One of the most common complaints from players is that video games are too easy: die in a game and easily spawn back at any checkpoint with all your weapons and gear. Dying is easy to avoid since regenerating health is a default in most modern video games. If you're attacked multiple times, you can usually wait in the shadows until you're back to full health. It offers little challenge to players if death is meaningless. Some gamers are too timid to play more challenging games. The thought of characters they've grown attached to dying may be too much for them. But those seeking a thrill may just want an option for a more punishing death to be available.

Some game developers are overhauling death in video games. For players looking for a real challenge, death is something to be truly feared. Not only does it mean losing progress and having to spend time back tracking, but it can also have more dire consequences. You may not be able to backtrack at all because your character, or worse, your entire game save is deleted.

This list contains spoilers for video games that will punish you for dying. Many games require the players to choose a difficult mode to receive the harshest punishments. Other games won't give gamers an option to be less forgiving and will force you to fear death.

15 ZombiU

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ZombiU takes players into a zombie outbreak in London. You scrounge for various items and weapons to help you survive the undead. Zombies aren't the only threat. You can also fall off high areas, which leads to your death. Since you play as randomly generated characters, that death is permanent. If your character is killed by a zombie, you will have to start over as a new character. Your character can start the scavenging journey all over again or try to reclaim your goods. That means going back to the place your previous character died, which could be an easy or difficult journey. After finding your character, depending on their death, they may have reanimated into a zombie. This zombie is slightly tougher to defeat than other zombies you face. You'll have to kill them to reclaim your items.

14 The Witcher 2: Assassins Of Kings

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The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings takes gamers on a journey as Geralt of Rivia. The White Wolf is one of the most well-known Witchers in the land. Gamers have a wide variety of sword fighting skills and signs to assist them on Geralt's journey. In the Easiest mode, most enemies can be defeated using a sword alone. In the higher difficulty modes, the enemies deal higher damage and gamers have to utilize Geralt's skill in sword fighting, signs, and alchemy. If the hardest difficulty mode, Insane, is chosen, players will have to be even more careful in battle. Enemies grant even more damage. If Geralt is defeated, you cannot continue from a checkpoint and keep going. Your saved game cannot be loaded. You will have to restart the game and start your journey over again.

13 Darkest Dungeon

Darkest Dungeon Death
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In Darkest Dungeon, you will invest long hours into making your heroes stronger. As they progress in levels, you'll have to pay more to increase their stats. Unfortunately, some of those heroes may meet their end during your adventures. You can continue to recruit new heroes for free, but you'll still have to pay again to make your new heroes stronger. There are additional modes to make your Darkest Dungeon playthrough more difficult. In Stygian mode, there are added conditions that mean a game over. Making the Heart of Darkness awaken early by failing to complete the game in 86 in-game weeks or having 12 hero deaths will have consequences. You will receive a game over and your save is deleted. The Crimson Court DLC is slightly more forgiving. Defeating the Courtyard boss in Bloodmoon mode will grant you 100 weeks and 16 deaths before losing everything.

12 Fire Emblem (Series)

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The Fire Emblem series has become popular for cute characters that you try to matchmake for more powerful children. Most enjoy playing as an established character and getting to know the large cast of characters you'll meet along the way. The Fire Emblem games have many difficulty options to choose from, from bringing back a character on the next turn to more serious settings. The Classic difficulty mode means that death is permanent. Once the character is killed on the battlefield, they'll give a heart-wrenching goodbye before disappearing. Losing a character could be devastating if you invested items and time on romancing them to create strong offspring. Your character will never appear in your playthrough again unless you decide to start the game over.

11 Punch Out!!

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In Punch Out!!, you play as Little Mac. He wants to become a pro boxer, and it's up to you to help him achieve his dream. Little Mac isn't that strong, but he can move out of the way of most strikes from opponents. Though Little Mac doesn't die, after taking a beating, he'll feel awful. Fighting each match takes some strategy. If he falls four times in a match, Little Mac is out. After a knockout, Little Mac can have one rematch. If he loses again, he will fall in the rankings. The higher the circuit, the greater the fall down the ranking list. You'll have to fight your way back up the ladder. A third loss, or loss during the final fight with Mike Tyson, or Mr. Dream, means the game is lost. You'll have to start all over again.

10 Minecraft

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Most people think that Minecraft is a fun world building game for kids. Minecraft can offer quite a challenge, even for more experienced players. In Hardcore mode, the user is not given an option to respawn. The option to enable cheats and receive bonus chests are turned off, and cannot be turned back on. When in-game, you cannot change your mind and switch the game's difficulty level. Playing on Hardcore mode means that the world around you is a threat. Venturing forth at night or even worse, mining at night, will certainly get you killed. If you're killed, your game is over. On the death screen, you will only have two options: "Spectate World" or "Delete World." "Spectate World" will bring you to the world's spawn point, but you can't do anything but watch. "Delete World" will remove your Hardcore playthrough.

9 Battletoads

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Battletoads was a popular side-scroller in the 1990s. and it was known for being one of the most challenging in its genre. Playing the game alone was almost impossible, so having a friend or sibling as player two was almost vital. On your quest to recover your kidnapped brother and the Princess, you had to face large amounts of enemies. Dying meant restarting the level all over again. There were no checkpoints in Battletoads. You may make it to the final boss, die, and have to replay the entire level to reach him again. If you lost all of your lives, you only had three continues. After using them all, your game was over. There's no save system, so you have to restart the entire game from level one.

8 State Of Decay

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When playing State of Decay, you'll realize that characters will die. You're working together to survive during a zombie outbreak, but not everyone will make it. When your favorite or most useful character dies, they don't come back. It can be a severe emotional blow to players, especially if you've become invested in that character. Your community's population will decrease unless you're able to find more survivors. A character's death doesn't only affect you. Everyone feels the blow from losing their friend. Your community's morale will decrease by 25. The remaining characters will develop a negative attitude, which will only worsen with time. If the dead character was carrying items, you will have to reclaim them yourself or have another community member risk their life to retrieve the rucksack.

7 ARK: Survival Evolved

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ARK: Survival Evolved places humans and dinosaurs together in the same period. Crafting items and weapons are essential to survive this dangerous world. You can also adopt a pet to help you on your journey. If you are killed by an aggressive enemy, including other multiplayer characters, your death has consequences. Your body will remain in place for a few minutes, so you can run to reclaim your items. If you're lucky, you'll be able to get your gear and move on. Unfortunately, if another character grabbed your items, or worse, a dinosaur ate you, there is no way to reclaim your property. Any pets that joined you on your journey will die as well. You may be able to find them again, but they may be aggressive, and you'll have to work to make them trust you again.

6 Middle Earth: Shadow Of Mordor

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Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor treats death differently than most games. Not only are you penalized for dying, but your foes are awarded for killing you. The low-level Orc that killed you will be granted the rank of Captain. While you're taking your time to revive and play again, that Orc is getting stronger. If he kills another enemy at his level, he will gain an even higher rank. Every time you die at the hand of an enemy, the game only creates higher level foes to defeat. Of course, dying also toys with your emotions. You'll want to find the orc that killed you. By the time you reach him, he may be one of the strongest foes you'll face in-game.

5 FTL: Faster Than Light

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In FTL: Faster Than Light, choosing Hard mode will give you a challenge. You start off with zero scraps to build with and will receive lower amounts as a reward. Enemies level up much faster and will become smarter. They'll attack vital rooms more often and will have an easier time breaking down doors to reach your crew. They'll also target weapons behind shields, knowing that a shield is in place for good reason. You will also have to invest time into increasing the skill level of your ship's crew. After you've built up your ship, you may, unfortunately, get defeated. If your ship is destroyed and your crew is killed, you'll have to start over. You'll lose your leveled-up crew, only to receive a batch of inexperienced personnel. Everything you've worked hard to build will be gone.

4 XCOM: Enemy Unknown

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In XCOM: Enemy Unknown you command an Extraterrestrial Combat Unit to take on an alien invasion. Time has to be spent upgrading your fully operational base, learning more about the aliens, and strategizing your next mission. Though a variety of classes can join your team, they have to first gain experience in battle. Your team members start off as Rookie and earn higher ranks into more specialized classes. These characters can also be fully customized, from their names to their facial features. If one of your team members is killed in battle, there is no way to reclaim them. Death doesn't only affect your team. Panic will begin to rise in the country when a mission fails. Cause enough panic, and a country will withdraw from the Council of Nations. You'll receive less funding to build up your base and your team, making your job even tougher.

3 Diablo 2

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Diablo 2's Hardcore mode can only be chosen after completing the game. Choosing the mode won't net you any great rewards. Hardcode mode will only give you one life to complete your entire adventure. If you die, you will lose everything. The items on your character and within your inventory will be lost forever. If you're playing multiplayer, this means friends and foes cannot loot your dead body. The items in your Stash can still be accessed, but only by another character in Hardcore mode on your account. Your dead character also has the option to be placed on Battle.net's "Hall of Heroes" for all to see, and potentially mock. Other players will be able to see your total playthrough time, the amount of monsters killed, time of death, and what killed you.

2 EVE Online

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EVE Online punishes death in a brutal, and potentially expensive, way. Dying in EVE Online means that your ship and all of its accessories are gone for good in the blast. All the time and in-game and real world currency you spent on making your ship more powerful can be gone in one battle. Your clone can eject into a space pod, but if your clone is killed, your character can't continue. Everyone in your corporation will be notified of your death. If you decide to invest in an EVE Keepstar, one of the game's most expensive structures, you will have to invest almost $10,000 into making it the most advanced space technology in the game. Getting it destroyed will mean your costly investment is gone for good.

1 The Dark Souls Franchise

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The Souls franchise includes Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, and Bloodborne. Fans of the franchise understand that death can often occur, which soon had gamers arguing online to "Git gud." Death may be annoying in the Souls series, but it's also what makes the series unique. Fighting enemies will grant you valuable Souls. Souls are used as currency in the world, which allows you to upgrade your armor and weapons. You cannot place this precious currency in a bank or inventory for safe keeping. If you die in battle, all of your souls are gone, and a bloodstain is left. Other players can watch the potentially embarrassing way you died, whether it be from battle or rolling off a cliff. You will respawn at a bonfire and have to journey back to where you died. If you die again before reclaiming your souls, they are lost forever.