Warcraft 3 was probably the first game that had an emotional toll on me. And not in a good way lol. Seeing Arthas Menethil go from hero to his descent into madness in The Culling mission that ultimately leads to the now infamous cutscene of him murdering his father. It was insane watching a hopeful Paladin Prince start to lose himself as he became desperate in finding a way to defeat the Burning Legion. Although we got a badass villain out of it in Arthas becoming the Lich King lol.
Then there's the Orc Campaign where you see Grom Hellscream sacrifice himself to save Thrall. It was a lot of heavy storytelling in that game. One of the many reasons why it's considered one of the best games ever, and my personal favorite game of all time.

You called down the thunder, now reap the whirlwind







