Tear Jerker / Oddworld

• In Abe's Oddysee, the Mudokons you don't save are listed as "casualties" for the rest of the playthrough on every scoreboard, making it all too clear what became of them. It really drives this point home with the message on a signboard just before the final set of screens telling you that your escape will result in the deaths of your fellow Mudokons.
  Signboard: "You escape and all 28 workers on this level die!"
• One of the final scenes in the good ending to Abe's Exoddus has multiple still-enslaved Mudokons huddling and sadly whining "We're screwed..." it's a pretty sad Mood Whiplash after seeing the Muds you freed come together.
• The opening to Munch's Oddysee is pretty sad.
  Munch: My name is Munch, and I've been singing for them ever since. But nobody sings back.
  • Munch's only sign of life in who knows how long turns out to be a trap laid for him by the Vykkers so they can kill him and use his lungs to amass a fortune, leaving almost no doubt that Munch is the last fully-developed Gabbit on Oddworld. Imagine being the last of your kind, and everyone wants you dead so they can make a quick buck off of your (now one-of-a-kind) body parts.
• The opening of Stranger's Wrath has a short scene depicting the Grubbs bringing in their fish net, only for them to get a single emaciated fish, a simple, effective depiction of the very poor conditions have to deal with as a result of the events later in the game.
• The ending of Stranger's Wrath, when the Olden Steef dies after being used as Sekto's host body.
  Olden Steef: Is the water... free?
  Stranger: (forlorn, yet respectful) Yeah. All free.
  Olden Steef: It's free. Free... Free...
  • Just compare Stranger's situation to Abe and Munch's. Abe saved his brethren before the genocide could start and Munch's Oddysee ended on a hopeful note that the Gabbits would be repopulated. Stranger, however, is truly The Last of His Kind. There is no indication that there are any Steefs left aside from him, let alone any way to repopulate them. The moment Stranger dies, the Steef race goes with him.
• In Soulstorm, there are a lot of examples:
  • When their safe haven is found and destroyed, Abe finds a Mudokon who is fatally injured. Abe can only apologize to him, unable to save him, but the Mudokon is actually happy he found him, and gives him a request to save his followers who were inspired by his actions in Rupture Farms. When the Mudokon passes away, Abe looks back at his corpse before leaving. Beforehand, Abe thinks he's done and can finally be free, but realizes that it's just the beginning. As he looks at his fellow Mudokon's corpse, he realizes he has no choice and the responsibility of his race's survival is now on him.
  • Abe faces the truth about his species' true history. It is beyond his emotional limits and after it is all over, he breaks down, unable to walk due to the revelation. The Keeper can only apologize in what she has to make Abe face. When Abe collapses, she approaches him in a soothing matter, comforting him before giving him his next task.
  • Right before they reach the Brewery to taint the brew with the cure, Abe shuts himself away from Alf and Toby to be alone as he stares into the amulet. It is quite clear that the truth Abe faced and the emotional trauma he has been dealing with has caught up to him and he basically mentally shut down for a moment.
  • The bad ending. Dear Odd, the bad ending. Fans of Oddworld figured there would be a punishment for doing badly in the game, given how the other main series games have been. But this one just might be the most emotional. If Abe failed to save 4/5ths of the other Mudokons in at least six levels before the finale, Abe's bad quarma will cause the magic he fills the amulet with to be deadly to the magical insect inside it. As the bug breaks apart, Abe mutters in despair, with nothing to do but try to help the others without his magic to save them. Distracted by his depression, he trips over another box and spills the flammable Soulstorm towards the engine. Toby does stop a falling ember from catching the brew ablaze, but another lights it up, and they immediately burn to death. This is the first instance of a bad ending in Oddworld where Abe doesn't get killed by the bad guy, but rather by his own failure.
    • In fact, not even the villains get a happy ending in this scenario. The scorching train dashes into the factory, and it blows up, killing the three Glukkon tycoons in the process and setting the pipelines on fire, blowing up more factories. Molluck, who knows very well with his now terrible reputation that he will be blamed for this, decides to run for the Yaymans from almost guaranteed "convictions and firing squads." You can even see the defeat in his expression when he gives the word. When his Slig assistant insulted him in response, he murdered him in a rage. Sure, it can't be denied just how bad they both were, given how they were going to try to turn Abe into a meat popsicle last time they met, but just imagine if you were blamed for mass terrorism that you didn't commit. On a side-note, Glukkon and Mudokon casualties from the explosions have reached the thousands and any Mudokons who do survive will end up dying anyway from Brew withdrawal since no more Brew is being produced. In short, Soulstorm's bad ending is unique to the series in that absolutely no-one wins. And it's all your fault.