We collected a bunch of non-standard examples of “death” mechanics from various games.

Our world is filled with millions of different laws – physical, social, legal. And, as you know, game designers construct worlds with special systems of rules, many of which originate from the laws of our reality.

One such law of life is Death. For a person it is inevitable, but for a player it is only a signal, a symbol, a mechanic. A signal of loss, a symbol woven into the plot, an element of the narrative.

While discussing this mechanic with colleagues in the workshop, we raised many important questions, for example:

• Does the player character die for real or is the death expressed in metaphor?

• How does the death of a character reflect the theme of the game?

• How can and should the death of a character affect the rest of the game?

• Does anything change in the game world after a character dies?

• What experience can a player gain by witnessing (and/or causing) their character’s death?

We’re used to the “died – hit last save/checkpoint/start of mission or level” format. But in games there are also more inventive options for the death of a character.

Prince of Persia (1989)
The game is played in real time: the player can die an unlimited number of times and will always end up at the beginning of a given level and, if he does not meet the specified time, he will lose, since the time spent is not returned.

Prince of Persia: All parts where Dagger of Time is present
The sand of time can be found during the passage and when killing enemies. Upon death, the character spends a little sand of time resource to rewind time. If the character dies and there is no time sand left, the level starts over.

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (2003)
The plot of the game is the Prince’s story. Upon death, the Prince says, “No, no, it wasn’t right at all” and takes the player back to the last checkpoint.

Prince of Persia (2008)
Princess Elika can save the prince from death both in battle and during the journey. For example, if the Prince falls into an abyss or falls into the Darkness, Elika will pick him up and carry him to the last stable platform he was on. If the Prince is felled in battle, Elika will protect him by restoring his life force.

An excursion to the history of the legendary series can be read here.

Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup (1997)
If the player died, in the next run he faced himself as an opponent with all the genders and skills that were at the time of the previous death.

Planescape: Torment (1999)
The hero is reborn in the nearest town, while one of the NPCs turns into a vengeful spirit.

Maximo: Ghosts to Glory (2001)
In the process of passing, the player collects souls for which he can buy a special coin, which allows him to redeem himself from the reaper in case of loss. Every time you have to buy back, the price goes up. If it is not possible to pay the reaper, the game has to be started from the beginning.

Steel Battalion (2002)
If the fur is damaged, it can be repaired, but if the player does not have time to get out of the fur and it explodes, all records are deleted.

EVE Online (2003)
When the ship is destroyed, the rescue capsule, where the capsuleer (player character) is located, is shot. If you fly to the base on the capsule and transfer to a new ship, you can save the implants (character stuff). If you also lose the capsule, the pilot’s consciousness is loaded into a new capsuleer clone with the loss of implants.

Mor. Utopia (2005)
After death, the character entered the stage, where he was reported for losing, while addressing the player himself, and then returned to the game and a permanent penalty was imposed on the characteristics.

Prey (2006)
Not to be confused with Prey by Arkane Studios!
When the Native American player dies, he enters a fictional ancestral world where he had to shoot the entities with arrows, regaining his life.

BioShock (2007)
[Наследие System Shock]
After death, the hero is either resurrected in one of the capsules, or we start playing as the main character from a parallel universe.

Never Dead (2012)
When the hero is injured, body parts are torn off, which can be found and “attached” back, while the game continues even if there is only one head left.

How to Survive (2013)
After the death of the character, a tombstone remains, which is visible to other players who complete the story in single.

Shadow of Mordor (2014)
The spirit that inhabited the protagonist brings him back to life, while the killed NPC remembers the hero, gets a promotion, and the world changes with each death.

Don’t Starve Together (2016)
The player character dies and turns into a spirit, which must either be flown to the altar, or other players must bring a special item to be reborn. After rebirth, the player’s maximum health will be reduced initially.

Sea of ​​​​Thieves (2018)
After death, the player gets on the ferry ship of the afterlife, you can return to your ship by breaking the captain’s door and jumping into the portal.

Death Stranding (2019)
After death, the hero finds himself in the interworld: the “seam” is like an ocean, where the hero must find his body.

Outer Wilds (2019)
The game cycle lasts 22 minutes and is tied to the absorption of the solar system by a black hole, but each time the player falls into a time loop at the beginning of the story, but already has the acquired knowledge. The task of dealing with the disaster. If a character dies before the 22 minutes are up, they respawn at the start of the next groundhog day.

Hades (2020)
The death of the hero returns him to the house of Hades by the river Styx, from where he can continue his attempts to pass the rooms.

Rogue Heroes (2021)
After the death of a character, the player plays as his descendant.

Sifu (2022)
When defeated, our character ages for several years, loses part of the maximum HP and acquires a bonus to losses. After reaching the age of 75, death is final.

Project Zomboid (2022)
After death, the character becomes a zombie and can be encountered while exploring the world as another character.

Let’s generalize a little and make a small hint based on our examples.

Variants of interpretation of “death” in the game:

• Purgatory, or the Spirit World, or the Underworld, from which you need to find a way out

• The Netherworld as the player’s base between game sessions

• Limited time game session and variations on the theme

• Charms as a way to delay/avoid death

Possible effects of “death” on the game:

• Affects NPCs

• Affects game world systems

• Affects the character’s stats

• Adds graphical scenery to the game, marking the player’s progress

Share which of the following mechanics do you like the most in games? Did we forget to mention any of the mechanics?