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Sherman Alexie's avatar

A great post. However, there are a few very popular video games that are tragic. The Last of Us being one. Hollywood is making it into a movie that will surely remove the tragedies.

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JRH's avatar

Red Dead Redemption and (quite old but a favorite) Planescape Torment also come to mind.

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Zynkypria's avatar

I'm very late to this thread, but *Heavy Rain* (2010) probably qualifies as a tragedy, specifically with its twist ending. One of the four protagonists is destroyed by their hubris... and in the branching bad endings, so are the other three. Like everything else in this thread, it is not for the faint of heart (there's a scene where you have to cut one of the protagonists' fingers off, complete with voice acting), but the story sticks with you. I'm very impressed with the game's writing.

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

I donтАЩt know that game. IтАЩll look it up.

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Erdemten's avatar

Detention probably counts:

https://phys.org/news/2017-02-taiwan-white-terror-brought-life.html

But it's not an American game and the movie and TV show made from it are not Hollywood.

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David's avatar

Great example. The Last of Us 2 completes the tragedy of the first game in the opening sequences. It's brutal. And it's effects echo on through the rest of the game, leading to further tragedy with a small taste of half hope and redemption at the end... but certainly not happiness or a warm fuzzy ending. Which is probably why the game was panned by so many fans of the first game. Tragedy is uncomfortable.

Especially in a video game, where the player becomes the protagonist in a sense. They're granted agency, but only to play out the story as our protagonists would, mistakes and all.

They're a couple of the best games of the past decade in my opinion.

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

I didnтАЩt know that about The Last of Us 2. Sounds like they went for The Empire Strikes Back heart-hit. I have no aversion to tragedy. My work is filled with the tragic. But The Last of Us destroyed me.

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