10 Heartbreaking Video Game Deaths You Were Powerless To Stop
3. Joel - The Last of Us 2
The mass fan outrage speaks volumes about just how upsetting this death was for fans. Even for those who didn't hate the game because of the decision found it to be quite distressing. After all, fans waited for seven years for a continuation of the Last of Us story just to have Joel be killed off within the first hour.
It was an incredible and brave choice for Naughty Dog to make, setting the tone and themes of the game ahead. Extremely brutal, the player and Ellie are forced to watch as Joel is murdered in an incredibly graphic and hard to watch nature. You immediately want to get vengeance and bring the killers to justice.
But what makes this death even more traumatic is the fact throughout the main game's story Ellie has flashbacks to her time with Joel in between the two games. These flashbacks expertly expand on the relationship, offering both heartwarming interactions as well as confronting the truth that Joel chose Ellie over a cure for the infection that has torn the world apart.
The final nail in the coffin? We learn at the end of the game that the Ellie and Joel had only just repaired their relationship the night before his untimely death, making it all that much more tragic.