Tear Jerker / A Mind Forever Voyaging

• The entire story of your son Mitchell under the Plan. In 2061, when he is 21, he abandons you and your wife Jill to go join the Church of God's Word cult, despite Jill's attempts to talk sense into him. This on its own is sad enough, but in 2071, he returns with the Church Police to raid your apartment and coldly arrest Jill — his own mother — for heresy. You are beaten by the police for even moving, and when they are all gone, you are left alone on the floor, a frail old man in pain, shut off forever "from the son you cannot understand and the wife you will never see again." It's a testament to how well the game is written that even though you only see Mitchell and Jill in a few fleeting moments over the various decades, this event still manages to get to you (especially if you're a parent yourself).
• One a lot of players may miss: if you go to the bookstore and buy a book in an early simulation, it turns into a treasured heirloom ... only to be destroyed by a cop in the later dystopia purely For the Evulz.
• While most of the game is about how much the Plan will harm humanity, you can see cruelty to animals become increasing rampant in the later sims. By 2071, the city zoo — once a guardian of animal welfare — has "EXTINCT" signs on most of its exhibits... and what few animals remain are tortured in public sessions sponsored by the zoo itself!
• The ending.
  • What really felt like a punch to the gut was playing 2071 and 2081 in one sitting for the first time. And, like Planetfall, this was all text.
  • The short story prologue. Most of the Perry Sim sections are Tear Jerker material, and knowing that they're all part of his successful growing process into a true AI just makes it worse.

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