Top 10 Saddest Deaths in Video Games

We’re going to start things off with our favorite cousin who always wanted to go bowling. In the final act of GTA IV Niko is given a choice to do a deal with the man who betrayed him, or kill him. If Niko does the deal, an assassin sneaks up and kills Roman on his wedding day. But if Niko kills Dimitri, it will instead be his love interest Kate who bites the bullet. Either way these scenes are tough to handle.

Tali was also a contender for this list, but her death is optional, where as Thane is destined to die. After thwarting an assassination attempt on the Salarian Councilor, Thane ends up meeting the edge of Kai Lang’s blade, which leaves him on his death bed in the hospital. Even more emotional is the funeral you’re treated to in the Citadel DLC And finally if you romanced him in Mass Effect 2, you’re treated to this beautiful farewell.

Just as tragic as to when a speaking character dies is when you lose a loyal animal companion. In Shadow of the Colossus, that ends up being your horse Agro. On route to the final Colossus everything seems to be business as usual, when all of a sudden you come across a crumbling bridge and a sudden shock is thrown right in your face.

We had a 3 way decision for the Call of Duty entry, between Jackson getting nuked, and Ghost and Roach’s sudden assassination. Ultimately though Soap took this spot, though only just. After a plan to capture Makarov goes horribly wrong, You end up dragging a wounded Soap through a blazing gun battle. Only for him to die from his wounds with Captain Price breaking down at the loss.

A good way to get you emotionally invested into a game, is to have a shocking death take place in the very first act. After Alberti betrays their family, Ezio’s father and two brothers are executed before his very eyes, while he himself is unable to help and is forced to flee, deemed as a criminal and a traitor.

The harsh reality of the Locust war takes it toll on most of humanity, but for the Santiago’s it was especially brutal. Already losing their children in Emergence day, Maria is captured by the Locust horde and put through processing. After much fighting Dom finally finds his wife but his reunion is short lived as the effects of Locust processing have taken their toll.

The Last of Us has many deaths worth noting, but the most memorable and emotional is the one that happens right at the start of the game. Even though we knew this was coming cause you didn’t see no blond girl on the box, the Direction, Buildup and Troy Baker’s amazing performance makes this moment of a young girl dying in her fathers arms incredibly heart wrenching.

The iconic blue vixen who’s been with the series right from the start, meets an emotional end in the 4th installment. Throughout the game it’s hinted that her time is coming to an end with her programming literally driving her to madness. Using her damaged components to restrain the main villain, we’re then treated to this emotional scene. She misses out on the higher spots since its not 100% confirmed that she’s dead.

Our highest voted entry on our suggestions page is the final tough choice of the first season of this point and click masterpiece. After being bitten in the previous chapter, Lee’s fate is sealed and it’s only a matter of time before he turns into a walker. In the final moments of chapter 5, you end up making a heartbreaking decision: do you tell young Clementine to shoot the only person she has left or do you tell her to handcuff you and leave you to turn. Either way both these scenes had one of our staff members crying his eyes out.

Before we get to the top spot, lets see who else had us crying ourselves to sleep

This one is a no-brainer, The iconic scene of the flower girl getting murdered by Sepiroth takes the top spot for multiple reasons. Not only is her death the most memorable scene from the 7th game, and one of the most emotional moments in the entire franchise. But to this day there are still fans that can’t accept that Aeris is truly dead, and still hold out hope that there will be a method in the game to bring her back.

With so many tear-jerking moments in video games, its impossible to cover them all. Again be sure to check out our Top 10 Heroic Sacrifices if you were looking for characters like John Marston or Dominic Santiago. And for more emotional Top 10’s published everyday, be sure to Subscribe to Watchmojo.com