6 Games That Use Permadeath in Different Ways (2024)

We’ve become so accustomed to checkpoints and save points in video games that we can afford to get a little careless during a playthrough. But some developers remove these features, effectively rendering each run your last. When you die, you start from the beginning, which ramps up the tension and forces you to be extra careful all the time.

That’s the permadeath mechanic in action, and developers have found different ways to implement it. Let's explore six games that do this.

1. Hades

Hades has been a huge hit with both critics and players alike for its great storytelling, action, and homage to Greek mythology. It sees you controlling Zagreus, the son of Hades, the Greek god of the Underworld. Zagreus is on a mission to escape the depths of the Underworld and reach the surface to find his mother, Persephone.

Hades is a roguelite game and dungeon-crawler. So when Zagreus dies, he returns to the beginning (the House of Hades) thanks to the permadeath mechanic. As is typical with roguelites, the levels are procedurally generated, meaning their layouts and arrangements change with each death. Furthermore, Zagreus loses any gold and Boons (skills, buffs, and curses) obtained along the way when he dies.

However, permadeath doesn't rob you of everything, which gives you a sense of progression. For example, you get to keep weapons and any skills you've unlocked for them. You also get to keep darkness crystals, which you can use to purchase passive buffs.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown is a real-time strategy game, where you control the forces of Earth as they fight against an invading and powerful alien force. You control a squad of four, and when one of them dies, they’re gone for good in that save file. Luckily, you get multiple saves, so if a mission isn’t going well, you can just load an earlier save to bring back the squad members you lost.

Things get interesting, however, when you set Ironman mode as your difficulty setting. Ironman mode gives you a single save file, and each action you take overrides the previous save immediately. This makes every squad member's death truly permanent.

3. Deathloop

In the first-person shooter (FPS), Deathloop, you play as Colt Vahn, a man stuck on an island that’s caught in a time loop. Colt wants to break the loop, and to do that, he has to take out seven Visionaries, who are the keepers of the loop. The bad news for Colt is that he only has one day to kill them all, because the loop resets at the end of every day.

The day is divided into morning, afternoon, and evening. When Colt dies, the day automatically resets to morning. Upon death, Colt also loses all the items and abilities he collected, except for the ones he permanently unlocked by infusing them with an energy called Residuum.

Furthermore, all the Visionaries and regular enemies you killed will respawn whenever the loop resets. There are four locations where the Visionaries can be at any given time of the day. So it’s up to you to figure out the best order to kill them in before you die or the day resets, triggering the permadeath mechanic either way.

4. Rogue Legacy

Rogue Legacy is another 2D roguelite (these games love permadeath) and platformer game. You play a night with a sword, shield, and magical abilities, who has to make their way through a castle and defeat the final boss.

What’s interesting about its permadeath mechanic is that when a character dies, you can’t use them again. Instead, you get to choose from three descendants, who then try to finish their ancestors' quest, starting from the beginning. The catch is that each descendant is a randomly-generated character, and you never know who you’ll get.

On top of each descendant having different attributes and skills, they also get genetic traits, such as color blindness, dwarfism, or OCD. These traits can be helpful in some scenarios and detrimental in others. For example, while a character with dwarfism can get through small spaces to escape enemies or explore the castle, they'll have to jump higher to reach certain enemies that a character with normal height can easily hit from the ground.

So if you’re lucky enough to land on a build you like, permadeath is that much more heartbreaking when you get them killed. But at the same time, there’s excitement to see who your next set of descendants will be.

5. Risk of Rain 2

In Risk of Rain 2, you play as a survivor of a spaceship that crashes on a strange planet full of hostile creatures. It is a 3D roguelite, and what makes death probable is that the game’s difficulty ramps up the longer you stay alive. Along the way, you level up and get items and equipment that grant you powerful buffs.

When you die in Risk of Rain 2, your character starts from the beginning. Also, their level resets and they lose all items and equipment. You don’t get to keep anything.

6. The Last of Us Part II

The Last of Us Part II is a post-apocalyptic action-adventure game that’s set in a world where a fungus has infected or killed most of the Earth’s population. You play as Ellie, who is on a revenge mission across America. She has to fight both people and the infected (who are now essentially mindless zombies) on her way to make those who wronged her pay.

Here, permadeath is optional and part of a difficulty setting known as Grounded mode. In this mode, you get one save file and one run. When you die, the game erases that save file, and you start from the beginning.

Permadeath Can Make You Love Dying in Video Games

Permadeath can enhance the tension in a good game. Many modern games, especially roguelites, don't shy away from it and implement it in interesting ways that can actually make you fall in love with their death mechanic.

And when you finally understand a game and get good enough to make that one epic run to the end, it can be immensely satisfying.