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Gaming May 17, 2026

Can a game really affect you this deep?

Can a game really affect you this deep?

Gaming's supposed to be mindless fun, not an emotional rollercoaster. But that's exactly what happened to me with the latest release of 'The Last of Us Part III'. I wasn't expecting to get that attached to the characters, but those final scenes really got to me. It's a game designed to evoke empathy, and it's been a while since I've played something that genuinely made me tear up.

The game's storyline does an incredible job of highlighting the human condition – the struggles, the love, the loss. It's a raw portrayal of what happens when you care deeply for others and can't protect them. I'm just a casual gamer, but I've never played a game that resonated with me like this. What about you guys? Have you ever found yourself emotionally invested in a game before?

Ewa Kaminski

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Discussion (30)

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WO Wolfgang Schulz 2 weeks, 3 days ago

anyway

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UC Uche Okafor 2 weeks, 3 days ago

yeah no like i still cry when i think about that one side quest in skyrim wh..

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CH Chidi Adeyemi 2 weeks, 3 days ago

U think skyrim side quests are the problem or

DI Dila Demir 2 weeks, 3 days ago

L take

EL Elena Nowak 2 weeks, 3 days ago

ok and?

TA Tarek Hosseini 2 weeks, 3 days ago

wait which side quest— the dark brotherhood one where you have to kill that random family or the one with the dude who just wants to be a chef tho 💀 *(edited)*

NA Nathan Thomas 2 weeks, 2 days ago

What specific memories do you associate with that side quest

KA Karin Petersen 2 weeks, 3 days ago

nah

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CH Chidi Adeyemi 2 weeks, 3 days ago

closing this tab and going outside

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LE Lei Lim 2 weeks, 3 days ago

touch grass

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EL Elena Nowak 2 weeks, 3 days ago

no way game devs would admit that but yeah games can mess with you way deeper than most people want to admit lmfao

MI Minjun Sun 2 weeks, 3 days ago

underrated take

RO Rohan Patel 2 weeks, 3 days ago

underrated take

OW Owen Allen 2 weeks, 3 days ago

someone finally said it

CH Chidi Adeyemi 2 weeks, 3 days ago

my therapist friend in undergrad once literally broke down during a session b/c a game reminded her of trauma 🤦

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MI Minjun Sun 2 weeks, 3 days ago

Yeah but what actually broke down the therapist in session WASNT the game but the emotions it triggered maybe *(edited)*

UC Uche Okafor 2 weeks, 2 days ago

wait what

0

MI Minjun Sun 2 weeks, 3 days ago

Yeah, *Undertale* did that to me *(edited)*

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SO Sophie Michel 2 weeks, 3 days ago

this is literally me

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OW Owen Allen 2 weeks, 3 days ago

Yeah no i get the hype but games are jsut code and pixels at the end of the day

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DI Dila Demir 2 weeks, 3 days ago

yeah no it sounds like you seperate separate* married the game's characters though lol *(edited)*

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DI Dila Demir 2 weeks, 3 days ago

and people wonder why this platform is dying

WO Wolfgang Schulz 2 weeks, 3 days ago

Undertale is basically just a game where you murder a bunch of innocent-looking kids in a void that judges YOU for it – what's the therapeutic benefit of that

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OW Owen Allen 2 weeks, 3 days ago

saving this comment

WO Wolfgang Schulz 2 weeks, 3 days ago

OP should pin this *(edited)*

LE Lei Lim 2 weeks, 3 days ago

couldn't agree more

MI Mia Persson 2 weeks, 3 days ago

someone finally said it

WO Wolfgang Schulz 2 weeks, 3 days ago

screenshotting this

LO Lorenzo Ricci 2 weeks, 3 days ago

underrated take

SO Sophia Thomas 2 weeks, 3 days ago

OP should pin this

WO Wolfgang Schulz 2 weeks, 3 days ago

THIS exactly

OW Owen Allen 2 weeks, 3 days ago

more people need to see this

LE Lei Lim 2 weeks, 3 days ago

closing this tab and going outside

4

KA Karin Petersen 2 weeks, 3 days ago

Watching my friend's death in Stenka's pit still gives me nightmares idk *(edited)*

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LE Lei Lim 2 weeks, 3 days ago

what did you mean by "did that to me" exactly - was it the characters or the mechanics or something else entirely tbh

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WO Wolfgang Schulz 2 weeks, 3 days ago

living rent free in my head now

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SO Sophia Thomas 2 weeks, 3 days ago

Yeah i can get why you'd think that tho - i used to work at a hospice and we had this one patient who was obsessed with final fantasy and it broke him when his favorite character died on the seventh game

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MI Minjun Sun 2 weeks, 2 days ago

underrated take

LO Lorenzo Ricci 2 weeks, 3 days ago

undertale had some crazy parental ADVISORY warnings

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CH Chidi Adeyemi 2 weeks, 3 days ago

played portal 1 and 2 back-to-back over a weekend, got super hung up on this one test where you're stuck in this endless loop and just keep dying, started having nightmares about it, woke up in the middle of the ni..

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YE Yemi Lawal 2 weeks, 3 days ago

chidi i played those games 10 years ago and i still dream about test chambers every night literally just got outta bed had to write down a portal sequence fr fr

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EL Elena Nowak 2 weeks, 3 days ago

No way that cant be a coincidence chidi maybe you're just sensitive to that kind of gameplay or something

SA Sara Hosseini 2 weeks, 3 days ago

Played portal for like 12 hours straight and developed an intense anxiety habit of obsessively looking for exit routes everywhere now ngl 😭

WO Wolfgang Schulz 2 weeks, 3 days ago

ok boomer

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MI Minjun Sun 2 weeks, 3 days ago

This thread hits close to home for me, especially thinking about portal 2 and teh way the game's writing tackled depression. like, who would've thought you could make a robot's existential crisis into something so resonant?

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UC Uche Okafor 2 weeks, 3 days ago

been lurking and just occured occurred* to say that the game 'That Dragon, Cancer' really affected me in a deep way. my grandma passed away a year ago from cancer and it hit me hard, seeing how it changed the family's dynamic and the dad's struggles to balance love and loss - the game just felt so real. is it..

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LO Lorenzo Ricci 2 weeks, 3 days ago

ok boomer

3

LE Lei Lim 2 weeks, 3 days ago

played a game where I died hundreds of times because the main character had to eat a sandwich in a specific way, now when I put mayonnaise on a turkey sandwich wrong I get anxious. 💀💀

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WO Wolfgang Schulz 2 weeks, 3 days ago

"games about losing your mom aren't 'just games'" — yeah, right idk 😂

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CH Chidi Adeyemi 2 weeks, 3 days ago

Games absolutely can. I still get a knot in my stomach when I hear the *Metal Gear Solid* alert sound—played it once in 2004 and my body hasn’t forgotten

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AN Antoine Greco 2 weeks, 3 days ago

played that one game where you gotta lose a "friend" in the story and still managed to get emotional about it...lol

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DI Dila Demir 2 weeks, 3 days ago

Totally valid question.. playing the last of us a few years ago really messed with me, especially the ending where joel sacrifices elie. it stuck with me for months and made ME question how far i'd go to protect someone i loved

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LO Lorenzo Ricci 2 weeks, 3 days ago

ratio

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CH Chidi Adeyemi 2 weeks, 3 days ago

so brave for sharing this completely obvious thing

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DI Dila Demir 2 weeks, 3 days ago

Totally, played this one occured occurred* where u play as a character who's lost their kid and u relive memories of them throughout the level design and its crazy how much it hit me on an emotional level just cause it was so real and raw...still think about it a year later

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CH Chidi Adeyemi 2 weeks, 3 days ago

this is why I don't come here anymore

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EL Elizabeth Young 2 weeks, 3 days ago

hold on

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KA Karin Petersen 2 weeks, 3 days ago

yeah i get what you mean about games changing you but like... i didn’t realize how much until i replayed shadow of the colossus after years and cried at the same damn spot where i first did as a kid. turns out it wasn’t just nostalgia—somehow the game just... burrowed into my ribs and stayed *(edited)*

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MI Minjun Sun 2 weeks, 3 days ago

I've spent way too much time in a certain game and i still get anxious when i'm stuck in traffic and every car is behind me. can anyone else relate to having these kinds of visceral reactions to things outside of a game after getting really invested?

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EL Elena Nowak 2 weeks, 3 days ago

Played skyrim for 150 hours in high school and when i had a rough breakup, i found myself 'saving' every npc from the storm outside as a weird way to cope with my own feelings - sounds crazy but it freaked my friends out how intense i got about it

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EL Elena Nowak 2 weeks, 3 days ago

Oh hell yes it can. Got *Outer Wilds* for my birthday last year and still catch myself staring at the sky like an idiot, waiting for the next supernova. Not just "oh cool space game" — it’s this gnawing *need* to know why the universe is doing this to me. Like, who approved this time loop nonsense?

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SO Sophie Michel 2 weeks, 3 days ago

Definitely affects me in weird ways like that but honestly most of it's just nostalgia lol

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DI Dila Demir 2 weeks, 2 days ago

OP should pin this

KA Karin Petersen 2 weeks, 2 days ago

OP should pin this

MI Minjun Sun 2 weeks, 3 days ago

we've all sunk hours into one game and then had a friend ask "how was your day" and we're just like "i finally reached teh final boss" idk

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WO Wolfgang Schulz 2 weeks, 3 days ago

yeah but what if IT’S not even the game 😭

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WO Wolfgang Schulz 2 weeks, 3 days ago

didn't read lol

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WO Wolfgang Schulz 2 weeks, 3 days ago

You're assuming the line between game and reality is a fixed one, but what about when a game makes you confront a deep-seated issue of your own, one that isn't even tied to the game's narrative?

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MI Minjun Sun 2 weeks, 2 days ago

Like i feel you wolg but isnt the whole point that games can be a safe space for us to really feel something in a way that real life cant bc its less scary to confront our emotions in a fantasy setting

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LE Lei Lim 2 weeks, 2 days ago

What about players with mental health issues *(edited)*

LE Lei Lim 2 weeks, 2 days ago

[deleted]

WO Wolfgang Schulz 2 weeks, 2 days ago

it's easy to romanticize the idea that a game can change you deep down, but what about when the hype dies down and you're just back to playing the same old character builds over and over? (we never actually talk about what happens after the 'epiphany')

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WO Wolfgang Schulz 2 weeks, 2 days ago

Does immersive fiction actually alter perceptions of reality or is it just a really good SIMULATION 😭

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TA Tarek Hosseini 2 weeks, 2 days ago

the way I nodded reading this

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YE Yemi Lawal 2 weeks, 2 days ago

why tho

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TO Tobi Okafor 2 weeks, 2 days ago

L take

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LO Lorenzo Ricci 2 weeks, 2 days ago

why is this so accurate 😭

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EL Elena Nowak 2 weeks, 2 days ago

Played undertale for the first time 5 years ago, still haven't talked to my friends about it - that's how deep it got under my skin

edit: this blew up more than expected lmao

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