Games that make you really feel it when you kill

[The Hive Mind]

So, I was reading this article:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/106647-New-Homefront-Dev-Diary-Talks-Massacre-Fatigue
which in summary is basically the developers of Homefront saying that they make you feel it when you gun a person down in their game -- they say you'll care when you gun down one of seemingly unlimited nameless-faceless-NPCs.
Honestly, I was a bit sceptical of the idea, but it did get me thinking:
Are there any games where you REALLY care when you kill?

It can be one specific character you kill or just nameless-faceless-NPCs in the street. You can also mention characters that invoked an emotional response in you when they died of causes that weren't you murdering them.


In terms of general NPCs in a game, killing children in Fallout really makes me feel bad -- its just so fundamentally wrong -- I think I cried after I took my bonesaw to the inhabitants of Little Lamplight.

 

[NeedAUserName]

In terms of general NPCs in a game, killing children in Fallout really makes me feel bad -- its just so fundamentally wrong -- I think I cried after I took my bonesaw to the inhabitants of Little Lamplight.

Apart from the fact children aren't kill able in Fallout 3 unless you mod it, meaning you went to the hassle of making them kill able in the first place, why would you do it if it makes you feel bad?

Anyway, I don't think I've ever felt bad about killing NPCs, perhaps its because I was brought up playing GTA III, perhaps its just that my moral compass is messed up, or perhaps its just that I don't kill NPCs I like.

 

[The Youth Counselor]

Thief, because at the higher difficulities you're not allowed to at all.

Batman: Arkham Asylum...waiiiit.

 

[The Hive Mind]

In terms of general NPCs in a game, killing children in Fallout really makes me feel bad -- its just so fundamentally wrong -- I think I cried after I took my bonesaw to the inhabitants of Little Lamplight.

Apart from the fact children aren't kill able in Fallout 3 unless you mod it, meaning you went to the hassle of making them kill able in the first place, why would you do it if it makes you feel bad?

Anyway, I don't think I've ever felt bad about killing NPCs, perhaps its because I was brought up playing GTA III, perhaps its just that my moral compass is messed up, or perhaps its just that I don't kill NPCs I like.

I got a bundle mod (of which that was presumably a part; I honestly assumed it was part of vanilla fallout.

 

[KissofKetchup]

Assassin's Creed II-on have done a pretty good job of really making you feel it when you kill someone, especially with the blunt weapons in the game.

FarCry 2 also does a good job of making you feel it when you stab a wounded enemy with your machete

 

[ConnorB96]

GTA IV, the Dark Brevic Execution mission near the end of the game. Youtube it if you haven't seen it already.

 

[badgersprite]

The only one that really comes to mind is the first Condemned, not in the sense of feeling compassion for the people I was fighting, but in the sense that the enemies in the game were so limited and so challenging that every fight felt like a real fight. It felt like Ethan (is that right?) was really fighting for his life every single time a crazed attacker came at him, and that means every encounter meant something.

I actually found myself sighing with relief a few times thinking, "Holy shit, thank God I'm still alive."

And I think that's what they're talking about with this article. If you can just easily gun down armies of faceless mooks really easily, then none of the fights stick with you, and you become very aware that you're playing a game. You never have any sense of being in danger, or like the enemies are actually a threat. And that becomes boring really fast. That had nothing to do with empathy, I know, but that's still pretty much the only game where the fights with random mooks legitimately stuck with me, because they felt dangerous.

 

[Easton Dark]

Headshots in Killing Floor

Fiber-wiring in Hitman

Or, for a more intense kill, Penumbra: Overture. Killing the wolves in the beginning was such a rush for me, mostly because it's really awkward and it's pretty much over if you miss the first time.

 

[bl4ckh4wk64]

Well, I sort of feel proud of myself when I get a 300+ point marksman headshot in BC2.

 

[northeast rower]

Maybe Red Faction: Guerrilla when you sledgehammer someone... love that sound.

However, a game that really made me care when I killed someone? The first Bioshock. Everyone may have been insane and a follower of someone or another, but listening to them speak, weep, and yell appealled to me greatly. When the Splicers come after you in Fort Frolic, it makes sense: they are Cohen's followers, admiring his art to the point of religious devotion. Also, how about those Big Daddies? When the Sister cries, it breaks my heart.

 

[Worgen]

bayonetta
she can cut an angel ***** up

 

[Parvutoiu Catalin]

Near the end in Dragon Age i felt atracted to that fucking witch. And i wanted the child and to keep her. But sadly the game made me choose (it's not killing and it is at the same time)


OOh and Splatterhouse. Everytime somebody pissed me, made me wanna cut his cheeks out with straight razors

 

[blankedboy]

Definitely Zeno Clash.
That game is brutal. It's fuckin' awesome too, I'm hyped for the sequel ^^

 

[Ranchcroutons]

It happened to me in Riddick. Like someone said with Condemned, each fight is so personal you really feel it when you just barely come out on top.

 

[fletch_talon]

Undead Nightmare.
There's a brief moment of dismay when I realise that in trying to protect some travellers on the roadside from a zombie swarm, I somehow managed to shoot them in the head.
My only defence is that they all look very much the same from my distant point of view.

In the end it doesn't matter too much since I'm swiftly on my way to avoid having the remaining zombies drag me off my horse.

 

[AlternatePFG]

Every time I accidentally stab a civilian in Assassin's Creed Brotherhood for some reason. Partially because the targeting system glitch pisses me off, and partially because I feel bad.

 

[archvile93]

Why am I supposed to care about them? They're assholes, that's why I'm shooting them, so no, never have.

 

[emeraldrafael]

I honestly felt bad when I had to defeat first Jin Shirato and then Takaya Sakaki in Persona 3/ Fes. They have tragic stories and while their actions are antagonistic, I can see what they would wnat to make them.

Other then that... hm.... Oh! The Leader of the Shainto in Bushido Blade 2. She doesnt move, she just accepts it,a nd sounds like a motherly figure. You can choose to spare her though, which was always good.