You never forget the beginning of a long journey, and Telltale Games certainly made an impact on our tear ducts with their adaption of Robert Kirkman’s graphic novel series The Walking Dead. Forced to rely on each other in the aftermath of the apocalypse, Lee Everett and Clementine become a foster family that could stand the test of time. It would have remained so, if not for a rogue walker that took a bite out of Lee’s arm and forced Clementine into an impossible situation.

After being handcuffed to a radiator, Lee begs Clementine to end his life, so that he won’t turn into a walker. The combination of losing such a strong likeable character, and the cruel tragedy of forcing a child to perform such an awful deed will bring tears to even the driest of eyes. The player can choose to not shoot Lee and simply leave him to be a zombie, but it is highly likely that after five episodes of bonding with Lee and Clementine, the kindest thing to do will be to allow Lee the mercy of a relatively painless death.

This part of Final Fantasy VII is possibly one of the most infamous scenes in video game history for several reasons. After encountering the one winged angel Sephiroth towards the conclusion of the game’s first disc, the flower maiden Aerith Gainsborough is pierced by the sword held by the powerful individual as she attempts to summon a power that can stop Sephiroth’s evil plans.

One of the reasons this emotional scene is remembered so vividly is that the death seems to be a spur of the moment action, rather than a pre-mediated decision. It also enraged many of the players on it’s original release as they had spent a lot of time and effort in building Aerith’s stats, only to be stripped of their hard work once the character met her demise.

Characters with amnesia tend to have a tragic past, and Rei from Persona Q is no different. When the cast of Persona 3 and 4 originally encounter her, she is a timid young girl with a resolute bodyguard named Zen to accompany her. As the group travel through the labyrinths, the awful truth of Rei’s origins eventually becomes clear.

Rei was originally born as a girl named Niko, who was chronically ill. She longed to do things that normal people were able to, but sadly she passed away. After meeting Chronos, the god of death, in the afterlife, Niko suffered a nervous breakdown, forcing Chronos to erase her memories to preserve her sanity. This scene is made especially heartbreaking by the anger Rei feels at the injustice of her short life, and the jealousy she feels towards everyone who got to live while she was left to die.

There are so many great moments in Insomniac Games reinvention of the iconic superhero, but the icing on the cake truly comes at the conclusion of the game with Pax in Bello, the final main story mission. After taking down the rest of the Sinister Six, Peter Parker is forced to invent a new super suit to take down Dr Otto Octavius, who has been driven insane by the neural implant that allows him to control his robotic arms.

What sets this boss fight apart is the emotional anguish that Peter Parker goes through as he fights his beloved mentor, and the blind rage that ensues when he learns that Otto had figured out that he and Spider-Man are the same person. The final nail in the coffin comes at the conclusion when a tearful Octavius begs Peter to help him before his degenerative condition takes hold. This is made even more heartbreaking, when in the same breath, Otto snidely tries to blackmail him to ensure his secret identity is not revealed to the public.

At the end of the third episode of Life is Strange, Max learns the hard way about the dangers of changing the past. Her attempts to rescue Chloe’s father, William Price, from being killed in a car accident result in Chloe herself getting involved in a serious car accident herself. Unable to bear the pain of being an emotional burden to her family, this alternate version of Chloe begs Max to perform an unthinkable deed.

After being separated for the past few years, it seems unthinkable that Max would be asked to do such a heart rending action. You are able to rewrite your meddling in the time stream later in the episode, but at that moment, it seems as if this new reality cannot be altered, which is the key factor that makes Max’s choice all the more heartbreaking once the gravity of the situation begins to takes hold.

Do you believe that there is an emotional moment which deserves a place on this list? If you do, please let us know in the comments section below.