Death may be an inescapable fact of life, but it’s merely a feature in video games. In the spirit of continuing to play, most games have instituted the mechanic of re-spawning, bringing you back to learn from your mistakes without interrupting the flow of things. At least, that’s how it normally goes.
To the clever developer, re-spawning isn’t only a tool to keep you from putting the game down, but a chance to further immerse you in the story. These are games that make the best of the mechanics inherent in the medium. Here, re-spawning is justified and all just part of the story.
You’re charged every single time you die by the mega-corporation Hyperion. Since they’re the antagonists, you’re reminded why you hate them every single time you use a New-U machine at a fee of seven percent of your money.
This detail doesn’t have an integral role in the game’s story, but it’s a fun explanation of how you’re able to re-spawn. And losing money serves to creatively disincentivize dying.
This meta-game anticipates every possible death in the game,andit anticipates you finding them. In fact, doing so impacts the game going forward, as the narrator brings them up. Many of the deaths are even parodies of tropes present in other games.
When you’re not actively being reminded of your deaths by the game, each respawn contributes to the larger thesis of the game, where the only way to beat it is to stop playing.
While fighting her way to free her lover’s soul from death, Senua is touched by rot, which is spreading. The beginning of the game warns players “if the rot reaches Suena’s head, her quest is over and all progress will be lost.”
While many players interpreted this as the threat of permadeath,the chief creative director of Ninja Theory clarified it was a threat meant to inspire fear, so you could better understand Suena’s struggle with mental illness.Either way, it’s an immersive tactic to keep death and re-spawning in your consciousness, as the rot is always visible.
In this game, everything has a price,and death is no different. If protagonist Wolf dies a true death (death without resurrection and is revived at a Sculptor’s Idol), he pays that price with the life force of NPCs.
As a result, they begin falling ill with Dragonrot, which puts an end to their quest lines unless cured. This is a clever way to raise the stakes of failure while justifying it via the themes of the game.
You’re trying to escape the underworld from your father, the Greek god of death,so death is already a built-in part of the story. Since the game is a roguelike, you do a lot of dying, and each time you respawn back in front of dear old dad.
These deaths are acknowledged by everyone around you, and they help to move the story forward. It’s a fun and creative way to make each death feel less frustrating.
The star-studded cast of 12 minutes is trapped in a short time loop.With this relatively simple premise, the game spins into complexity.The shortness of the time loop works against you as you try and piece together the puzzle in bursts.
Death and re-spawning are a core part of this mechanic. Especially since they’re unavoidable. Any stop to the re-spawning is one of the endings to the game.
The key to breaking the time loop in Deathloop is to perfect your mission.Dying over and over againis part of trying new methods. By letting you fail so often, the game will eventually be satisfying the way anticipating everything in a time loop becomes.
There is also an emotional crux to the time loop, as the climax of the game gives you the choice to finally end it. But after dying consequence-free for so long, are you really ready to let that go?
Everything is more beautiful right before you know it ends, and that’s the point of Outer Wilds. The time loop of this game ends with the star going supernova, destroying everything you’re exploring.
Because you’re in a time loop, death can be used to return home if you’re stuck in a particular location or want to reset. The inevitability of death also looms over the entire story, coloring all interactions. No matter what else happens, the star will always go supernova.
The world of Dark Souls is falling apart at the seams, every living being cursed with semi-immortality. As such, you’re able to all respawn forever, but eventually, you’ll lose your motivation, also losing your sanity. This means that progress, in the world, is not determined by avoiding death but by how committed you are to keep moving forward, despite failure.
This simple addition to the lore deepens not only the importance of your actions as the player, but also the importance of your victories.
Returnal is not the first game to use the idea of re-spawning into a horrific one, but it is a game that takes it to its furthest extremes. In this surreal, sci-fi game, your death is meaningless, as you re-spawn every single time in the same spot, at your crashed ship.
you’re able to even find your own corpses scattered throughout your path. What makes this game substantial is the length it goes to show you just how trapped you are in this time loop. No spoilers, it’s best experienced.
