When you finally get to the end of the Dead Man's Switch campaign. You get a video from Sam (recorded long before his death) telling you about his twin sister, expressing concern that she's alone and regret for not being there for her. He then asks you to find her (confident that she'll forgive him because of her Catholic beliefs). By this point you've outed her as his killer (and possibly killed her or allowed her to die in revenge), partially motivated by her Catholic beliefs (to see her mother buried with all her organs).
Sam in general. His father died at an early age, leaving him to step up and be the "man of the house" for his mother and twin sister, but he just ended up falling into drink and drug addiction, and bleeding his family dry, to the point that he sold his own mother's organs when she died to turn a quick buck, and eventually became a runner just to feed his alcohol and drug habits, and all of this is implied to be the influence of Insect Spirits. The Player was the only person who ever gave a shit about him. Even in the end, when his post-death video reveals that the payoff was just another con of his, he's still visibly choking up as he addresses the player, pouring his heart out to the one person whom he ever considered a real friend.
Inside the Universal Brotherhood, one can find a letter from a member of the Brotherhood to his parents; In it, he explains that he hasn't received any letters from them, and so the Brotherhood must be right: They never loved him to begin with. Players who already know what the Brotherhood does to its members get an extra dose of Tear Jerker, plus some Fridge Horror when they realize that the Brotherhood is likely intercepting any letters that initiates would have received from their families. One can also find the letter from the parents... in a nearby trash can.
Dragonfall
The reactions of various Kreuzbasar residents to the news that Monika died during the opening. A young man who'd "followed her around like a puppy" wanders off, never to be seen again, and Simmy Kim goes past the point of crying.
Simmy: She will go to heaven. She told me. It is a place for good people, stillborn babies, and childhood pets. And she was a good person.
The Sim-addict, "Simmy" Kim in Kreuzbasar? Turns out that she got hooked on simulations because her own baby was stillborn, and the complications rendered her infertile. Hell, everything aboutpoor Kim is made harsher at this revelation, considering that practically all of her preferred simulations involve her assuming a motherly or childish role.
Simmy: Monika said I would forget. She thought the sims might help. In there, I'm strong. And I never have to lose anyone. But then I come back out... here. Where children play in the street, and I remember. Where I see Dr. Ezkibel, and I remember.
When you meet Feuerschwinge. This woman was once one of the most noble Great Dragons to exist...and now, she's a haggard, nigh-helpless Broken Bird at the complete mercy of the man who intends to kill her species. At that point, she isn't the Terror of Berlin anymore - no, she's its victim.
Hong Kong
The endings where Raymond is sacrificed to Qian Ya. The poor guy doesn't deserve that fate.
The ending where Qian Ya remains in the Walled City. It also means that Josephine Tsang got off scot-free AND three members of the crew were killed on your orders, along with Raymond.
Is0bel's story, although typical in the setting, is still sad. Little wonder that she had her memories sealed. Alas, they are important to the research on the Yama Kings.
The dynamic between Duncan and the Player Character contains a fair amount of heartbreak. The two met each other when they were very young, with Duncan practically feral due to his Orcish berserking. The Player Character not only brought his emotions under control, but looked out for him, and the two formed a sibling bond that allowed them to survive the hellhole that was the Barrens. Enter Raymond, who took the two under his wing. While Duncan practically jumped at the chance to live a better life despite the hardships of living under a stickler like Ray, it is implied that the PC could never fully adjust to the new life. One night, PC slipped out to attend to a "personal matter," promising Duncan they would be back in a few days...but instead, whatever they had tried to do went wrong, and the PC ended up in prison for eight years. Not only had the experience seriously traumatized them, but Duncan spent those eight years dealing with Rayomond alone, believing that the PC had abandoned him. The experience opened a wide gap between the two, one that may never fully close.
Duncan: You left me alone.
There is some heavy implication that the PC was so heavily traumatized by their childhood in the Barrens that they never fully mentally recovered and could not adjust to their new life with Raymond like Duncan had. Duncan mentions that, unlike him, the PC never directly butted heads with Raymond, not so much because they were closer, but because the PC regularly avoided confrontation with Ray and preferred to remain distant, as if they were afraid to fully trust Raymond. The straw that broke the camel's back was when the PC used an Armor-Piercing Question to defuse an argument between Duncan and Raymond, which seemed to only solidify the distance between the PC and their foster father (the phrase seems innocent enough, even insightful, but when you discover just who Raymond's mother is, it suddenly makes more sense why Raymond didn't approve.) When the PC does leave home for good, Raymond doesn't even talk about them any more. It's no wonder that half of Ray's message in the beginning consists of an admission that you and he weren't on the best of terms.
