Little Inferno (Switch eShop)

An unusual pick for weepy games, given that it's largely a game about setting fire to stuff for fun, but Little Inferno hides a deeper, darker side amongst all the flames. It's cute, and it's creepy, and it's ultimately rather sad, if you pay attention to all the clues hidden within the walls of your safe, warm fireplace.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Complete Edition (Switch)

How does The Witcher 3 make it onto all our lists? Because it's got it all — it's gorgeous, hilarious, and deeply upsetting in turns. Plenty of the side quests are immaculately written glimpses into how tough it is for the peasantry of Geralt's world, or a short story about someone's grief manifesting as a monster, or a brief fairytale about a man who wants to be with his wife, even if she is technically a wraith now. Playing The Witcher 3 is a lot like consenting to get punched in the gut over and over again. Enjoy!

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Undertale (Switch eShop)

Undertale has plenty of its sad moments, but it doesn't get sadder than trying to play the game in either a Genocide or Pacifist run. The former requires you to kill everyone, the latter requires you to kill no one. They're both bloody hard, and not just mechanically! But the less said the better — just try it yourself, and we'll see you on the other side in a puddle of your own face-wets.

Spiritfarer (Switch eShop)

Spiritfarer is a game about death. But not the grisly sort that games normally deal with — it's about helping the spirits of the already-dead to a calm and peaceful end, by keeping them with you on your massive barge until their unfinished business is ticked off. Fair warning: Some of the stories are really, really sad and surprisingly real, given that the characters involved are hedgehogs and frogs.

Valiant Hearts: The Great War (Switch eShop)

Valiant Hearts is a take on the First World War that somehow manages to be both historically accurate and wildly fantastical. It all looks quite beautiful and serves to tell a moving tale without ever devolving into the depressing slog that it could so easily have become. War games tend to be all about the brutal mechanics of war rather than the exacting toll it takes on people and places. Valiant Hearts: The Great War, by contrast, is one of the most humane war games you'll ever play.

Child of Light: Ultimate Edition (Switch eShop)

Child of Light begins with a child dying, and it only gets sadder from there. With a perfectly fairytale-like tone across its relatively short 10-12 hour runtime, accompanied by gorgeous, flowy watercolour visuals, Child of Light feels like a dream. The writing is quite clunky and the active-time battle can occasionally feel like a slog, but everything else about this game — especially the music — will grab a hold of your heart and twist.

Unpacking (Switch eShop)

The remarkable thing about Unpacking is how it manages to tell a pretty in-depth story through nothing but taking items out of boxes and putting them on shelves. Moving house is an emotive, hopeful and perhaps traumatic experience, providing perfect story beats for the biography of this unseen person. The inherent intimacy of arranging someone’s toiletries and underwear is made incredibly personal by the feel of the items you come to know after unpacking and arranging several times. Get ready to cry over a stuffed pig, folks.

Last Day Of June (Switch eShop)

In Last Day Of June, you are placed in the shoes of Carl, a man from a small village who is involved in a car accident with his wife, June. Unfortunately, the tragedy takes June’s life and Carl is left wheelchair-bound. Left to grow old by himself, Carl carries on life as best as he can until one evening he discovers he can change the outcome of past events using the magical power of his wife’s paintings. Desperate to prevent his devastating loss, Carl travels back in time by interacting with the memories contained within June’s works of art. Are you already crying? Us, too.

Night In The Woods (Switch eShop)

Make no mistake about it, Night In The Woods will stay with you. There aren’t very many games out there that manage to leave an imprint on the people who take the time to experience them, but this emotional adventure into rural isolationism, palpable Americana and the melancholy of long lost youth does just that. It’s both tongue-in-cheek and deeply tragic, with one eye winking at the audience and another turned inward at the very real growing pains of finding your very own place in the world.

Finding Paradise (Switch eShop)

Finding Paradise is a worthy successor to the superlative To The Moon (which you can find earlier on the list). This second adventure in the series may not quite manage to hit the emotional highs of its predecessor, but there's still a complex, engaging, thoughtful, and wonderfully well-told story to sink your teeth into here in a game that will linger long in the memory once you're done with it.