10 Most Tear-Jerking Deaths In Video Games

Given Zack's apparent resurrection in last year's FF7 Remake, if Square Enix decide to kill him off again they've given themselves a hell of a task in topping his death scene in 2006's Crisis Core.

Crisis Core's USP was it's Digital Mind Wave system - essentially a gamification of the old anime trope where the protagonist remembers an inspirational moment from his past, before powering up to defeat the bad guy of the week.

In Crisis Core, this takes the form of a slot machine which continuously lines up different people from Zack's past. If the same person lines up on all three slots, a memory involving that character plays and Zack receives a boon.

In the game's final battle, the slot machine starts to break down. As Zack is gradually overwhelmed by a never-ending onslaught of soliders, characters begin to fade away and the memories start to blur before whiting out. After Zack receives the final blow, the slots roll one last time. The last face he sees is that of Aerith, his similarly doomed girlfriend, before the machine (and the player) break down completely.

Zack's death may not have had the same impact on popular culture as Aerith's, but his demise still remains one of the greatest marriages between gameplay and storytelling ever seen in a videogame.