diff --git a/code/datums/chatmessage.dm b/code/datums/chatmessage.dm
index 7a78e1d001..73d3e69ac4 100644
--- a/code/datums/chatmessage.dm
+++ b/code/datums/chatmessage.dm
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@
 	// BYOND Bug #2563917
 	// Construct text
 	var/static/regex/html_metachars = new(@"&[A-Za-z]{1,7};", "g")
-	var/complete_text = "<span class='center maptext [extra_classes.Join(" ")]' style='color: [tgt_color]'>[text]</span>"
+	var/complete_text = "<span class='center maptext [extra_classes.Join(" ")]' style='color: [tgt_color]'>[owner.say_emphasis(text)]</span>"
 	var/mheight = WXH_TO_HEIGHT(owned_by.MeasureText(replacetext(complete_text, html_metachars, "m"), null, CHAT_MESSAGE_WIDTH))
 	approx_lines = max(1, mheight / CHAT_MESSAGE_APPROX_LHEIGHT)
 
diff --git a/code/game/say.dm b/code/game/say.dm
index 187994f432..35a1b1d072 100644
--- a/code/game/say.dm
+++ b/code/game/say.dm
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ GLOBAL_LIST_INIT(freqtospan, list(
 	var/endspanpart = "</span>"
 
 	//Message
-	var/messagepart = " <span class='message'>[lang_treat(speaker, message_language, raw_message, spans, message_mode)]</span></span>"
+	var/messagepart = " <span class='message'>[say_emphasis(lang_treat(speaker, message_language, raw_message, spans, message_mode))]</span></span>"
 
 	var/languageicon = ""
 	var/datum/language/D = GLOB.language_datum_instances[message_language]
@@ -96,6 +96,18 @@ GLOBAL_LIST_INIT(freqtospan, list(
 	return "[say_mod(input, message_mode)][spanned ? ", \"[spanned]\"" : ""]"
 	// Citadel edit [spanned ? ", \"[spanned]\"" : ""]"
 
+#define ENCODE_HTML_EPHASIS(input, char, html, varname) \
+	var/static/regex/##varname = regex("[char]{2}(.+?)[char]{2}", "g");\
+	input = varname.Replace_char(input, "<[html]>$1</[html]>")
+
+/atom/movable/proc/say_emphasis(input)
+	ENCODE_HTML_EPHASIS(input, "\\|", "i", italics)
+	ENCODE_HTML_EPHASIS(input, "\\+", "b", bold)
+	ENCODE_HTML_EPHASIS(input, "_", "u", underline)
+	return input
+
+#undef ENCODE_HTML_EPHASIS
+
 /// Quirky citadel proc for our custom sayverbs to strip the verb out. Snowflakey as hell, say rewrite 3.0 when?
 /atom/movable/proc/quoteless_say_quote(input, list/spans = list(speech_span), message_mode)
 	var/pos = findtext(input, "*")
diff --git a/code/modules/mob/living/emote.dm b/code/modules/mob/living/emote.dm
index 111054c383..7d0a701e8f 100644
--- a/code/modules/mob/living/emote.dm
+++ b/code/modules/mob/living/emote.dm
@@ -457,6 +457,7 @@
 		message = params
 		if(type_override)
 			emote_type = type_override
+	message = user.say_emphasis(message)
 	. = ..()
 	message = null
 	emote_type = EMOTE_VISIBLE
diff --git a/code/modules/mob/say.dm b/code/modules/mob/say.dm
index e2b3aee35d..a403845ee2 100644
--- a/code/modules/mob/say.dm
+++ b/code/modules/mob/say.dm
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@
 		if(name != real_name)
 			alt_name = " (died as [real_name])"
 
-	var/spanned = say_quote(message)
+	var/spanned = say_quote(say_emphasis(message))
 	message = emoji_parse(message)
 	var/rendered = "<span class='game deadsay'><span class='prefix'>DEAD:</span> <span class='name'>[name]</span>[alt_name] <span class='message'>[emoji_parse(spanned)]</span></span>"
 	log_talk(message, LOG_SAY, tag="DEAD")
diff --git a/code/modules/mob/say_vr.dm b/code/modules/mob/say_vr.dm
index 44dc3e2a05..5ed24af726 100644
--- a/code/modules/mob/say_vr.dm
+++ b/code/modules/mob/say_vr.dm
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ proc/get_top_level_mob(var/mob/S)
 		return FALSE
 
 	user.log_message(message, LOG_EMOTE)
-	message = "<b>[user]</b> " + "<i>[message]</i>"
+	message = "<b>[user]</b> " + "<i>[user.say_emphasis(message)]</i>"
 
 	for(var/mob/M in GLOB.dead_mob_list)
 		if(!M.client || isnewplayer(M))
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ proc/get_top_level_mob(var/mob/S)
 		return FALSE
 
 	user.log_message(message, LOG_SUBTLER)
-	message = "<b>[user]</b> " + "<i>[message]</i>"
+	message = "<b>[user]</b> " + "<i>[user.say_emphasis(message)]</i>"
 
 	if(emote_type == EMOTE_AUDIBLE)
 		user.audible_message(message=message,hearing_distance=1, ignored_mobs = GLOB.dead_mob_list)