# Iconoclasts and emotions

[Iconoclasts](http://playiconoclasts.com/) managed to create the most emotional video game moment I ever experienced. It perfectly aligns the actions of me, the player, and the character I'm controlling. The hard choice, the tragic action, the resolve to go through with it come from me as a player, but they match exactly what the character would presumably do in the game world.

The opposite would be a fake "tearjerker" moment, when the game places an artificial restriction on progress and forces you to play your part in the emotional scene whether you like it or not. Ironically, one of my least favorite tearjerker moments also comes from Iconoclasts.

Both moments contain spoilers for late parts of the game.

The good one:

>! Anyone who played the game can probably guess what part I'm talking about. For the whole game Agent Black come off as cold, rude and pretty evil. Then you finally learn her backstory, you start understanding why she's so vengeful towards Elro, why she's so rude.
>! The moment comes when you fight for the rocket. The original plans for the rocket fail. It remains the only hope to save anything. It makes absolutely no sense not to try boarding the rocket, it would be the same as giving up and just dying for no reason.
>! Agent Black knows this. She's not stupid, but she just doesn't care, she's too angry at you. So she tries to stop you.
>! It all just comes together. To progress, you need to kill Agent Black. You need to take *her* rocket. You, the person she hates the most (except Elro), must board *her* rocket. You know you must do this. You might not even want to kill Black, but she leaves you no choice.
>! So you do it, you fight and kill her, all the while mentally saying "please, stop this, I don't want to do it". Both as a character and a player.

The bad one:

>! While escaping the moon base (right after flying the rocket), there is a puzzle to open the doors. Royal explains that the doors automatically open when an authorized person, such as him, is nearby. You have to carry him on your back, and usually it works well - you're both near the door and it opens. But in one case the detector got ripped out of the wall, and it's hanging by the cord a few meters before the door (fluttering on the wind horizontally). The only want to go further is to drop Royal near the detector, so that the door opens, and walk further yourself.
>! It's sad, but it's such an artificial and game-like thing. You can't carry the detector to the door, you can't do anything creative, you just follow the actions the game has prepared for you, even when it includes leaving behind a friend.
>! I've seen positive reactions to this scene, and maybe I'm exaggerating, but to me it felt like the game was saying "how sad, you're leaving a comrade behind!" even when the game was the one who forced my hand.
>! Compare to the previous scene, where it's also obviously forced by the game. In that case it's "I don't want to do it, but I will do what I must". I would do the thing the game forces me to do myself, and Robin would probably do it, too. There's no other (moral) choice.
>! Instead, there's no other (gameplay) choice. It's a door-opening puzzle, and the solution is to leave your friend behind! You left him behind? Okay, good, that was correct, you may proceed!