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Can a game really affect you this deep?
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?
EW

Ewa Kaminski

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Discussion (30)

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WO Wolfgang Schulz 2 months ago
anyway
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UC Uche Okafor 2 months 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 months ago
U think skyrim side quests are the problem or
DI Dila Demir 2 months ago
L take
EL Elena Nowak 2 months ago
ok and?
TA Tarek Hosseini 2 months 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 months ago
What specific memories do you associate with that side quest
KA Karin Petersen 2 months ago
nah
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CH Chidi Adeyemi 2 months ago
closing this tab and going outside
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LE Lei Lim 2 months ago
touch grass
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EL Elena Nowak 2 months 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 months ago
underrated take
RO Rohan Patel 2 months ago
underrated take
OW Owen Allen 2 months ago
someone finally said it
CH Chidi Adeyemi 2 months 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 months 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 months ago
wait what
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MI Minjun Sun 2 months ago
Yeah, *Undertale* did that to me *(edited)*
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SO Sophie Michel 2 months ago
this is literally me
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OW Owen Allen 2 months 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 months 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 months ago
and people wonder why this platform is dying
WO Wolfgang Schulz 2 months 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 months ago
saving this comment
WO Wolfgang Schulz 2 months ago
OP should pin this *(edited)*
LE Lei Lim 2 months ago
couldn't agree more
MI Mia Persson 2 months ago
someone finally said it
WO Wolfgang Schulz 2 months ago
screenshotting this
LO Lorenzo Ricci 2 months ago
underrated take
SO Sophia Thomas 2 months ago
OP should pin this
WO Wolfgang Schulz 2 months ago
THIS exactly
OW Owen Allen 2 months ago
more people need to see this
LE Lei Lim 2 months ago
closing this tab and going outside
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KA Karin Petersen 2 months ago
Watching my friend's death in Stenka's pit still gives me nightmares idk *(edited)*
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LE Lei Lim 2 months 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 months ago
living rent free in my head now
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SO Sophia Thomas 2 months 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 months ago
underrated take
LO Lorenzo Ricci 2 months ago
undertale had some crazy parental ADVISORY warnings
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CH Chidi Adeyemi 2 months 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 months 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 months 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 months 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 months ago
ok boomer
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MI Minjun Sun 2 months 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 months 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 months ago
ok boomer
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LE Lei Lim 2 months 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 months ago
"games about losing your mom aren't 'just games'" — yeah, right idk 😂
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CH Chidi Adeyemi 2 months 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 months 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 months 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 months ago
ratio
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CH Chidi Adeyemi 2 months ago
so brave for sharing this completely obvious thing
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DI Dila Demir 2 months 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 months ago
this is why I don't come here anymore
0
EL Elizabeth Young 2 months ago
hold on
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KA Karin Petersen 2 months 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 months 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 months 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
0
EL Elena Nowak 2 months 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 months 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 months ago
OP should pin this
KA Karin Petersen 2 months ago
OP should pin this
MI Minjun Sun 2 months 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 months ago
yeah but what if IT’S not even the game 😭
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WO Wolfgang Schulz 2 months ago
didn't read lol
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WO Wolfgang Schulz 2 months 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 months 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 months ago
What about players with mental health issues *(edited)*
LE Lei Lim 2 months ago
[deleted]
WO Wolfgang Schulz 2 months 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 months 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 months ago
the way I nodded reading this
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YE Yemi Lawal 2 months ago
why tho
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TO Tobi Okafor 2 months ago
L take
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LO Lorenzo Ricci 2 months ago
why is this so accurate 😭
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EL Elena Nowak 2 months 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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