History DeathIsCheap / VideoGames

* Fairies in ''{{VideoGame/Touhou}}'' exist as long as [[AnthropomorphicPersonification the aspect of nature they represent]] exists, and are [[OneHitPointWonder highly fragile]] and [[TooDumbToLive deeply stupid]]. Hence they have a tendency to fly headfirst into dangerous situations, explode, resurrect soon afterwards, then go on their way, usually [[TheFogOfAges forgetting what happened]] soon afterwards so they can do it again. Subverted in that they hardly actually ''die'' in the series in spite of their frailty and stupidity, mainly due to the focus being in [[NonLethalKO non-lethal combat]].

*** [[spoiler:Sora and Kairi ''yet again'' at the end of Kingdom Hearts 3. Kairi is killed by Master Xehanort, Sora revives her using the Power of Waking, but the use of that power kills him, and now it’s suggested that he’s gone to Shibuya, the “after life” in ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'' where of course he has the chance to revive himself.]]

* The [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Immortals]] of ''VideoGame/{{Boktai}}'' can only be defeated for real if fried on the Piledriver using ThePowerOfTheSun. Except for the Count of Groundsoaking Blood, thanks to his ability to split into a swarm of bats: he always leave one hidden somewhere so, even if you ''do'' fry him, that one bat [[FromASingleCell can regenerate into him in time]].

** This trope ends up creating plot holes in the sequel: Hyperion's CEO, Handsome Jack, spends the entire game trying to kill you (and succeeding in the introduction)... but his company also owns the New-U machines. Does he not have the foresight to just delete you from the registry? Or perhaps he enjoys making profit from your failure rather than more permanent satisfaction? Eventually, WordOfGod simply outright retcons the existence of the New-U stations with lead writer Anthony Burch openly regretting adding in [[HaveANiceDeath unique dialog for the stations]].
** Practically ''required'' for the Slabs initation to actually turn up anything other than extinction. "Initiation" being "Fight through and kill most of the slabs while likely dying alot yourself". This is implied to happen ''every time'' a group joins the Slabs. It doesn't help that Brick openly treats them as the expendable morons that they are.

*** This is the case for the Daedra, both the [[OurGodsAreDifferent Daedric Princes]] and the [[OurDemonsAreDifferent lesser Daedra]]. Unlike the Aedra, the Daedra are pre-creation spirits (et'Ada) who did not lend their power to creating the mortal world, and thus maintain CompleteImmortality. While they may manifest in a physical form, and that physical form can be slain, they cannot truly "die". If they are slain, their spirits ("Animus") simply returns to Oblivion to coalesce. It is implied that coalescing into a new form isn't an instantaneous process, so being slain is at least a ''mild'' inconvenience.

* In the online game ''VideoGame/FallenLondon'', should your character die from accumulated wounds, they will find themself on the boat of the dead - from where it is possible to return. This is referenced in-story, e.g., you can be hired to assassinate a troublesome journalist - "[[Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail he'll get better]], obviously, but it will serve as a warning". There are a few ways in story for somebody to be rendered DeaderThanDead such as dismemberment, and deaths from disease or old age are final. Funnily enough, there's also a midpoint between this and DeaderThanDead where you get back up, but your body's still in such a horrific mess that you get wrapped in bandages to hide your newly-ugly mug and shipped to off-shore Tomb Colonies to avoid the awkward stares. People who live near the Mountain of Light, and people who've drunk Hesperidean Cider, are even hardier, getting back up from the above and more, and the latter might just have CompleteImmortality.

* The Ascians in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' are basically immortal. It is explained that whenever someone dies, their soul gets assimilated by TheLifestream and are eventually reborn as a new person when a child is brought into the world. While it is possible for an Ascian to be killed, they have full control over their soul and avoid going to the lifestream by hanging out in the plane between life and death. From there, an Ascian can reform and return as if nothing ever happened. Throughout the story, there has been a few ways where an Ascian has been KilledOffForReal. [[spoiler: One method is trapping their soul in white auracite and then using an extremely large amount of aether as a weapon to shatter it, killing the Ascian inside. So much aether is needed for the trick to work that the first auracite used required a HeroicSacrifice from another character who used her own life force to fuel the channeled aether from the player character. For the second auracite, a dragon's eye (which has a ton of aether inside) was used to kill another Ascian. Another method is to have an entity absorb the Ascian's soul like it was food, which is what Thordon did to Lahabrea after becoming a primal.]]

* In ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'' death is so cheap for Kratos that it raises serious FridgeLogic regarding your suicide, how anyone intends to stop you, and why the game even ends if something kills you. In the [[VideoGame/GodOfWarI first game]] Hades is your ally and allowed you to return, but after that you pretty much just walk out on your own.

* ''VideoGame/TheHauntedRuins'': When your HitPoints get damaged to 0, you get a "Everything goes dark..." and you reappear on the surface, having lost half your coins. When you go back into the Haunted Ruins, [[AntiFrustrationFeatures you start at 1 floor above the lowest floor you got to]].

*** Sora actually stabs himself in the heart and perishes in the very first game as well. He did this to release Kairi’s heart, because her heart was in his body and this was the only way that he could return it to her own body to wake her up. The result? The darkness of the weapon that he used actually turned him into a [[TheHeartless Heartless]] rather than completely killing him, and then once Kairi recognizes him in this form and hugs him, the power of light from their connection purifies him and revives him completely.

*** Ansem (Xehanort’s Heartless) is able to come back multiple times after his death in the first game due to his lingering presence in Riku’s heart (which Riku got from Ansem possessing him briefly). At the end of Kingdom Hearts 2 he is supposedly gone from Riku’s heart for good, but then TimeTravel becomes his new method for returning after that!

* According to the official franchise timeline in ''[[UniverseCompendium Hyrule Hystoria]]'', in ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'', while [[LegacyCharacter the Links and Zeldas are separate characters]] all Ganons are the same, having been revived by either the Triforce or ''something'' else (excluding the one in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaFourSwordsAdventures Four Swords Adventures]]'', who is the next male born into the Gerudo line after Ganondorf was executed in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendofZeldaTwilightPrincess Twilight Princess]]'', though hinted at being the reincarnation of the pervious Ganondorf).

** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'', the King of Hyrule and Link's Uncle both die, and are returned to life when Link wishes for the Triforce to restore Hyrule. The Flute Boy, who was transformed into a tree, is also returned to normal.

* In ''Super VideoGame/MeatBoy'', everyone seems to come back to life in one way or another. Meat Boy just respawns, some rise from the grave, squirrels just [[UnexplainedRecovery get better]], some pop out from their former dead bodies and so on.

*** Not to mention, the BigBad of the series, Sigma. He's killed at the end of each game, only to return for the next game. Like Zero, he was intended to be KilledOffForReal in X5, but still came back anyway. Then he finally did die for good in X8, due to it being the final game in the series.

* Ridley from the ''{{VideoGame/Metroid}}'' series is a RecurringBoss, appearing in all the ''Metroid'' games except ''Metroid 2: Return of Samus'' (he does show up in the remake, though) and ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime2Echoes''. Considering what he's survived or been resurrected from, he should really be long gone by now. Blown to bits in the first game? OK, limited graphics, he might just have fallen over, and he was absent from the second. Returns as a cyborg in ''Prime'', loses his wings and gets blown off a really large cliff before he explodes? Sure, why not. More cybernetics at the beginning of ''Prime 3: Corruption'' where he gets shot up and dropped down a really, ''really'' high elevator shaft? Returns at the end of ''Prime 3'', hyped up on radioactive drugs, to get slaughtered once again and blown to molecules. Blown into tiny chunks ''again'' in ''Super Metroid''? In ''[[VideoGame/MetroidOtherM Other M]]'', scientists unwittingly cloned him with DNA samples taken from Samus' suit. The clone is killed by the Queen Metroid? In ''Metroid Fusion'' his body is found frozen in a storage room, taken over and destroyed by shape-shifting parasites, which are then in turn blown up and ''absorbed'' by the heroine. And yet, we ''know'' he will return. Death isn't worth a penny to him!

* ''VideoGame/OdinSphere'' is a quasi-example. While characters do indeed die and stay dead, a number of characters also either die or are banished to the Netherworld while still alive, and then get brought back later by somebody storming the Netherworld and kicking the ass of Queen Odette, the queen of the dead. This eventually comes to an end during Gwendolyn's storyline (the very last of the five character's stories to end chronologically) where Odette is finally KilledOffForReal, and as a result the Netherworld is sealed forever so no one can get out and no one can get in except through death.

* Your team in ''VideoGame/ProjectEden'' often die though sheer incompetence, thankfully their health plan includes 'regen' stations that resurrect and heal them.

** Zanik was a special case. Bandos, one of the gods, had a destiny in mind for Zanik to take a position that would benefit him greatly. Since Guthix wouldn't mind so long as Bandos himself doesn't come down, he felt it acceptable to allow her to come back to life. This gets averted in The Chosen Commander, when Zanik defies her destiny and is told that she can no longer be revived from death. She doesn't die, however.
* ''VideoGame/TheSecretWorld'', like most MMO's, has players respawn quickly after being killed. More uniquely, this is given an in story explanation, as the "bees" that gave characters their powers also reassemble the bodies of the characters at Anima Wells after they die; and it's physically impossible to put you down permanently without literally shredding you into atoms. More notably, [=NPCs=] throughout the game are aware of the players' borderline-immortality and quite a few villains are forced to resort to other methods of stopping you from interfering with their plans: [[EvilSorcerer Freddy Beaumont]] knocks you unconscious and leaves, [[SealedRoomInTheMiddleOfNowhere sealing the door behind him]]; [[FatBastard Abdel Doud]] [[{{Depower}} disables your powers]] and locks you up; [[spoiler: Lilith just slices your legs off and leaves you to it]]. In fact, up until comparatively recently, death was ''so'' cheap that it was used as a means of fast travelling across maps via the Anima Wells, though updates have since replaced this with an in-game teleporter system.

* Reala from ''Videogame/TalesOfDestiny2'' was reborn in front of the protagonist Kyle in the ending, which is considered a miracle under that circumstance. It can be considered a DeusExMachina, since the reason behind this is "Pure Deep love" that Kyle and Reala have for each other.
* In ''VideoGame/TalesOfMonkeyIsland'', Guybrush came back to life in the ending after he was killed by his nemesis [=LeChuck=]. Quite literally, death means nothing to [=LeChuck=] as he always come back to torment Guybrush and obtain Elaine's love.

** Heihachi appears to die from an explosion in ''Tekken 5''. Heihachi appears to let Jin, Jinpachi and Kazuya die in Heihachi's ''Tekken 5'' ending, and Heihachi appears to die with Jin and Kazuya in Heihachi's ''Tekken 6'' ending.

* To date, ''VideoGame/TimeCrisis'''s Wild Dog has been not only killed, but ''completely blown up'' five times. Except for that one arm, he always returns good as new. Nobody at Namco has offered even a token explanation as to how he does it.
* Fairies in ''{{VideoGame/Touhou}}'' exist as long as [[AnthropomorphicPersonification the aspect of nature they represent]] exists, and are [[OneHitPointWonder highly fragile]] and [[TooDumbToLive deeply stupid]]. Hence they have a tendency to fly head first into dangerous situations, explode, resurrect soon afterwards, then go on their way, usually [[TheFogOfAges forgetting what happened]] soon afterwards so they can do it again. Subverted in that they hardly actually ''die'' in the series in spite of their frailty and stupidity, mainly due to the focus being in [[NonLethalKO non-lethal combat]].

* Massively egregious in the ''VideoGame/{{Ultima}}'' series. If you die, Lord British will just resurrect you with a wave of his hand. If someone else - ally, NPC, some enemies - dies, you can just haul their body to the castle and have them brought back as well. (Games taking place outside of Britannia will have someone else doing the honors.) In the sixth game, a grave digger suggests that you try staying dead for a while, just as a change of pace.

** Even later {{lampshade|Hanging}}d by an elemental in Deepholm, who, when you kill him, more or less exclaims "[[BigNo NOOOOOO!]]...not again!" because so many people have killed him, and when it first came out, there used to be lines of people waiting to kill him. He would just keep respawning and getting killed over and over again. Even more hilarious, when you level an alt, you really ARE personally killing him again. He also talks like a stupid five year old child before his death. His only normal line is the "not again!" line, pretty much proving that it was an intentional lampshade on Blizzard's part.

** The [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Spirit Healers]] are a prime example. If you can't get back to your body for whatever reason, these gals will be happy to return you to your mortal coil because, [[{{Handwave}} "It is not your time."]]

** Deathwing dies like any other dragon in ''[[VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} Warcraft II]]'', but this doesn't seem to have effected him that much.

** M. Bison dies in ''[[VideoGame/StreetFighterAlpha Street Fighter Alpha 3]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/StreetFighterII Super Street Fighter II]]'', shows up in ''VideoGame/CapcomVsWhatever'' continuity, and returns in ''Characters/StreetFighterIV'' and ''Characters/StreetFighterV'', transferring his consciousness to a new body.

** Charlie Nash dies in all three ''VideoGame/StreetFighterAlpha'' games, shows up in ''VideoGame/CapcomVsWhatever'' continuity, and may or may not be alive in the main continuity.

* Ridley from the ''{{VideoGame/Metroid}}'' series is a RecurringBoss, appearing in all the ''Metroid'' games except ''Metroid 2: Return of Samus'' and ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime2Echoes''. Considering what he's survived or been resurrected from, he should really be long gone by now. Blown to bits in the first game? OK, limited graphics, he might just have fallen over, and he was absent from the second. Returns as a cyborg in ''Prime'', loses his wings and gets blown off a really large cliff before he explodes? Sure, why not. More cybernetics at the beginning of ''Prime 3: Corruption'' where he gets shot up and dropped down a really, ''really'' high elevator shaft? Returns at the end of ''Prime 3'', hyped up on radioactive drugs, to get slaughtered once again and blown to molecules. Blown into tiny chunks ''again'' in ''Super Metroid''? In ''[[VideoGame/MetroidOtherM Other M]]'', scientists unwittingly cloned him with DNA samples taken from Samus' suit. The clone is killed by the Queen Metroid? In ''Metroid Fusion'' his body is found frozen in a storage room, taken over and destroyed by shape-shifting parasites, which are then in turn blown up and ''absorbed'' by the heroine. And yet, we ''know'' he will return. Death isn't worth a penny to him!

* The [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Immortals]] of ''VideoGame/{{Boktai}}'' can only be defeated for real if fried on the Piledriver using ThePowerOfTheSun. Except for the Count of Groundsoaking Blood, thanks to his ability to split into a swarm of bats: he always leave one hidden somewhere so, even if you ''do'' fry him, that one bat can regenerate into him in time.

*** [[DoomedHometown Everyone on Destiny Islands except for Sora and Riku are in fact killed at the start of the first game]]. Kairi’s heart goes to Sora’s body due to their connection, keeping her spirit alive even though her body is dead (ItMakesSenseInContext), but everyone else is completely dead. This is all undone by the end of the game. First Kairi is revived by Riku finding her body and Sora returning her heart, and then everyone else comes back when Sora kills Ansem at the end of the game.
*** Sora actually stabs himself in the heart and perishes in the very first game as well. He did this to release Kairi’s heart, because her heart was in his body and this was the only way that he could release it and return it to her own body to wake her up. The result? The darkness of the weapon that he used actually turned him into a [[TheHeartless Heartless]] rather than completely killing him, and then once Kairi recognizes him in this form and hugs him, the power of light from their connection purifies him and revives him completely.

*** Sora actually stabs himself in the heart and perishes in the very first game as well. He did this to release Kairi’s heart, because her heart was in his body and this was the only way that he could release it and return it to her own body to wake her up. The result? The darkness of the weapon that he used turned actually turned him into a [[TheHeartless Heartless]] rather than completely killing him, and then once Kairi recognizes him in this form and hugs him, the power of light from their connection purifies him and revives him completely.

** The most {{egregious}} examples are as follows:

*** Ansem the Wise (DiZ) performs a HeroicSacrifice in Kingdom Hearts 2 by overloading his machine to blow open Xemnas’s Kingdom Hearts, ruining Xemnas’s plan at the cost of ending his own life in the resulting explosion. Birth by Sleep’s secret ending reveals that the explosion simply sent his body to the Realm of Darkness, same as what happened to Riku in Kingdom Hearts 1, and then he’s eventually able to leave from there as Riku did.
*** The Riku Replica, supposedly killed in Chain of Memories, got the Riku/DiZ treatment and had it revealed that his heart was simply sent to the Realm of Darkness as well. Then when Riku made a return visit (alive this time), the Riku Replica’s heart joined to him. [[spoiler:But {{Averted}} (for now) at the end of Kingdom Hearts 3, where he did a HeroicSacrifice for Naminé that seemingly killed him for good this time.]]

*** Vanitas is killed in Birth by Sleep only to return due to the negative emotions stored up in Monstropolis during Kingdom Hearts 3.
*** The True Organization XIII is able to bring multiple deceased characters from the past into the present time (most notably Ansem and Xemnas, and most likely Xion as well).
*** {{Averted}} with a few characters: Ienzo’s parents (who are said to be dead and probably not important enough to revive), and Master Xehanort and Eraqus due to dying seemingly for good in Kingdom Hearts 3.

*** Sora actually stabs himself in the heart and perishes in the very first game. He did this to release Kairi’s heart, because her heart was in his body and this was the only way that he could release it and return it to her own body to wake her up. (ItMakesSenseInContext). The result? The darkness of the weapon that he used turned actually turned him into a [[TheHeartless Heartless]] rather than completely killing him, and then once Kairi recognizes him in this form and hugs him, the power of light from their connection purifies him and revives him completely.

* Subverted with ''VideoGame/SekiroShadowsDieTwice''. While characters like Genichiro and Hanbei are able to scoff off death like it's nothing, the resurrection mechanic in-game causes [[IncurableCoughOfDeath Dragonrot]] to spread even further the more the player screws up and die.

* In ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'' death is so cheap for Kratos that it raises serious FridgeLogic regarding your suicide, how anyone intends to stop you, and why the game even ends if something kills you. In the first game Hades is your ally and allowed you to return, but after that you pretty much just walk out on your own.

* ''VideoGame/TheHauntedRuins'': When your LifePoints get damaged to 0, you get a "Everything goes dark..." and you reappear on the surface, having lost half your coins. When you go back into the Haunted Ruins, [[AntiFrustrationFeatures you start at 1 floor above the lowest floor you got to]].

* Bioshock's spiritual predecessor VideoGame/SystemShock [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] this: Both games in the series had Quantum Bio-Reconstruction machines that could recreate your body from scratch, provided you activated them first. In the second, a certain amount of nanites is spent for respawning, and the first game has the added catch that [[AIIsACrapshoot SHODAN]] uses these machines to turn your body into one of her Cyborg {{Mooks}} if you hadn't reset them yet.