Many of the earliest video games were designed with a simple idea: you can try as many times as you like. With the inclusion of mechanics such as extra lives and checkpoints, people got used to failing over and over without worry. As a result, they didn't question how such elements factored into the reality of the game's world.
With time, games became more involved, and took their stories more seriously. Occasionally, this meant killing off characters definitively and dealing with the consequences. Yet, just like in multiple series, there are times when characters have managed to return to action.
8 Commander Shepard
When Mass Effect first came out, people were floored by the sheer scale of it. The game presented a lot of new ideas, but in a way that everything could be made clear. Following on from the story, Mass Effect 2 seriously raised the stakes. Not only were civilizations being threatened by a seemingly unstoppable alien force, but many important Mass Effect heroes were also occupied with other matters.
This includes Commander Shepard, who was busy being dead after sacrificing their life to save their crew. However, the clandestine organization Cerberus came to the rescue, using every resource they had to revive the Commander after two years of their dead life.
7 Paper Mario
Mario is a hero who doesn't often have to deal with real themes like death or old age. From friends to enemies, nothing ever seems to stay dead for long in the Mushroom Kingdom and the surrounding lands. Even though the Paper Mario games have the same fun and non-serious vibes, Super Paper Mario takes it in a different direction.
Not only does the main villain and his cronies seem twisted and threatening, but one of them actually succeeds in killing Mario. As a result, he's sent to an afterlife called the Underwhere. Thankfully, he's able to use his jumping skills to escape and return to life.
6 Mono
In Shadow Of The Colossus, the story is mainly told through action and context. It seems quite simple on the surface: a guy named Wander takes a girl named Mono to a disembodied voice to be revived. Though the nature of their relationship is never revealed, it's clear that it's the most important thing to Wander, considering everything he's willing to risk for it.
After every Colossus, Wander appears again before Mono, who starts to appear healthier and with more birds surrounding her. In the end, Wander never gets to see Mono revived, but his sacrifice wasn't in vain — you get to see Mono rise again, joined by Wander's faithful horse, Agro.
5 Sir Daniel Fortesque
In the early days of the PlayStation, there were many low-poly titles that were all about platforming and adventures. Among them were the MediEvil games, which followed the journey of Sir Daniel Fortesque.
While alive he conned his way into becoming the King's favorite knight. However, he wasn't able to deliver when leading an army against a necromancer, and died before even engaging the enemy. When the necromancer returns, Daniel is brought back to life as a result. He's given a chance to redeem himself, by living up to how he presented himself.
4 Conker
With titles like Super Mario 64 and Ocarina Of Time, the N64 had a reputation for colorful fantasy games. Although Conker's Bad Fur Day had the colorful aspect down, it surprised many with its crude and mature material. It follows the story of a squirrel named Conker, who wakes up lost and with a hangover.
While trying to find his way home, he'll have to deal with a number of threats, strange characters, and animated objects. During the journey, Conker can die and be sent to the underworld, where Gregg The Grim Reaper greets him. He explains that since he's a squirrel, Conker can get another chance at life if he collects Squirrel Tails.
3 Seymour Guado
There's a tradition across games that heroes are constantly fighting the same enemies over and over again. Whether it's because they use non-lethal methods or that the opponent is just that tough, you're likely to battle them several times throughout the same adventure. This is quite common in the Final Fantasy games, where villains are defeated repeatedly but still manage to return.
In Final Fantasy 10, Seymour Guado is a prominent villain who wants to harness the power of a world-ending entity for himself. As such he will butt heads with the party, where he'll be killed, disintegrated, exploded, and expelled, before finally being truly dead.
2 Warren
Whether the cowboy narrative is mostly fiction, living in the Old West was tough no matter how you look at it. It's not surprising that there's a title called Hard West. This is a turn-based strategy game, with elements similar to the XCOM series.
You control the main character and anyone else who joins their posse, in order to complete objectives. The lead is a young man named Warren, who is gunned down alongside his wife. Due to an overwhelming desire for vengeance, he's given a chance to exact it from the Devil himself, who revives Warren as an undead gunslinger with the aim of sowing chaos in the world.
1 Cryptosporidium
With a name like Destroy All Humans! it's obvious that you're not in for a safe game. You play as an alien invader called Cryptosporidium, who serves a race called the Furons. What's interesting is that the game opens up with Crypto crawling out of a crashed spaceship and being apprehended by a military force.
And yet, in the next scene, he appears perfectly fine aboard the mother ship. That's because the Furons are a clone race, and whenever Crypto dies, his mind and memories are uploaded into a brand-new body. So effectively, each time he's killed, his body dies, but his mind doesn't.