Revealing something about somebody through their personal effects, often posthumously, in Video Games.
- Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin has you fighting a pair of twin vampires, Stella and Loretta. Early in the game, you fight Stella alone, and when you defeat her, she drops a locket before making her escape. Inside the locket is a picture of the twins... with Wind, the ghost who's helping you. Talk to him with it in your possession and he confirms they're his daughters... as well as reveal that he's Eric Lecarde.
- Dragon Age: Origins:
- In the mage tower, after being forced to kill a Templar and the Desire Demon controlling him with the illusion he had a family, there is a reference to his being censured for remarks in front of the recruits, which are implied to have been related to this desire for a family.
- The Return To Ostagar DLC enables players to find Cailan's secret documents. According to them, he, on the advice of his uncle Eamon, was going to divorce Anora over her inability to have an heir, and marry the Empress of Orlais after Ostagar.
- In Elite Beat Agents, the first part of "You're the Inspiration" ends with Lucy and her mother finding a photograph in her dead father's diary. Play it right and it is a picture of them, showing how much he loved them. If you fail... it's a picture of him in a Speedo, resulting in Mood Whiplash.
- Mass Effect 2: After Liara becomes the new Shadow Broker, you gain access to a huge surveillance network, able to covertly peek in on several people around the galaxy. One of these is an Asari bartender named Aethyta, drowning her sorrows and staring at a picture of Liara. Liara doesn't know who her other parent is. All she knows is that it's another Asari. Do the math... Confirmed in Mass Effect 3. She is Liara's father.
- If you finish the game, romanced Thane and dig through his file, you can find a letter destined to Shepard after his death. The letter says that Shepard gave him a new will to live despite knowing he'll be dead in a year and that he's ready to spend his last days on life support if it allows him to stay with Shepard a bit longer. It ends with his declaration that he'll wait for her after his death.
- In the third game, assuming he survived the Suicide Mission, Thane does indeed die although not of natural causes. The letter is in fact delivered to Shepard's terminal shortly thereafter.
- In the Normandy Crash Site DLC, Shepard can come across Navigator Pressley's journal. It has been badly damaged and most of the data is lost, but enough remains to see the transition from his xenophobic origins early in the first game to a statement in his final entry that he would trust any of his new alien crewmates with his life.
- In Lair of the Shadow Broker, Shepard actually gets to do this for a character who is still alive, exploring Liara's apartment while trying to track her down and find out who tried to assassinate her. Amongst her belongings are a collection of Prothean artifacts and a painting of Ilos. After you defeat the Shadow Broker, it is possible to go through some of the information he had collected on various characters, including your entire party.
- The Mass Effect 3 DLC Leviathan has Shepard and EDI going through the lab and apartment of a recently deceased scientist trying to reconstruct his investigation of the Reapers and the Leviathan of Dis.
- At the end of the Citadel DLC, Shepard receives a message from one of Mordin's STG friends, who sends along a series of recordings and other files Mordin had compiled in case of his death.
- If you finish the game, romanced Thane and dig through his file, you can find a letter destined to Shepard after his death. The letter says that Shepard gave him a new will to live despite knowing he'll be dead in a year and that he's ready to spend his last days on life support if it allows him to stay with Shepard a bit longer. It ends with his declaration that he'll wait for her after his death.
- Twice in Persona 3: after the death of Chidori, the members of SEES assemble at the dormitory and show Junpei her sketchbook, in which she had drawn an apparently photo-perfect and idealized likeness of him. He breaks down immediately upon seeing it, but vows to become that person.
- The second, optional instance, occurs if the player visits Shinjiro's old room. There will be a box containing the character's belongings and equipment which the player can take and add to his own inventory.
- It's possible to get Barry killed in the first installment of Resident Evil, at which point you obtain a picture of his two daughters, who otherwise are only mentioned when Wesker reveals that he had blackmailed Barry by threatening them.
- During the later stages of Road 96, Tyrak regime mouthpiece Sonya Sanchez talks about her family. Producing a photo revealing she's the sister of Stan and Mitch, a robbery duo who frequently cause trouble for the Player Character.
- In The Walking Dead: Season One, Lee finds a photo of his family at the drugstore after his parents have died and had their bodies disposed and he finds his brother as a walker outside later on in the episode. After he rips off the part of the photo with him in it, he presumably keeps it around for the rest of the game. Clementine picked up the ripped off part of Lee, and keeps it until Season 2, Episode 1, when she loses it.
- In World of Warcraft, if you defeat the Lich King with Shadowmourne, you will gain access to a Sealed Chest, containing mementos related to some of the people who knew him. These include Jaina's locket, a sword he used to train with Muradin, and a badge that Uther gave him after he was inducted as a paladin; showing them to the respective people will result in them reminiscing about the person Arthas once was before giving players a rare item.
- Earlier in Wrath of the Lich King, you kill a named mob as part of the quest; as a mage working for a dragon trying to destroy all mortal magic-workers, they are assumed to be the worst kind of traitor. Upon looting them, you discover a letter written to their family that explains they were being blackmailed and were secretly working against Malygos from within the organization.
- Similarly, in Cataclysm, players who complete the quest to defeat Leyara will receive a locket from one of their allies that, when examined, reveals that Leyara was married to Fandral's son, and after losing him in the War of the Shifting Sands and her daughter to a Horde attack on Ashenvale, joined her father-in-law to get revenge on Malfurion, whom she blamed for the tragedy.
