It’s been a long time since I faced such moments perhaps due to games taking longer to make and becoming a more mature medium. Also games as a whole are more consistent at just being good instead of being built around moments. But here’s my list
- Raphael’s Boss music in Baldurs Gate 3
- GoW 2018, Kratos uncovering the floorboards and recovering those things
- Dropping the monkey paw at the end of Obra Dinn
- The plane moment in Indiana Jones
Honourable mentions
- The open world reveal in ff7 rebirth didn’t hit as hard as we knew it would come, but still brought a smile to my face. The other big twist at the end of the game was more confusing than epic
- Unchartered 4 surprisingly still fits in the list from 2016. The boat chase and truck trying to kill you was awesome
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Prey 2018, when you break through the glass. The whole game was good, but that first bit was stellar.
A little bit of a different type of game and I’m cheating by using four moments, but they all stuck with me.
Not For Broadcast, Day 296: The Heatwave.
It starts off with a slight shift in tone from the earlier broadcasts, you feel the tension ramping up, and then you know exactly what’s coming, but it’s still a fucking gut punch no matter what choice you make.
Day 371: The 20 Week War adds on to that with this underlying tension from the last broadcast, broken by some hysterical nonsense and then hits you with a sobering end to the broadcast which plays out three different ways depending on earlier decisions you’ve made. All three are devastating in their own right.
The entirety of Day 2602: The Finale is just fucking wild, and best experienced without any hint of spoilers.
Beyond that, the lockdown broadcast is fucking hilarious and came out of nowhere. The sheer absurdity of it caused a “wait, what the fuck is even happening?” moment every single time something new happened.
Honestly, that entire game has so many of these moments, but those are the ones that have stuck with me. I often find myself singing “Mr. Bear (What’s That Over There?)” for literally no reason whatsoever.
My first thought was “oh nice it would be cool to discover some new Leeeroy Jenkins!”. Then I entered the thread and saw that’s not at all what was meant.
Final Fantasy VII Remake, when the proper Jenova theme played. Props to the hours of auditory misdirect leading up to it.
“We wouldn’t just play it, of course. That song is too silly for a dramatic scene. But here is a subdued motif to remind you of it.”
“Well we have to play it now because there’s a new Jenova fight but you’re getting the respectable cinematic version.”
“Now the fight’s really getting going, you’re getting the upper hand so time to boost the epicness and heroicness during the climax. Isn’t this song so cool now that we fixed it?”
Then the synthesizer finally kicks in and it’s the most beautiful thing you’ve ever heard.
Entire final hour of Tears of the Kingdom.
Some memorable moments in no particular order:
- Outer Wilds when you reach the Sun Station
- Descending into the Lost River biome in Subnautica
- Alan Wake 2: The Musical
Outer wilds ending is GOAT gaming moment for me.
The whole of the True Ending of Hollow Knight, from before even reaching the final final boss
I loved Obra Dinn and yet when you said that I drew a complete blank. What I remember of Obra Dinn is figuring out the metapuzzle. And maybe the Kraken.
I think the problem with “gaming moments” is you need a kind of universally communal experience of a game. The reason the Mexico ride in Red Dead became the prototype for THAT is it was maybe the last time we were all playing the same thing at the same time and reading the same things so we could all talk about the same bit at the same time.
I enjoy reading about stuff I don’t know. It makes me curious. So if I don’t know the game, if the scene sounds interesting, I may look it up and play it. No universal game experience needed.
- Witcher 3 opening scene in Kaer Morhen.
- Dark Souls 3 Irithyll of the Boreal Valley and
spoiler
Return to Anor Londo
Not sure if “best” is the right word, but Joel’s death scene was so impactful, even when I knew he had it coming and had to happen.
Also, over a decade ago but inFamous 2 evil ending when you last encounter Zeke. Oof, what a gut punch!
The first time I fought a bile titan in helldivers 2 blew my mind.
Disclaimer : I really haven’t been able to play nearly as many games as I should have.
Doki doki literature club.
Inscryption
Thronglets (mobile).
For all pretty much the same reason. I get tingly when games interact with you as the player rather than you the avatar. It has to be done right though. Games are always looking at the camera and addressing the player, but they’re only giving instructions or flavour. These three are the best I can remember at making you feel part of the story simply by being the player.
