2. The Last Of Us
Naughty Dog is usually known for animated mascot platformers or lighthearted Uncharted games that realistically just perfect cliches Hollywood can't get right anymore, so people were initially surprised at the announcement that the company would be making a brutal and graphic apocalyptic game. I don't think anyone is complaining though. The primary goal of The Last of Us is to depict a world engulfed in violence without hope; a social collapse of the most extreme kind. Smashed between everything is a beautiful and emotional tale of a man escorting humanities last hope for a cure. Joel is broken though and has lived for 20 years going through the empty motions ever since his daughter's death during the initial outbreak. The Last of Us takes that horror and uses it to both the game's advantage and the narrative's advantage ensuring you want to protect Ellie at any cost. When Joel realizes the cure can only be manufactured through Ellie's death, the game's climax spirals into a resolution that leaves you speechless. Is it OK to doom humanity to save someone that has essentially become a surrogate daughter reflecting what you couldn't save?