what are some Games Where the Death Has a Weight?

There are several games where death carries significant weight, affecting gameplay, narrative, or player choices. These games often emphasize the consequences of dying, making survival or decision-making more intense. Here are a few examples:

1. Dark Souls Series (FromSoftware)

• Mechanics: In "Dark Souls" and its successors, death is central to the experience. When you die, you lose your accumulated "souls" (the game's currency/experience points), and you must retrieve them from the place of your death. If you die again before recovering them, they're lost forever. This adds a heavy risk-reward element to the game.
• Narrative: Death also plays a role in the lore, as characters are part of a cycle of life and death, with many experiencing hollowing, a form of undead deterioration.

2. Rogue-likes (e.g., Hades, Dead Cells, Slay the Spire)

• Mechanics: Rogue-likes and rogue-lites are known for permadeath, meaning when you die, you often start from the beginning. However, many modern rogue-likes (like Hades) allow some progression between runs, but death still sets you back significantly, making each run feel important.
• Narrative: Some rogue-likes, like Hades, weave death into the story. Dying and being resurrected is a part of the narrative, with characters acknowledging your repeated deaths, giving more weight to your attempts.

3. Nier: Automata (PlatinumGames)

• Mechanics: In Nier: Automata, when your character dies, their body remains where they died. You can retrieve it to recover certain items or upgrades, but if you die before reclaiming it, the body and its gear are lost.
• Narrative: Death is intertwined with the game's themes of existentialism and identity. Characters (androids) can die and be "reborn" in new bodies, raising questions about what it means to be alive.

4. The Walking Dead (Telltale Games)

• Narrative: In Telltale's The Walking Dead, death isn't just a game-over screen; it often leads to major story consequences. Characters can die based on your choices, and these deaths have lasting impacts on the story, relationships, and the overall tone of the game. There are no "redo" buttons, so each decision feels like it has life-or-death stakes.

5. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (Ninja Theory)

• Mechanics: Hellblade threatens players with the concept of permadeath. Early in the game, you're warned that if you die too many times, Senua's journey will end permanently, and your progress will be lost. While it turns out this mechanic isn't as strict as it first seems, the psychological impact makes death feel very tense and terrifying.
• Narrative: Death and mental illness are key themes in Hellblade, and the game reflects the protagonist's fragile mental state with unsettling imagery and an unreliable perception of reality, making death feel existentially heavy.

6. XCOM Series (Firaxis Games)

• Mechanics: In XCOM, permadeath applies to your squad members. When a soldier dies in combat, they’re gone for good, which can severely impact your squad's strength and your overall campaign. The loss of a high-ranking or specialized soldier can be devastating.
• Narrative: The narrative emphasizes humanity's struggle for survival, and each loss in battle feels significant as you grow attached to your squad members.

7. Returnal (Housemarque)

• Mechanics: Returnal is a rogue-like game where death sends the protagonist, Selene, back to the start of the game, but with new knowledge and equipment unlocked. Each death reveals more about the story, and the repetition of death is key to Selene’s journey of discovery.
• Narrative: The game’s story is deeply tied to death, with Selene trapped in a time loop. Her repeated deaths are integral to unraveling the mystery of the planet she’s stranded on.

8. Fire Emblem Series (Intelligent Systems)

• Mechanics: In the Fire Emblem series, permadeath is a classic feature, meaning if a character dies in battle, they're gone forever. This can lead to significant consequences in battle strategies, and players often reset the game to avoid losing key characters.
• Narrative: Losing characters can affect dialogue and the story, as each character typically has their own arc, backstory, and relationships with others.

9. Pathologic 2 (Ice-Pick Lodge)

• Mechanics: Pathologic 2 is a survival horror RPG where death has real, often brutal consequences. The player is tasked with surviving in a town ravaged by a plague, and death leads to increased difficulty, sickness, and resource scarcity, making subsequent attempts harder.
• Narrative: The weight of death is felt through the game’s atmosphere of despair and hopelessness, as you witness the slow collapse of the town and its people.

10. Undertale (Toby Fox)

• Narrative: In Undertale, death has weight based on the path you choose. In a Pacifist run, avoiding death and violence leads to a happier ending, while the Genocide run, where you kill every character, turns the narrative into a dark and harrowing experience. The game even "remembers" if you’ve played before, acknowledging previous choices.

These are just a few examples of games where death is not merely a mechanical reset but a meaningful, impactful event that influences the story, world, or player experience.