Death

[J T]

Death is usually followed by rebirth in videogames. Through 1ups, extra lives, konami codes, life springs eternal in the virtual world. And it's nice to not have to worry too much about dying most of the time.

However, I'm wondering if there are any games you can think of that have dealt with death in a more serious way. Death that actually means "game over". No second chances, no reset button. It seems like an underexplored topic short of Tale of Tales "game" (I use the term loosely), The Graveyard.

Are there any moments of death in videogames that actually treat the subject matter with any seriousness?

[BlackDS]

Yes, the game is Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 for DS. You have to complete surgeries, with a whole bunch of little monsters in someones stomach, a hundred thins to keep in mind at once, a time limit, and some epic music, it is the kind of game that takes you in.

[saturnfan]

In Steel Battalion for xbox if you did not use the ejection button while you were dying your mech would explode, killing you within it. The game would then automatically erase your game save and you have to start over, no exceptions, and no matter how far through the game you were (although if you did eject you get to reload).

The game was also a real bastard about it too because game save transfers were not allowed, meaning you could not copy your game save to a memory card to try and cheat the system.

I guess that is about as close to what you are asking.

[Benex]

This was pretty shocking when I was a kid

[Gamerforlife]

I have a great apprecation for games that deal with death creatively. I actually like it when death is actually acknowledged by the game's world and story. Many games yank you out of the game when you die, it destroys any sense of immersion the game may have.

Soul Reaver started with you dying. I liked how you would play through the game as an already dead person, meaning that if you died, you simply warped over into the spiritual realm and had to absorb some souls to regain physical form. It was a cool thing they did.

In the Maximo games, you had a deal with death. If you died, you paid him a coin if you have any left and he brought you back to life. Since you were on a mission he sent you on, he had your back

Prince of Persia:Sands of Time had the awesome ability to rewind time, making death a moot point until the last stage, which really was nerve wracking due to your safety net being taken away from you

I have to mention Peter Jackson's King Kong. I liked that game for the sense of mortality it created. You didn't have a health bar, in fact, you're character didn't feel like your typical video game superhero. You were going up against dinosaurs in that game and one single attack had drastic effects. The screen went blurry, disorienting the player and you could hear the far away voices of the NPCs characters screaming your name and freaking out. Another successful attack by the enemy was usually enough to put you down. And it only one attack from a T-Rex to kill you. Other great game by one of my favorite designers, Ancel(the guy behind Beyond Good and Evil)

I wish more games put more thought into creating a sense of mortality in their games, or at least try to get creative in how they deal with player death like some of the games I mentioned. It just creates a more believable world that is easier to get lost in. Immersion is the hardest thing for me to experience as a gamer. Few games can do it right.

[MrPopo]

Diablo II has hardcore mode, where if you die your safe file becomes unplayable, as you are dead. It can be a real bitch if you've managed to find some rare items, as now you have no way of accessing them.

[Gnashvar]

Diablo II has hardcore mode, where if you die your safe file becomes unplayable, as you are dead. It can be a real bitch if you've managed to find some rare items, as now you have no way of accessing them.

Playing Diablo II on that mode made we sweat, shake and cry.

[J T]

Oh, I forgot about one of my favorite games about death. You all should play this flash game. It will only take a few minutes:

You Only Live Once

[lisalover1]

In Cannon Fodder, a point-and-click war game, you go around commanding a squardon of a few soldiers around a battlefield. But, instead of a numerical "lives" system, you actually see a line of new recruited soldiers before each mission, that go into battle if someone of your team dies. But, the interesting thing is that each of the soldiers have names, appearances, etc. to make each one unique. It's actually quite depressing when one of them dies, since after every level where this does happen, you get a "lost in combat" screen where you see their graves. It really makes you think, huh?

[Niode]

In Cannon Fodder, a point-and-click war game, you go around commanding a squardon of a few soldiers around a battlefield. But, instead of a numerical "lives" system, you actually see a line of new recruited soldiers before each mission, that go into battle if someone of your team dies. But, the interesting thing is that each of the soldiers have names, appearances, etc. to make each one unique. It's actually quite depressing when one of them dies, since after every level where this does happen, you get a "lost in combat" screen where you see their graves. It really makes you think, huh?

Yes, I love that game! It's great fun to play even today. I have it on my Amiga. I want the CD32 (and a CD32 to play it on) version though with the full theme song with lyrics.