10 Video Games That Left Genuine Psychological Wounds

4. Gears Of War 2 - Emotional Illusions

If true love knows no boundaries and pervades vanity, then Dom's reunion with his lost wife, Maria, illustrates this with poetic catharsis, as the player's perception of the game and reality is called into questioned. Following a series of leads to find his lost wife, Dom finds the capsule in which Maria was imprisoned by the Locusts. As she emerges, Dom is overwhelmed with the return of his beautiful wife, just as he remembers her. The elation is short-lived, however. Marcus prompts Dom to attention, where upon he snaps into reality and witnesses his wife's true deformation. Scarred, burned, silent and vacant, Maria is revealed to be a redundant husk of her former self, as Dom breaks down at the demise of his wife. A victim of the Locusts' lobotomising 'processing', the wife Dom knew and loved is now gone. He chooses to end his wife's suffering, executing her after reconciling that she has been long gone. Psychological Effect An incredibly powerful illusion, Dom's hopes, desires and memories successfully warped his perception of reality into something false. This alludes to man's propensity to blind himself to reality, when the truth is too difficult to bear. For the player, this creates a very relatable dilemma where we question the nature of our perception. Love is a potent potion, with the power to delude, and Gears Of War asks the player to consider reality rather than dreams, to let go of what is dead and move on. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAuz7HeiOFE