Games are primarily intended to be fun. That’s the implication behind the word “game,” after all. However, fun is far from the only thing games are capable of being. Like any good piece of media, games can inspire a multitude of emotions in us, both positive and negative, as well as tackle heavy, complex subject matters.
Some of my most cherished gaming memories are those times when I’ve been subjected to such intense emotional stimuli, I’m left as a silent husk for a good 30 minutes afterwards.
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For all the event’s big-ticket hype, those behind the Game Awards are well-aware of how important those games are, those with a message to deliver and who aren’t shy about how they do it.
This is the primary purpose of the Games for Impact award, which has been acknowledging excellence in tackling heavy, emotional themes for nearly a decade. These games all had something to say, and these particular nominees and winners are the ones that, in my humble opinion, went about it the best.
10Undertale
Games For Impact Nominee, 2015
One of the most important lessons you learn as a kid is that your actions have consequences. Nobody exists in a hermetically-sealed bubble; the choices you make and actions you take will affect the story of your life and how those around you react to you.
You always have the option to be the best person you can be, a message thatUndertalehas hammered into many of our souls.
Undertale presents you with an entire cast of unforgettably charming characters, and leaves their ultimate fates largely in your hands. You can engage with it all in the same way you would a traditional RPG, killing anything that wishes you harm, or you can go the extra mile and seek out peaceful solutions.
I still think about my first playthrough andaccidentally killing Toriel. Yeah, I got some sauce from Flowey, but I wasn’t satisfied with that outcome, and unlike in real life, I had the power to change it.
It’s easy to write off Undertale’s message, saying “it’s just fiction, who cares,” but fiction has power. Fiction is a mirror that reflects us. Maybe killing Toriel didn’t mean anything, but if it’s pointless either way, why not try to be your best self anyway?
9That Dragon, Cancer
Games For Impact Winner, 2016
That Dragon, Cancer
Part of what makes cancer such a horrible disease is that it feels indomitable, almost like the passage of time itself. It appears seemingly out of nowhere and reduces those we love to shells of their former selves, with only a lucky few making it out the other side.
Not everyone goes through the process of having cancer or a family member with cancer, and as someone in the latter category, I am sincerely glad for that. If you’re not sure what it’s like, though, That Dragon, Cancer is a heartbreaking illustration of the process.
That Dragon, Cancer is an autobiographical game about a real-life couple whose infant son was diagnosed with terminal cancer at just 12 months old. While this kind of story could conceivably be told on film, viewing it through an interactive lens brings you closer to the lives and trials of the Greens as they care for their ill son.
Joel’s illness is likened to a dragon because it’s an uncaring, virtually unstoppable monster. You know how this story is going to end, and it won’t be happy, but the game also helps you understand how valuable the Greens’ experiences with Joel were in spite of all that.
8Night In The Woods
Games For Impact Nominee, 2017
Night In The Woods
One of the biggest myths everyone believes growing up is that you’ll somehow automatically know your life’s complete trajectory by the time you reach adulthood. That’s complete bull; I’m pushing 32, and I barely have any idea what I’m doing.
That’s what’s compelling aboutNight in the Woods; it presents that inherent uncertainty in both literal and allegorical terms. Night in the Woods’ protagonist, Mae, is a fresh college dropout, having returned home much to literally everyone’s surprise and, in some cases, annoyance.
In a vacuum, it seems like a simple setup for a cute little town exploration game, but as the story goes on, you’re able to see that everyone’s patience with Mae’s antics is wearing thin. She was supposed to be becoming an adult, and she’s just… not.
The thing that neither Mae nor her friends and family understand, and this is true to life, is that life never follows a set trajectory. Things just change, whether you want them to or not, no matter how fiercely you try to keep your grip on the past.
7What Remains Of Edith Finch
What Remains of Edith Finch
Death is a terrifying notion because it can theoretically strike anywhere and at any time. I’ve lost family to random, sudden death before, as many others have.
We rarely have the luxury of knowing exactly why and how someone passed, and sometimes, the only way to cope is to embellish a bit. That’s what informs both the real and fantastical elements ofWhat Remains of Edith Finch.
What Remains of Edith Finch shows a series of vignettes describing how the members of a large extended family passed away over the years. Each story has a mildly or overt supernatural tinge, but with a little critical thinking, it’s pretty easy to logic out how each member of the Finch family actually died.
Even if you can figure it out, though, that’s not really the point; the point is that every one of these deaths was unexpected, undeserved, and left a hole in the family afterward.
If your only choice was to concoct elaborate tales of how you lost your loved ones orsuccumb to the inherent terror of existence, well… which would you choose?
6Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
Games For Impact Winner, 2017
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
The frustrating thing about neurodivergence is that it’s very difficult to conceptualize in words. For those of us who live with particular conditions, we don’t know what a “normal” mental process feels like, we only know what we have, and it’s hard to compare that to a baseline we’ve never actually experienced.
This is also why it’s difficult to depict more extreme conditions like psychosis in media, because odds are good whoever’s writing it hasn’t actually experienced it.
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, besides being a pretty good third-person action game, is one of the most accurate depictions of intense psychosis ever made. Senua herself is constantly beset by unseen voices and vivid, violent hallucinations, all conveyed to you, the player, in a realistic manner thanks to the game’s brilliant audiovisual design.
The designers consulted with real-life mental health professionals and those who live with psychosis to make it as true-to-life as possible.
If you find Senua’s Sacrifice upsetting to play through, that’s kind of the point; if it’s difficult to just play a game whilebarraged with voices in your ears, imagine living every day with it.
Games For Impact Winner, 2018
We’ve all got personal problems to overcome, and to us, they can seem positively titanic. Something as seemingly simple ascoming to terms with your traumas or shortcomingscan feel like trying to surmount a mountain.
It’s rather telling thatCeleste’s protagonist, Madeline, would ratherliterallysurmount a mountain than deal with what’s troubling her.
While the bones of Celeste is its challenging platformer gameplay, it’s heavily steeped in metaphor. Madeline’s conversations with Theo, as well as her mirrored self, Badeline, give you hints to the feelings of depression and anxiety she’s dealing with, and tackling the mountain head-on is her somewhat ill-advised attempt at pushing back at them under her own power.
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Despite winning multiple awards, Celeste should remain a benchmark for accessibility in games.
Celeste’s message, or at least my personal read of it, is that grandiose gestures will never do as much for your life as a bit of communication and introspection.
By the end of everything, Madeline’s learned a great calming trick from Theo and reconciled with her internal strife. Yeah, climbing the mountain helped that along, but support and healing can come from anywhere.
4Kind Words
Games For Impact Nominee, 2019
Kind Words
I, like just about everyone else in the world, was not in a good place a few years ago. It was for exactly the reason you’re thinking, but also due to various personal factors I won’t go into.
Unfortunately, due to the isolation emblematic of that period, I couldn’t really talk to anyone about what was bothering me. It was during this time that I stumbled upon Kind Words, a game which I felt wary of at first, but am incredibly thankful for in hindsight.
Kind Words is less of a “game” in the traditional sense, and more like a one-way message board. you’re able to write a letter about anything and send it out into the world.
Another random player will pick it up, and if they so choose, they can respond with advice or positive affirmations. The difference between this and a random message board is that messages are generally treated very seriously, and users will swiftly report and ban any attempts at trolling.
Thepower of an unsolicited compliment or affirmationcannot be understated. When I was at a low, it was the genuine kindness of a few nice folks that helped perk me back up.
3Spiritfarer
Games For Impact Nominee, 2020
Spiritfarer
Remember what I said about death before, and how it’s inherently terrifying? Well, it is, but that’s not the whole picture. The realization that we’re all heading to the same place sooner or later is frightening, but that fear should never diminish the beauty and wonder of life.
That’s whySpiritfarerstill puts a smile on my face, because it tells us life can still be a wonderful, fantastical adventure, right up until the last moment.
The central concept of Spiritfarer is that you need to ferry and care for the spirits of the recently-departed, providing for their needs, entertaining their whims, and occasionally providing a shoulder to cry on. Their time will come, and it’ll probably be sooner than you think, but that just illustrates the importance of making them happy.
In spite of its subject matter, I think Spiritfarer is ultimately a very positive story. We don’t know what’s coming next, so you should cherish all the little moments of the life you live and the people you spend it with.
Games For Impact Nominee, 2023
I’m a third-generation American; I don’t know what it’s like to be an immigrant. I do, however, have friends and family who have moved countries before, and based on their experiences, to call the matter “difficult” would be a ridiculous understatement.
Immigration isn’t just about moving to another place, it’s about adapting to another people, another language, another culture. It’s scary, especially if that culture is substantially different from the one you’re used to. Venba is a brief tale of an Indian family who immigrate to Canada in the 1980s for work, withcooking serving as the story’s recurring theme.
Reassembling her family’s old recipes helps keep Venba in touch with her heritage, but in addition to that, it serves as a line of connection to her son, who grows up surrounded by different norms and primarily speaks English.
Venba is a very down-to-Earth depiction of the difficulties an immigrant family can face in the western world. It has its dramatic moments, but overall, it’s a very quiet game, showing the steady, upstream struggle of maintaining your cultural identity.
Games For Impact Nominee, 2024
How do I explain this without making people mad at me… I’ve always had an odd relationship with religion and faith. I stopped attending services at a young age, not out of protest or anything, but simply because I wasn’t really getting anything out of it. Experiencing Indika’s story kind of reminded me of why I moved away from that facet of life.
Indika’s titular protagonist spends the majority of the story in a crisis of faith, regularly subjecting herself to arduous, pointless tasks at her Convent and enduring jeers from her fellow nuns in the hopes of proving her piousness.
These acts of piety manifest as points you’re awarded throughout the game, though as the game itself repeatedly reminds you, these points are meaningless. They won’t make the story’s outcome or Indika’s mental state any better.
I don’t think Indika is meant to be a hit piece on organized religion, but rather a fairly straightforward moral: there’s nothing wrong with faith, but immersing yourself in self-hatred and dogma won’t fix your problems.
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