7 Terrifying Times Video Games Broke The 4th Wall

2. Nier - Forcing You To Make A Sacrifice

There's something very precious about our save-games, and too bloody right - those are dozens of hours of blood, sweat, and in some cases, tears. Nier taps right into this obsession.

The original Nier had an array of alternate endings before alternate endings became as trendy as cat cafés. One of these lets Nier "sacrifice his own existence" to save his possessed companion, Kaine. You think to yourself that that sounds like a more pleasant option than driving your sword through her heart, and so select that option.

But, 'sacrificing yourself' actually means deleting all of your save data, wiping everything you have achieved. The game even asks you several times whether this is what you really want, and then all your inventory, map and save-game screens start disintegrating before your eyes. It's pretty traumatic, and you wonder for a second whether it’s even going to be worth it. Thankfully, the ending is a poignant payoff that makes your very real sacrifice all worth it, and that’s certainly one way to give us closure..

Now to never play that heart-wrenching game ever again... Oh, look, a sequel!