When Game Music Opens The Floodgates
Some people tear up at movies. Others get emotional at certain songs on the radio. For a lot of us who play games, the real emotional gut punches come from videogame soundtracks.
The original article comes from PC Gamer’s Soundtrack Sunday series, where writers spotlight game music that means a lot to them. This particular piece is basically a love letter to emotional game soundtracks and how they can turn even the most stoic player into a total cry machine.
The writer happily admits they cry at almost anything, especially when a sad violin shows up. But games are on another level. They describe crying with protagonists, crying for side characters, and even getting choked up over random creatures that never asked to be in the line of fire. It is not always sadness either. Sometimes it is pure joy, hype, or relief that makes the tears appear. And almost every time, the music is the trigger.
That is the core idea here. Game soundtracks are not just background noise. They can be the reason a moment hits you right in the feelings, long after you have forgotten the exact dialogue or the button inputs.
Final Fantasy And Kingdom Hearts: Masters Of The Tearjerker
The article centers on a few legendary examples from classic RPGs. If you have ever cried at a Final Fantasy scene, you are in good company.
One of the most powerful memories described is the famous Lake Macalania scene from Final Fantasy 10. It is the moment when Tidus and Yuna finally share a quiet, intimate escape from everything crashing around them. The scene looks incredible for a game that originally came out in 2001, but the real magic is in the track that plays over it.
As Yuna starts to cry and the water reflects on their faces, the first notes of Suteki Da Ne gently fade in. Then Rikki’s soft vocals carry the whole scene as Tidus and Yuna kiss and sink beneath the water, holding on to each other like they are the only safe thing in the world.
The writer remembers sitting there with a huge, goofy smile and tears streaming down their face. For them, the scene would be good on its own, but the song is what turns it into a memory that never goes away. Even revisiting the cutscene years later still makes them tear up.
Final Fantasy is not the only series that hits like this. Kingdom Hearts gets a strong shoutout too. The simple piano melody of Dearly Beloved, which plays on the title screen, is enough to trigger an instant wave of nostalgia. It is the musical equivalent of booting up an old save file from your childhood.
You do not even have to be in a sad part of the story. Just hearing Dearly Beloved can yank you back through years of memories, from late night grinding to wild boss fights and complicated Disney meets anime plot twists. That kind of emotional shortcut is something only a few pieces of music in your life can pull off, and many of them end up being from games.
When Music Turns Hype Into Tears
The article also touches on one more type of crying. Not the sad cry, not even the nostalgic cry, but the absolutely overloaded with hype and awe cry.
For the writer, that moment comes in Final Fantasy 14’s Endwalker expansion. There is a particular trial that players build up to over hours of story. Tension rises, expectations go through the roof, and by the time you get there, your emotions are already stretched thin.
Then the theme song for that trial kicks in.
They describe practically vibrating with excitement. All of the built up anticipation and story weight suddenly crashes into the music, and boom, instant tears. Not because anything sad happened. Just because it felt so big, so earned, and so perfectly scored that their body basically short circuited from hype.
That is something games are uniquely good at. You are not just watching a character reach the climax of their journey. You are part of it. You have been grinding levels, failing runs, learning mechanics, and living in that world for hours or days or months. When the right track hits at the right time, the payoff can be huge.
- Music can make a beautiful scene unforgettable
- A simple title screen song can carry years of nostalgia
- A climactic boss theme can turn pure excitement into actual tears
All of it shows how much soundtracks matter to our experience of games.
What Game Soundtracks Make You Tear Up
The original piece ends with a question rather than an answer. It is not trying to crown a single best sad song in gaming or build a ranked list. Instead, it is an invitation.
Have you ever choked up or outright sobbed because of a videogame track
Maybe it was the gentle piano from an indie game that caught you off guard. Maybe it was a victory theme that finally played after a boss you had been stuck on for days. Maybe it was the music during a character death that still hurts to think about.
The writer admits they are a self described big crybaby. But they are also pretty sure most players have at least one game song that hits them harder than anything else. The article asks readers to share which soundtracks give them that instant lump in their throat and, most importantly, why.
So this is your turn. Think about the moments that stick with you. The cutscenes you rewatch on YouTube, the tracks you sneak into your playlists, the themes that make you pause the game just to listen. Those are not just songs. They are bookmarks for some of your strongest gaming memories.
And if a simple melody can still make you cry years later, that is proof that game music is doing something very right.
Original article and image: https://www.pcgamer.com/games/confession-time-which-game-soundtrack-actually-made-you-cry/
