The Saddest Game Scene

Stardew Valley will make another appearance in this list much later, when it does I will cover the game itself in a little more detail. For now though it necessary to briefly mention that the game incorporates many different mechanics allowing the player to focus on what interests them most, one of these mechanics revolves around being social and engaging with the other residents of Pelican Town, a small town in Stardew Valley that serves as the setting for the game. As you manage your friendship and potential relationships with the other characters, your progression is broken up into episodes punctuated by Heart Events - the main metric used to measure friendship. One character named Shane has a particularly moving Six-Heart event that I think fits this prompt well.

Stardew Valley is a game that revolves around choice, but unlike Undertale where choices change the outcome and progression of the game, Stardew Valley has an overarching objective that it's up to the player to choose how to reach, if they want to reach it at all, you don't actually have to.

If you choose to get to know Shane as a character, you soon learn that he is struggling with depression and when you finally reach six hearts, if you enter the Cindersap Forest on a rainy night you will see a cut scene where Shane is lying drunk near the edge of a cliff and he tells the player how he's been thinking of throwing himself off to end his suffering. The player has a choice of options in how they respond, ultimately things work out for the best whichever choice you make but your friendship benefits from making the most positive choice.

Shane's character was not originally a romance option in the game, but after fans requested it, the developer Eric Barone also known as ConcernedApe made the character a little more fleshed out and gave the player the option of dating him.

Shane's character remains quite sad in his depiction, although he seeks help after the cut scene and improves to an extent, Eric was thoughtful enough not to give the impression that everyone lives happily ever after and there's a quick fix for mental illness, instead Shane serves as a reminder that the process is ongoing. He's not the only character in the game that has complex mental health issues, social anxiety, addiction, alcoholism, PTSD, depression, abandonment issues, inferred abuse, and potentially ASD are depicted in the game, all of which you can miss entirely if you make no effort to get to know the other characters.

There is a poetic irony that Shane is an NPC, and that the crux of his mental health struggles revolve around his lack of agency and sense of hopelessness. This is a scene in the game that most players will probably find sad but probably won't dwell on too much, those who have been in a similar situation myself included however will find it strikes a nerve, I don't want to say it is triggering because it's telegraphed to an extent so you are somewhat prepared for it before it happens and there is an aftermath that handles the subject tacitly, all of which is telling that Eric on some level understands what Shane and people like him have been through in real life.