Top 5 Games Where Dying REALLY Matters 

Project Zomboid also does the "your character became a zombie, kill it to get your stuff back" thing, but getting bitten takes an ingame day or 2 to kill you

Warner Bros. was dumb for patenting the nemesis system. They don't use it for any other games, and they don't seem like they're going to continue making LOTR games. There could be so many good games that could come with that system and have more replayability.

The tragedy of the Nemesis system. Such a cool idea locked behind nonsense.

My favourite trophy of all time is allowing an orc to kill you, making them stronger, then helping them level up to warchief status before finally getting your revenge as the most powerful enemy in the game that you helped get there

Pathologyc 2 has also a very interesting mechanic when you die. The world gets more corrupted, the organs of people turn to cotton because in the games own words "they are just puppets, playing a role". Even the overworld gets weirder, and characters that previously acted "normally" start to break out of character just to tell you how much you are fucking up and "ruining the play". Oh also your max health gets lower with each death, as well as your hunger and sleep meters, so it gets harder

One real fun thing about the Nemesis system & those "from scratch" storylines you mention is how in my run of the first game (haven't played the sequel yet), I had this one orc that WOULD NOT STAY DEAD. I legit had my own orc who was my own version of well... me where where I went through the whole deal of "oh you survived somehow" to "HOW ARE YOU NOT DEAD YET" to "oh hey man how's that stab wound".

State of Decay had a similar idea to ZombiU. You'd load up your chosen character with supplies at your base, to go exploring or completing missions, therefore leaving your camp with very little, only for that character to get permadeath'd and require you to go and loot their corpse - which, in turn, required you to load up your new character with supplies to go and reclaim the supplies that the last character lost. I'm fairly sure the supplies were consumable in the base, as well, so your camp got weaker by you doing this.

You either die a hero or live long long enough to patent beneficial video game ideas that could help the industry grow

There was an indie game years ago called "you only live once" where you have to rescue a princess in a castle, and once you die, that's it, you can never play the game again. If you attempt to boot up the game in the future, you see how much your corpse has decomposed as well as news reports of what happened to the Princess and the world moving on.

One distinct memory I have of the Nemesis system was one guy who I killed, only to have them reappear later on and during that encounter I cut off their head, but later on the guy comes back again having somehow survived decapitation. I went through the rest of the game in fear that somehow the guy would come back a third time.

Rogue Legacy did a really cool take on this where the first character you play as on a new save file is the final boss and every time you die, you get to choose from 3 descendants who each have differing traits ranging from hilariously pointless to literally game-altering: be it from something as innocuous as farting with every jump, having a smaller/bigger hit-box, or even playing the game in grayscale or with the screen inverted. It kinda paradoxically makes you WANT to die just to see what weird combinations you'll get the further in to the dungeon you go.

The old Soul Reaver games had a real interesting way to do things due to the way that death would send you to the spiritual realm where you need to gather energy so you can remake your body in the physical realm.

Heya, at the end you mentioned that WB patented the nemesis system, would be very interested in seeing something like top 10 worst game companies patents or something like that, I know EA patented some thing with The Sims franchise hence why no other life sims can compete with them. I think I've heard that they've also patented TS4's create a sim feature where you can click and drag the face or body to change them or something like that

The only thing I will say about Shadow of mordor... That nemesis system was SO easy to break. I just converted all enemies. Resulting in that I had no enemies at the end, only allies.

The Indie game Project Zomboid also does a similar thing Zombie U, where once your character dies they become a zombie and if you want your stuff back you need to go hunt them down and kill them.

Bioshock is kind of cool about it. it’s simply respawns you at the nearest vita-chamber (basically a checkpoint) but the most notable thing is that it doesn’t “revert” time or anything, enemies don’t respawn you don’t lose progress and your magazines aren’t loaded when you die. Everything stays the same and even the enemies will keep the same health that they had unless they heal at a health station

One game that immediately jumps to mind for me is Cruelty Squad. You start on the second highest difficulty, Divine Light, and, upon dying, you're lowered to the difficulty level below that, Flesh Automaton. Then, if you die four times on one level while on Flesh Automaton, you get reduced to the lowest difficulty, Power in Misery. This makes sense in the context of the game because you're revived by the corporation you work for upon death, but, if you die too many times, you become a liability to your employers, causing them to turn you into a cheap cyborg that can revive itself. There are pros and cons to each difficulty level. On the lowest level, you take less damage and can consume corpses to restore health. However, there are some doors in certain levels that are only accessible on the higher difficulties, so you can't experience everything the game has to offer on the lowest difficulty. Fortunately, there are ways to restore your playthrough to the higher difficulties and even unlock a secret highest difficulty level that bears its own exclusive content.

Best Orc name in Shadow of Mordor was Douche. Let him kill you till he becomes a warlord. When you finally face Warlord Douche in your epic final battle you're rewarded with the battle chant, "Douche! Douche! Douche! Douche!"

most people never played it, but Outward has one of coolest death mechanics: when you die, instead of being shunted back to a checkpoint, you get one of 120 or so “defeat scenarios.” so you may wake up back at town after being saved by the guards if you’re close by, but you may end up captured by bandits, saved by a traveler and given a gift, wake up in a cave in or the middle of a dungeon, etc., etc. and depending on the scenario, either a few hours might have passed, or a week and a half. and considering most of the quests in this game are time sensitive, even failing if you ignore the warnings for a few quests even tho you never officially started them, losing a week and a half can be BRUTAL. the game also has a hardcore mode, and instead of death immediately erasing your save, perma death just becomes a 1 in 5 chance when the game is choosing your defeat scenario. anyone who like rpgs and survival games should give this euro-jank game a shot. it’s certainly doesn’t have the best graphics, but the main quest is different depending on which faction you choose, giving you different perspectives on how the events of the world play out. the game takes a bit to really start going, but for those who like to feel like you’re adventuring, it’s definitely worth it. (i mean, one of the food items is called Bread of the Wild… 😂)

I wander if the Nemesis System patent will ever get worked around or otherwise defeated in court for being a sort of public domain esc concept. Like, Sniper Rifles as a broad concept cannot be patented to just one game. Ranking up from killing someone important is a sort of ancient tribal concept that far predates use within the Mordor game.

A smaller but interesting use similar to Zombie U is in Halo MCC in the Halo 3 ODST floodlight, if your ODST dies and is reanimated, it will be a flood Version of you character and will sometimes carry whatever weapon you died with and they are also much tougher to kill and do more damage

List made me think of the old X-COM: UFO Defense game. I remember building up some awesome team members just to have 3 aliens appear outta nowhere and drop one or more of em for good. Then you have to start from scratch with a new recruit.

I'd love to see the Nemesis system used in other franchises, like Warhammer 40k.

I actually cried when I lost one of my favorite units in 3 houses she admitted on her death bed her feelings for my character and how she regretted never saying anything until now

Virtue's Last Reward! There are several endings in which you die or are otherwise doomed, but they're necessary for gaining key information to proceed with the story in other branches! In other words, it's like a certain Radical-6 victim said: "You don't understand. We're not just GOING to die. We HAVE to die."

I know it was mentioned in the intro or at least the second game was mentioned but Darkest Dungeon is a classic for these moments which is understandable if the game didn't make it because it's rather typical at this point. Darkest Dungeon's Death system is a visual representation of why I refuse to nuzlocke a Pokémon, I'll get too emotionally attached to a character and deaths are permanent as they are presumably inevitable. Barring the rare revival event that occurs in Hamlet if you're lucky every death in Darkest Dungeon even on Radiant is permanent. And when I say every death, I do mean EVERY DEATH. And even if you got the revival, you can only bring one back from the dead whereas the other 2 will just move on to the beyond. And did I mention it's a rare event?

In the 2 player versus game “rounds” every time you lose a best out of three round, you gain a gun upgrade you keep until the end of the game. However if you win you gain nothing but pride

Literally all multiplayer open world zombie games have Zombie U mechanic, you die, you run to that zombie to try to pick up your stuff back. They just moved it to singleplayer game. Also, co-op like No More Room In Hell has that same mechanic. But story driven, specific character-tied zombie games would have really hard time incorporating that same gameplay mechanics.

Fire emblem. Pickman. Pokemon legendary encounters. Death all around

I hadn't played Shadow of Mordor and didn't know much about the Nemesis system, but the fact it was patented and never used again is such a sad way for it to go. It reminds me of Nintendo doing the same with Eternal Darkness' sanity bars, which also definitely hurts.

State of decay works really interestingly with death mechanics- you have several playable characters, but if any of them die, they dont come back. (you can still yoink the inventory they had back tho)

Original Everquest. Can you imagine gathering gear for 400 hours and having it rot on your corpse? PERMANANTLY! Some of us don't have to imagine.

Im surprised you didnt mention Chronos: Before the Ashes since it does the same thing as Sifu. Especially since it's 2 sequels have popped off

I live for what the Fire Emblem Series does with the perma death system. I rarely play with it on mind you, but it just adds an extra depth to everything you do. Every decision. It makes you question if what you are doing is smart or not. Another game franchise that did this was Valkyria Chronicles, 1 and 4 specifically where units can very well permanently die if you fuck up. Portraying war less as a game and as an actual thing with stakes where your units can die because of your mistakes is fantastic. And there is a reason why i reload my saves when someone does die. Its called because i cannot stand the thought of them having died due to my mistake. It stings, and that is what makes it so fantastic.

I feel like it's a disservice not to mention the story implications of dying in NieR: Automata, especially if playing while online. Every death you not only have to find your corpse to get your equipped upgrades, but you become a corpse for someone to find a piece of your story in their game, pushing the cyclical nature the games story ultimately ends up being about. This story has played out a countless number of times, and will continue to play out a countless number of times, in hopes that eventually a satisfying end will be had because the effort is not futile or hopeless

Shadow of mordor on grave walker difficulty may be one of the toughest game starts in gaming. 1 hit you're dead.. And the orcs become truly powerful

6:21 surprisingly, Chronos has done this sort of mechanic long ago! even in its rerelease Chronos: Before the Ashes. Where dying adds a year to your characters age.

man in a hundred years past the day where technology finally gets as advanced as it possibly can for games and stuff it'll be awesome when everything is public domain

Chronos before the Ashes also uses an interesting mechanism for dying. In the game your character travels through a mysterious portal which only opens once a year. So when you die you have to wait a year to try again. Bonus is that with certain ages you unlock special abilities.

I mean, seen a few other people mention it… but UFO Defense… or better known as X-Com… whether you are talking about the old DOS version or the newer one’s released on PlayStation and Xbox, death had impact and implications. Veteran gets capped by a lucky alien? Now all your rookies are panic shooting or tossing live nades. That not even mentioning the fact your team is now usually down a experienced member

Project Zomboid is like the Zombie game where you have to fight your zombified self for your stuff back

I know this is off-topic, but one recommendation I have for another franchise ranking video is the Ys Series. It's one of the longest running JRPG franchises and has produced a lot of great games. My personal ranking of the 9 games I've played: 1. Ys: The Oath in Felghana (2005) 2. Ys Origin (2006) 3. Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana (2016) 4. Ys IX: Monstrum Nox (2019) 5. Ys Seven (2009) 6. Ys II (1988) 7. Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim (2003) 8. Ys: Memories of Celceta (2012) 9. Ys I (1987)

This isn't a death mechanic. But the stress percentage in mgs4 was pretty cool. Old snake would accumulate stress in combat and during various vigorous actions. Therefore, his aim would be shakey. He'd slap his back when prone, grunt in pain, and reveal his position.

Dying in Dayz is tragic, hours, days, weeks, however long you’ve been alive and you lose everything, makes it worse knowing how easy it is to die.

Middle earth shadow of mordor and war are such excellent games showing where dying matters since orcs get stronger and even rise to ranks. Though its more satisfying getting revenge on killing them since not only for getting satisfaction but even stronger abilities left behind after you kill them too. Shame other games can't and won't be able to use this mechanic.

“What happens when you die?” Me: your heart stops beating and you stop breathing

Whenever my unit died in Fire Emblem, I'm starting the WHOLE FIGHT over again. EVERYONE is making it to the ending.

playing a project zomboid track during the zombiu segment was genius ngl

The drone of the music in the video intro triggered my fight or flight response. Then I was a little disappointed that it meant Outer Wilds wouldn't be in the list. Glad to see Hades here though! It definitely makes really good use of the die-and-reset keystone of roguelites.

The problem with the Nemesis system was it was implemented in such a way that if you were good at playing you never got to see it. I came to Shadow of Mordor after having beaten Batman Arkham City Hard, NG+ with no counter icons and all that jazz. Shadow of Mordor posed zero challenge. I died so infrequently that I'd often come across the orc who got me and just merc him easy as you please. I had cleared the whole board of orcs before halfway through the game and they'd keep funneling orcs in but they were trash. I didn't even know what the system did. People had to explain it to me. I ultimately ended up not liking the game or playing the sequel because as works of Lord of the Rings fiction the misunderstood the themes and motifs of Tolkien's writing so fundamentally as to be embarrassing.

You forgot State of Decay games. When a character you like dies, they become a zombie themselves, or are just dead, then you have to choose the next best in line character, that you might not like as much, or has just horrible stats because you didn't use them for whatever the reason

Can't remember the name but it's an indie game. The premise it there's a tower dungeon that opens every ten years. The way death works is instead of dying you are kicked from the tower and your character has to wait another ten years. Your character gets physically weaker as they age, but their magic gets stronger. If anyone knows the name of the game please reply.

In Project Zomboid when you die, your zombified body can go and kill your friends in mp

Yeah, I'm not going to lie. Fire Emblem Three Houses fucked me up. First game to make me cry.

I realise this is a 2 week old video but one i thought that might have made it was toren, you literally have to die at times in order to be reborn an use your old, now turned to stone body to progress, absolutely loved the concept, shame it is a shorter game but pretty beautiful art/story and interesting progression system, not sure if you want to use that in a future video like 5 more games where it really matters but hey ho theres a extra one for yi there. Thankyou for making excellent content as usual :)

I once lost one of the students while playing Fire Emblem Three Houses and didn't realize until it was too late to go back. Instead of moving on like a normal person, I restarted the game and lost 30 hours of progress. Just for one character. Those games really are something.

Played Zombi on PlaystationPlus and damn is that game tense. Especially the first time I died trying to get into the grocery store. When my new character found the zombie version of the previous survivor, I felt so bad

The State of Decay games always had me on edge because when your character dies thats it you gotta switch to someone else. 😭

Warframe have a kind of Nemesis System, if you don't play it, give it a chance Kuva Litches and Sisters of Parvos are such a good mechanic

No mention of Neir Automata? Dying achieves many of the games multiple endings, plus you can resurrect your prior corpse to fight alongside you.

And then there is the brilliant game "Breeders of Nephelym" with also interesting death/respawn mechanic ;-)

I beat Hades. Absolutely loved it and put HOURS into it

Planescape Torment has a really punishing system, deeply built in the story. So without too much spoiler. Every time you die an npc also dies. This can make reaching the end of the story impossible. Sometimes forcing the player to start a totally new game.

I'd say Let it Die, but it's basically the exact same as Zombie U

0:32 this scared tf out of me just now holy crap 😅

bro the baby scene and the dead girl was scary. jump scare warning needed 😂

I had a rough day, so i’m very happy to see your video in my subscription box (especially because RU-vid is STILL not good at doing that 😭)

I was thinking or Mordor/War watching this video! I never completed the second one, after playing the first not only did tge second feel intrinsically repetitive, but every time i thought i neared the end, the map opened up 5 new locations and i had to redo the exact same thing i just did in every area again, i just quickly lost all joy. But yeah, the fact that if you lose to an enemy, they can take down one above them and become a new "boss"? Or even how if you get rid of an enemy, they can come back and show damage to what previously ended them, like via arrows or burning? I found that so cool! I had a guy come back to life and chase me i think 3 or 4 times and he just got more abd more disfigured each time!

funny enough though the peeps that made gothem knights would have been able to do a nemesis system since they had the rights. Shame when good things get patented and then never used

I have the Xbox version of "Zombi U" (It's just "Zombi" on Xbox), and on my first game, after about 5 hours, I died. When I went back to get my stuff, I died again and lost my items forever.

Personally, for me, Sky Children of the Light is my go to i terms where dying is also a necessity. Its free in mobile, playstation, and soon will soon be available in the PC version. So, the story goes your a sky kid, 'moths' termed by older players, and your goal is to bring the light to the realms by activating each Elder's temple. I wont spoil to much, but in the final area you will die nonetheless and you are to sacrifice your light. Upin death you will be resurrected and you will habe to collect the lights scattered around the realms again.

Sifu is one of my favorite beat em ups. Getting all the trophies was worth the challenge.

are we not going to talk about,that sifu is put as sekiro XD?

It's not official, but Minecraft had mods that did something akin to Zombi U. Once you died there was a mod that put your dead corpse and everything you had on you on the map in the exact spot you died. Be it in lava or water or just in one of the underground mines somewhere.

Nice background music in the beginning. L4D2 swamp fever level.

Surprised you didn't mention pathologic 2, the punishment of death makes you really feel like you're are attempting to survive a plague with the rest of the town

I will take all these deaths times 2 rather than losing all my Upgraded Heros and trinkets in Darkest Dungeon 1 , Man it Hurts losing Your Team Upon Death.

12:09 Ok then WB should release more games with the Nemesis System

deepwoken: oh you died? how dare you, start all over again from square one

In Watch Dogs Legion if your Character dies you have to play with another team member.

I'd find it cool in a zombie if it was like an rpg where you could build your character to be stronger in certain ways and after you'd die the zombie would have all the stats you had either nightmarishly fast moving or hitting, terrifyingly strong or heavily resistant to kinds of weapon damage either meaning you'd have to take the time to get faster or stronger then the zombie or have a kind counter character build/loadout instead of going same build when your dead player might be in the way of progress

I remember when my character turned in state of decay 2. I legitimately cried. There’s still a little tombstone for her 🥺❤️

nosferatu: the wrath of malachi. everytime you die, the castle is randomized. and the more people you fail to save, the stronger the final boss is. and the soul-reaver games. die in this world, you get sent to the spirit world and can carry on, until you can get back to this world, or die there and get a game over.

Recently, I think Ready or Not did a really good job of "One death = you're fucked" kind of thing. They've got ironman mode, which means you die, your save is GONE. Or, when not playing iron man, you die, your teammates get a lot more stressed. (Your teammates die though, they're DEAD dead.) (All mentioning Singleplayer.)

Tactics Ogre. Brutal system until you (way later in the game) get resurrection magic.

I died while trying to retrieve my items after dying in Zombie U. Never returned to the game.

Crying suns is the same like if a boss kills you he remembers he killed you but I don't want to spoil the plot of the game try it for yourselves

Left 4 Dead 2 isn't a game where dying matters, but the mutation Iron Man makes so if everyone dies, you start from the begininng of a campaign, which may not sound like a huge deal, but consider playing it on Expert or Advanced.

I'm not sure the creator is aware but one of your stamps for sifu says sekiro? I thought I'd let you know as to correct the error :3

It'd pretty neat if dying irl had you respawn at your nearest check point. 😅

That aging mechanic from Sifu was used in Chronos first.

Roguelites and similar genres. Thanks for watching

Steel Battalion if you didn't eject from your mech you lost your save file. If you did eject you lost your mech.

Okay, but what about Pathologic 2 though? Nothing like Mark Immortell berating you for your faults, while making life in the next bit more difficult, and even taking away the ability to hug and comfort your childhood friend

For Rogue-likes, I expected the Rogue Legacy games. After all, most rogue-likes have you make runs with the same characters, with some stat variations (Whether it's a disguise for Isaac, heads for Skul, etc...) Rogue Legacy, however, make it so that, when you die, you play your descendent. It's sort of like ZombiU, admittedly, but without the "killing yourself for your items" part (otherwise, it'd be busted for a rogue-like) but the characters can shift entirely through their strengths and weaknesses, meaning no two runs are the same. (Edit: correcting a word)

🤣i love how the timestamp says Sekiro,but the section is about Sifu

Clicked on the video expecting Hades to be on the list. Wasn’t disappointed.

Theirs 2 games that does what the #5 game does, Project Zomboid and State Of Decay their way better too, imo (Kinda, State Of Decay has quickly repetitive repeating missions).

I also think that the game Let It Die has a death penalty but i forgot and I don't want to search it up

As part of most video games, I agree that death is something that could be played with more.