on and on about this, but I’m sure that you already have too many games on your mind that surprised you.

LOVE

Raise your hand if you’ve never felt this crush for a video game character. Hey, don’t judge me. I mean, do judge me, but not solely based on this emotion.

As a kid, or even an adult, didn’t you ever look at this character with passionate eyes? Lara Croft, for example? And I’m not even talking about the well-rounded, credible version from the reboot Tomb Raider trilogy, but the angular, extremely pointy original released in 1996. Was that feeling... love?

Okay, maybe you’re younger and need more current examples. If you’ve played Mass Effect, didn’t you find something overly appealing about Miranda Lawson? I mean, it surely helps that she was based on the real actress Yvonne Strzechowski, right? Or maybe you have some feelings toward The Witcher’s Triss Merigold, or some other character from the series? Come on, admit it!

Alright, this is getting out of hand and I’m sure that you already got the point – video games can provide us with an endless array of emotions, and the only thing it takes is for you to pick the mood that you are looking for. Give me movies or books, no matter how good, but I wouldn’t trade my video games for any other media in the world.

First image fully licensed from freepik, other images either official or captured by myself.

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