While death can be viewed as a failure in most video games, some of them utilize a unique idea of progressing via death. Such games usually offer a peculiar reward for dying – be it a new ability or a part of the story – making it an essential part of the experience.
When Death is a Strategy
Here is our list of games where dying is a creative gameplay element, allowing players to unlock new areas, stories, or mechanics. Let’s explore them together!
| Game | Release | Genre | Developer | Video | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Hades | 2020-09-17 | Role-playing (RPG) & Hack and slash/Beat 'em up | Supergiant Games | |
 | Dark Souls III | 2016-04-11 | Adventure & Role-playing (RPG) | FromSoftware, Inc. | |
 | Returnal | 2023-02-15 | Shooter | Housemarque | |
 | Dead Cells | 2017-05-10 | Indie & Adventure | Motion Twin | |
 | Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice | 2019-03-22 | Adventure & Hack and slash/Beat 'em up | FromSoftware, Inc. | |
 | DEATHLOOP | 2021-09-14 | Adventure & Shooter | Arkane Studios | |
 | Undertale | 2015-09-15 | Turn-based strategy (TBS) & Indie | tobyfox | |
 | Outer Wilds | 2020-06-18 | Simulator & Puzzle | Mobius Digital | |
 | Rogue Legacy | 2013-06-27 | Platform & Indie | Cellar Door Games |
Hades
One of the most unique death systems is undoubtedly featured in Hades (2020), with dying becoming a part of the game’s narrative.
Hades
Release Date: September 17, 2020
Genres: Adventure, Role-playing (RPG), Hack and slash/Beat 'em up, Indie
After dying, the main protagonist – Zagreus – returns to the House of Hades, where new upgrades, dialogues, and other character interactions become available. In a way, dying is a way to progress and expand the story, both by deepening relationships between characters and uncovering parts of the rich and thrilling lore.
Dark Souls
In the Dark Souls series (2011-2016), death is a part of the experience – it’s somehow expected and utilized to teach players how to deal with a particular enemy.
Dark Souls III
Release Date: April 11, 2016
Genres: Role-playing (RPG), Adventure
It is supposed to be used as a part of coming up with better strategy and improving player’s skill, but it also affects the world through mechanics like the Hollow system. The Hollowing statistic increases each time the player dies while branded with a Dark Sigil, representing losing sanity.
Returnal
In Returnal (2021), death mechanics complement the looping structure of the game. Dying resets the protagonist, Selene Vassos, in a time loop, and it serves as a way of uncovering new fragments of the story at the same time.
Returnal
Release Date: February 15, 2023
Genres: Shooter
As each death provides players with new audio logs, visions, and changes to the environment, dying brings Selene closer and closer to finally piecing together the truth about her past and the alien planet she’s lost on, Atropos.
Dead Cells
The indie smash hit Dead Cells (2018) utilizes an original cycle of becoming stronger thanks to dying, among other roguelike elements.
Dead Cells
Release Date: May 10, 2017
Genres: Platform, Adventure, Indie
As the players take control of an immortal being using reanimated corpses to traverse through the procedurally generated world, their death resets the game, but allows them to spend collected cells on upgrades, weapons, and new paths as well. These purchases are permanent, turning dying into creative mechanics of improvement.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
In Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (2019), players’ death may affect more than the protagonist himself – repeated deaths cause NPCs to become infected with a disease known as Dragonrot and impact their storylines as a result, blocking quests associated with the affected NPC until they’re cured.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
Release Date: March 22, 2019
Genres: Role-playing (RPG), Hack and slash/Beat 'em up, Adventure
Additionally, players may revive their character once per death under certain conditions.
Deathloop
Another game featuring the loop mechanics is Deathloop (2021), where dying restarts the day, but saves the main protagonist’s, Colt’s, knowledge about the environment, enemy placement and patterns, and so on.
DEATHLOOP
Release Date: September 14, 2021
Genres: Shooter, Adventure
The game utilizes dying as a tool for learning and adaptation, creating opportunities to approach various challenges more efficiently and strategically. Additionally, dying can increase the loop stress, making enemies more aggressive and loot more valuable as a result. This system works as a way of scaling the game’s difficulty and making it more dynamic.
Undertale
In the popular indie masterpiece Undertale (2015), death unlocks new parts of the narrative – this mechanic works across multiple playthroughs as the game remembers all past actions of the player and alters their experience accordingly.
Undertale
Release Date: September 15, 2015
Genres: Role-playing (RPG), Turn-based strategy (TBS), Adventure, Indie, Puzzle
In some paths, dying repeatedly may change the story as it unlocks unique dialogue options and outcomes.
Outer Wilds
Utilizing a 22-minute time loop mechanics, Outer Wilds (2019) resets the cycle, but retains all knowledge gained.
Outer Wilds
Release Date: June 18, 2020
Genres: Puzzle, Simulator, Adventure, Indie
The game encourages experimentation and persistence as only through repeated failure can players learn how to break the cycle and solve the mystery of the planetary system stuck in a time loop. As it changes with the passage of time, various locations become unavailable to explore, making death an unavoidable mechanic, causing careful planning and raising a sense of urgency.
Rogue Legacy
Each death ends a run in Rogue Legacy (2013). It also introduces a new, randomly generated descendant through the original concept of legacy-based gameplay.
Rogue Legacy
Release Date: June 27, 2013
Genres: Platform, Puzzle, Role-playing (RPG), Adventure, Indie
Future characters can be upgraded with the gold collected during every run, making dying a way to unlock new features such as classes and abilities.
NieR: Automata
In order to discover the full story of the game, players must complete multiple playthroughs of NieR: Automata (2017).
NieR: Automata
Release Date: March 17, 2017
Genres: Role-playing (RPG), Hack and slash/Beat 'em up
Death plays a vital narrative role here, contributing to full understanding of the plot and characters’ stories as well as achieving a particular ending. Additionally, dying may trigger a mechanic allowing players to retrieve their bodies or repair other players’ corpses, gaining them as allies for a short time if they don’t turn out to be infected.
These amazing titles show how death – traditionally considered a failure – can become a tool for growth in video games. We’re sure you will enjoy their unique death systems, so don’t hesitate to give them a try!