Maybe it’s a boss fight, or the conclusion of an amazing cutscene. Maybe it’s the moment a game ‘clicked’ with you, or the moment you and the game combined for a moment you’ll never forget.
The Last of Us’s opening sequence. That leveled up the industry as a whole for acting and writing.
Halo: Combat Evolved - right at the end of the training phase: (paraphrased for emphasis)
“Master Chief, the ship is on fire, disabled, being invaded by a huge coalition of hostile aliens, and on its way to crashing into a mysterious planet-sized artifact. We are in the middle of nowhere, and no help is coming. Here’s our computer core. If the aliens get their hands on it, all of humanity will perish. All I can offer you in support is my ceremonial service pistol and one clip of ammo. But this is you I’m talking to, so I imagine everything will turn out fine.”
That part in Tetris where you stack up all the blocks and leave room for Jesus on the side, and then it gives you the long blue one and you slide it right in there
Lol ecstasy
Stepping out into the wasteland in Fallout 3 for the first time. Say what you will abour Bethesda and bugs, but they know how to put on a show.
The final scene of the first disc of FFVII. That scene plus the realization we have no healer in the party will last with me for decades.
Came here to say this too, tore my fucking heart out, even as an angst ridden teen.
Far Cry 3 had a couple. Burning the weed fields is memorable. Destroying the base and escaping in a chopper while Flight of the Valkyries plays was so fun.
BioShock: Would you kindly?
Life is Strange for a good couple of things. Soundtrack, story, visuals. Most of all, it has a really impactful scene towards the end that ultimately makes you really revaluate what the story is about and how you feel towards it.
The cliff scene in Lost Odyssey.
The moment in FFIX when Kuja finds out the truth about his life. That moment and the scene after will always stick with me. Being vague due to spoilers not working on my app.
Probably Undertale. It just has great storytelling and there are some lines that hit so hard that they’ve been carved into my head.