History TearJerker / XCOM2

** Unfortunately, any sympathy for them is killed when you take into account they didn't think of humanity as people, but as resources to use for their own ends. What makes it sad again is that if they had only asked for help, maybe they could have gotten it another way.

** To say nothing of all of the other alien races that they have enslaved, genetically modified and/or sterilised. Presumably, these were the dominant species on their respective planets, like humanity on our own.

* If a soldier is the lone survivor of a mission, they'll put their head in their hand in mourning on the skyranger mission screen. If a squad returns home while missing people who were KIA or left behind because Firebrand was forced to leave by incoming ADVENT interceptors, the mood aboard will be very somber and no-one will be smiling or joking.
** If you have a particularly bad mission that results in [[TotalPartyKill the entire squad getting killed or captured]], you're rewarded with seeing the skyranger's empty passenger bay as it returns to base.

** [[HopeSpot Or maybe not...]] The description DOES specifically say that [[NeverFoundTheBody there's no sign of the pilot anywhere near the crashed skyranger...]]

* Near the end of the game, you get a message [[spoiler:directly from the ADVENT Control Network. The Informant himself is risking everything he has to give you what you need to take it down, and one of his last requests to the Commander is to reveal the truth of ADVENT's lies to the rest of mankind. Towards the end of his communication, ADVENT forces start breaking into his room. The last you see is him taking out a pistol and trading fire with them before the feed cuts out. Every end-of-the-month report afterwards is silent.]]

* One of the new scans added in the ''Alien Hunters'' DLC (the scan that starts the new content) is [[spoiler: the crash site of Big Sky, the pilot responsible for flying the Skyranger in ''VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown''. Yet another member of the original XCOM confirmed dead.]]
** [[HopeSpot Or maybe not...]] [[spoiler: The description DOES specifically say that [[NeverFoundTheBody there's no sign of the pilot anywhere near the crashed skyranger...]]]]
* [[spoiler:Shen's final message and [[TitleDrop gift]] to Lily.]]
** Crossing over with SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming Moment|s}}, [[spoiler:Shen Sr. tells Lily she '''herself''' is his greatest gift to humanity.]] Even with the engine's limitations you can see the tears in her eyes.

* In a way [[spoiler:Julian's entire existence is one long string of these. First his "father" dies, then he gets captured and mindraped by aliens who he was designed to combat, his own desires are manipulated by everyone to get them to help him, he eventually goes completely ax crazy and wipes out his captors but by that point his mind is so broken he can't hope to serve his original purpose. Even when he finally finds the only family he has left he can't help but try to murder them repeatedly even though he explicitly needs Lily Shen alive.]] He may be a terrible sentient being all around but you have to feel a little pang of sympathy for how he ended up the way he is, especially when he repeatedly takes the time to muse about what might have been if things had been different.

* Imagine being a civilian in the ADVENT-occupied cities. You've been fed lies that ADVENT peacekeepers and the aliens have noble intentions, and they're doing things to benefit humanity such as setting up gene therapy clinics, while the lawless terrorists known as XCOM are out causing mayhem and slaying peacekeepers (as well as civilians, if the player's troops accidentally kill some with explosives or fire during operations in city centers). Life is good, but then you find out that [[spoiler:the clinics are being used to process and/or purge humans, and the ADVENT troops are barely human]]. What's worse is the chilling thought of if you had family and friends who [[spoiler:went into those clinics and were killed]]. Add onto the fact that you've been thinking of XCOM as the real villains, and once the [[spoiler:broadcast at the climax of the game reveals the truth about ADVENT's activities and the real purpose of the clinics]], your entire world and everything you believed in and had hope for comes crashing down around you. The revelation that XCOM is actually a force of good rather than a rogue terrorist group makes this tragic realization a bit less brutal, but only marginally so.

* The dying screams of unfortunate XCOM operatives are even more likely to tug at the Commander's heart strings, as their screaming is both more realistic, and sometimes includes FamousLastWords. One standout line has an operative beg "[[TakeCareOfTheKids Tell my kids I...]]"