History Main / RegeneratingHealth

* ''VideoGame/BrothersInArms: Hell's Highway'' includes a variant of this. In that game, the screen goes more red when you're exposed to fire, with the red reflecting your risk of actually getting shot. If you stay without cover for too long, you die quite quickly if it's dark red (even just peeking briefly out of cover). The thing here is that you more or less die from one shot, not that he can walk off the damage. But the mechanic is slightly similar.It's also possible to suddenly keel over out of apparently nowhere because an enemy got a lucky shot/grenade off. The squadmates generally start yelling about how lucky you are and to get in cover when your screen starts going red.

This trope largely originates from TheEighties, with the FightingGame ''VideoGame/PunchOut'' and {{Action RPG}} ''VideoGame/{{Hydlide}}'' being {{Ur Example}}s, and ''VideoGame/{{Ys}}'' being a TropeMaker; ''MIDI Maze'' for the UsefulNotes/AtariST introduced this mechanic to the FirstPersonShooter genre, decades before ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' [[TropeCodifier codified]] the FPS version of this mechanic.

* In ''Shin Kugyokuden'', health will slowly regenerate when the player stands still, except in towns and during {{Boss Battle}}s.

* ''Videogame/MegaManBattleNetwork'' series: If you activate Wood Style (in second and third games) or use Wood-element Soul/Cross (fourth to sixth games), you can regenerate health while [[GeoEffects standing on a grassy panel]]. Along with the equippable [[LastChanceHitPoint Undershirt program]], it becomes a nigh GameBreaker; later games nerfed its potency, making it regenerate health slower when Mega Man's health is critical.

* The ability Regenerator in ''{{VideoGame/Pokemon}}'' allows some health to be regained if the Pokemon is switched out, then returned to the field.

* Some of the games in the ''Videogame/CapcomVs'' series has a small part of a character's health bar turn red when the a character takes damage. The red section can be recovered if the character tags out for someone else. A character who comes in as a support character (as opposed to tagging out) has all damage they take turn red instead of deplete, but it takes a long time to recover. Also, when a character tags in, any red health instantly depletes and can't be recovered.

* ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'':

** In [[VideoGame/{{Borderlands2}} the sequel]], a few of the classes can get skills that grant this. The Gunzerker's Brawn tree in particular is dedicated to skills that give massive health regeneration, turning him into a "unstoppable tank made of rage and meat".

* ''Franchise/FarCry''

* ''VideoGame/KnightsOfPenAndPaper'': Warriors have the Taunt passive, which gets them regeneration of 2 HitPoints every turn.

* VideoGame/PrimalCarnage'': Normally not present, but any dinosaur in the vicinity of the ''Acrocanthosaurus'' when it unleashes its roar will temporarily be given a HealingFactor (explained in FlavorText as dispersing pheromones which accelerate immune functions), regenerating ten health per second for several seconds.
* The ''Videogame/QuantumOfSolace'' video game had the "screen turns grey" variant, with a slight variation in that a translucent version of Bond's signature opening gun barrel creeps in.

** ''X8'' lets whichever character is on the bench regenerate health, but only up to whatever portion of lost health is shown in red. If you don't switch out while part of your health is red, the red marks will deplete over time. If you switch back to a character while they still have red marks on their health, the red marks will immediately disappear. One of X's body upgrades converts all the damage he takes to red, so that he can regenerate it all if you switch him out. It's taken from ''Videogame/CapcomVs'' series.

* ''Ducati World Championship'' has rider health (which lowers if you fall from the bike) recover slowly during the race. Health damage persists across races, and can be healed by the doctor, but it's usually better to simply recover by starting a new race and being careful not to take damage. Bike Damage doesn't regenerate, and requires driving through the pit if you want it repaired.

* In ''Sudden Strike'' units with moderate damage heal roughly 3/4 of their health on their own, but heavily damaged units' health will actually go down to zero unless they're seen to by a repair unit.

** In ''Warcraft'' II, the Troll Berserkers can acquire the ability to very slowly regenerate health. The effect is so slow in fact that in a fast-paced match, it's of marginal value, and typically a low-priority upgrade.
** In ''Warcraft 3''', Human and Orc units regenerate health, but it happens so slowly that they may as well not have it at all. Troll units (part of the Orc faction) can be upgraded to regenerate faster. Undead units regenerate while standing on Blight, while Night Elves regenerate only at nighttime. All heroes regenerate health much faster than regular units do, but it's still usually too slow to make much of a difference most of the time.

* ''IndependenceWar'' has a constant auto-repair system on all ships, but it's rather slow relative to the damage that weapons inflict. This is why you want to finish off ships quickly when attacking (firing [=LDSi=] missiles if necessary to prevent them running away, taking a time-out for auto-repair to do its thing, and jumping back in), while trying to keep out of range of attack while defending for as long as possible.
* ''[[Videogame/MechWarrior MechWarrior Living Legends]]''s' [[PoweredArmor battlearmor]] will regenerate health via their AutoDoc when not exposed to weapons fire for a few seconds in order to compensate for their [[FragileSpeedster very squishy]] nature. All the other vehicles can only be repaired at hangars or Mobile Field Bases.

* Franchise/{{Hitman}}:

* ''{{Franchise/Disgaea}}'': Disgaea 2 introduced Wood Golems, which could regenerate 20% of its Max HP per turn (and due to the Lovers mechanic, it could go as high as 45%). Disgaea 3 subsequently nerfed it to 10%, but also introduced the Fixed Innocent called Sweet Tempter, which recovered 50% HP per turn. Sweet Tempter was then nerfed to 5% HP per turn as of Disgaea 5, but there was also an Evility that allowed for 5% HP recovery per turn.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}''

** In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' and ''[[VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas Fallout: New Vegas]]'', there are several Perks and implants available to more or less slowly regenerate health over time. Both games have the Solar Powered perk, which lets you regenerate health in sunlight, and ''New Vegas'' also has the Monocyte Breeder implant, which slowly regenerates health over time (including time spent sleeping and waiting).

* In ''Videogame/MountAndBlade'' this is the only way to heal, it's very, very slow that it didn't recover in battle, and it took hours of in game time to recover to full health.

* In Fallout's spiritual ancestor ''VideoGame/{{Wasteland}}'', the Medic and Doctor skills only worked on seriously wounded characters. Normal hit point damage could only be healed by waiting, and the game would tell you so.

* ''VideoGame/{{Terraria}}'' had small red rings that slowly regenerate your HP at a point a second that stacked with one another, and was one of the only ways to regenerate your health without consuming an item, dying, or using a nurse. However as of a recent (as in not many updates ago) now has health that slowly regenerates after not taking any hits for so long, and gradually increases to about 3-4 HP points a second, and the bands of regeneration are somewhat obsolete, but still in the game and used by some for that little extra boost.
* Many mods for the ''Videogame/{{X}}-Universe'' series (which normally uses RegeneratingShieldsStaticHealth) allow ships to regenerate their hull on the fly. One mod makes [[LivingShip Boron ships]] capable of autonomous regeneration, another allows you to put your marines ([[BoardingParty normally used for boarding]]) [[MundaneUtility to work mending the hull]]. ''Xtended'' has the R6 ship system, which can enable automatic repairs on corvettes and capital ships, at the cost of draining your credits while repairs are in progress.

[[AC:{{FanWorks}}]]

* ''Literature/DeadworldIsekai'': One of the stats available is the regen(reation) rate for HitPoints. A rate meaning that such regeneration is over time and repeating.

* ''Tabletopgame/Warhammer40000'' features several rules that allow a model to either gain back wounds at the start of a player's turn, or roll dice and attempt to recover lost wounds [[OneHitPointWonder (those that have wounds to spare anyway)]]. The [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Tyranids]] are renown for having this as an optional trait for most of their larger units.

* Even ''VideoGame/EndWar'' has this to a limited extent. Units have two health bars- shield and hp. The shield bar will refill after a few seconds out of combat. However, the hp bar ''won't''. Also, unit performance degrades as it loses HP.

** ''VideoGame/AceCombatAssaultHorizon'' brings this mechanic to the series for the first time, including the reddening screen. Some fans were... most displeased. To offset this though, health regenerates very slowly and you can still be taken down with at most three missiles. Playing on Ace difficulty, however, disables regenerating health. The game also introduces a checkpoint system for the first time. While a welcome addition to long missions, damage taken while in Ace difficulty does not recover to 100% health, only to how much you had before the checkpoint. This very quickly devolves into UnintentionallyUnwinnable territory, which is, adding to the entire TheyChangedItNowItSucks view for this game, is like throwing saltwater, sand, and burning ash to a festering, infected wound.

* In ''VideoGame/BeyondOasis'', as one progresses through the game they get key items that allow this. The pendant restores HP while in sunlight, the ring restores SP when you have no spirit summoned and the amulet restores HP and SP at a quicker rate.

* ''VideoGame/HitmanAbsolution'' has regenerating health, [[http://www.strategyinformer.com/news/19678/hitman-absolution-dumped-regenerating-health but it only regenerates part of your health]]. To fully heal you need to use a first aid station.

* In the original ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'', using a shootdodge efficiently allows Max's pain meter (life meter) to fill up entirely without killing him. He then limps for a bit as the meter slowly empties to a certain point, at which point he's fine. Normally, it's pretty cool. Abused, it allows Max to do things like ''dive into a grenade blast and walk it off''. Then it's ''really'' cool.
** The third game has a downplayed example. If the red in the pain meter reaches the head and you manage to get back into cover before dying, Max will regenerate just enough health to get it back below the neck.

* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' adds regenerating health to [[Franchise/TheElderScrolls the series]] for the first time. It is extremely slow, and food and rest still exist to replenish it more quickly. "Histskin" is a racial power of the [[LizardFolk Argonians]], allowing them to, once per day, massively speed up this health regeneration rate to the point of it being a HealingFactor.
** Two notable exceptions to this are vampires (in sunlight) and werewolves (in wolf form).

** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'''s Naked Snake can wait out his injuries. The rate of health increase is dependent on how high his Stamina Gauge is. If you can't be bothered waiting for his health to rise like that, you can also knock him out with a sedative mushroom or with chloroform - during his sleep, he recovers faster. You can even save, turn the game off, and come back after a day or so has elapsed on your console's clock. There's also a Cure menu to heal Snake from grievous wounds that cut into his total health (represented by a red section of it); healing from wounds of that nature actually increases his total health slightly.
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'' does the same with the similar Psyche bar, but with the removal of the Cure system and adding a Stress counter that goes up slowly when Snake is in harsh sunlight or bad weather, and spikes rapidly when he's discovered and/or in open combat, which can cause Psyche to deplete even if he's lying down and not moving.

** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidV'' has full health regeneration, but the regeneration rate is ''very'' slow if you're in open combat, and even slower when running or sprinting. You can also recover from a CriticalHit by using a [[HealingPotion first-aid spray]] or doing some SelfSurgery.

* ''Franchise/{{Splatoon}}'' has damage represented by [[ShowsDamage how much enemy ink is covering the Inkling]], with the sides of the screen will also getting covered as well. Spending some time out of fire will slowly "clean up" the Inkling, but doing so while swimming in their own ink significantly speeds this up. The Octarian enemies in the single player campaign can also regen by staying out of the fire, but only a handful of them are capable of swimming in their ink to accelerate it. In ''VideoGame/Splatoon2[=:=] Octo Expansion'', [[spoiler:[[DuelingPlayerCharacters Agent 3]] also gets this -- painful when you first fight them, [[SNKBoss incredibly brutal]] in their BonusBoss fight]].

That's the technique that a number of FirstPersonShooter games since the 2000s use for restoring health; if a player finds himself nearing death, all he has to do is go hide somewhere or dodge attacks until health regeneration kicks in. It's still one of the AcceptableBreaksFromReality, especially in shooters which encourage slower pace, since the character recovering health -- even at an unusually fast rate -- is only slightly less absurd than him instantly healing by simply touching [[HealThyself medikits]] and [[HyperactiveMetabolism implausibly healthy beefburgers]]. It also has the advantage of avoiding {{Unwinnable}} situations where the player literally has no chance to get through the level because he's run out of both ammunition and healing items, but tends to invoke ItsEasySoItSucks in the process. On the other hand FakeBalance could also come up, where in theory you can regenerate from damage but in practice you get mowed down by a wall of lead any time you even dream of poking your head out of cover.

* ''VideoGame/PunchOut'': Released in early 1984 with its first arcade game, this series provides the UrExample for the medium. After a boxer gets knocked down and gets up again, the health generates, though never back to full health (with very rare exceptions, such as Bald Bull and Mr. Sandman in the Wii game, when knocked down in their Title Defense rematches). There are also unique instances with certain boxers: Bald Bull in his rematches (he mildly recovers if his health is depleted with a normal punch, only a star-powered uppercut will knock him down properly), Soda Popinski in the Wii game (he drinks soda to recover some health), and Little Mac himself if he's flexing his punches while an opponent is knocked down. Doc Louis can also recover some HP by eating a chocolate in the ''Douc Louis'' spinoff.

** Yoshimitsu's Indian Stance allows him to gradually restore health, [[AwesomeButImpractical although it leaves him open season since he has to sit while doing so]]. He can also do a similar stance while standing ("Meditation"), but it will not restore his health. That said, he does have a couple of moves and stances where [[AttackingThroughYourself he deliberately injures himself]]... he's weird like that.

* ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'': The Tag games feature this as a an incentive to tag. In the same vein as ''Darkstalkers 3'', the health bar is divided into three parts: blue (health remaining), red (damage recently taken), and blank (permanently lost health). If a character is tagged out, he will gradually recover the red portion of the health bar. Since the final boss of the first ''Tag'' game, Unknown, fights by herself, she recovers the red portion while on the ring, since she can't be tagged out. The same applies to the single bosses in ''Tag 2'', as well as any player who chooses to fight by himself in 1x2 fights.

* In the ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'' series, half of the health you lose from hits turns red instead of disappearing. If you can keep from getting hit again, the red portion will regenerate, but no more than that. Of course, potions will be necessary for any consequential amount of healing.
** Certain armor skills speed up the rate at which the red portion regenerates, and in ''World'', the Vaal Hazak armor's SetBonus allows regeneration beyond the red portion, though that will take some time as the enhanced regeneration (past the red portion) does not benefit from regeneration rate bonuses.

* Almost all {{Roguelike}} games (like ''VideoGame/NetHack'' and ''VideoGame/{{Angband}}'') are like this. One exception is ''VideoGame/{{Incursion}}'', where you only regain health when you rest for the night, and only if your rest isn't interrupted by an ambush; rest in the TraumaInn is guaranteed to not be interrupted, but after a while the game forces you to rest in the dungeon instead.