Death Wish

Recently I've been playing both {Xcom: Enemy Unknown} and {FTL: Faster Than Light}. These two very different games have one thing in common, beyond the sc-fi leanings and the alien spaceships, they both prominently feature permadeath as a gameplay mechanic.

Permanent death, or permadeath as it is commonly referred to, isn't a new concept. It's been with us for a while now, but recently we've seen a spate of games that feature the uncompromising mechanic. Game designers are once again embracing the notion that life is a finite commodity, a precious thing to be guarded, and gamers everywhere are lapping up the challenge.

Xcom and FTL both use permadeath, but the feature manifests itself in very different ways in each game. In Xcom you control a secret organisation tasked with eradicating an ever-encroaching alien threat. This is done by recruiting a pool of soldiers and taking them into dangerous turn-based combat. Each of the troops under your command accumulates experience and perks the more they're used, and after just a few battles they change from wet-behind-the-ears rookies, to battle-hardened warriors.

It doesn't take you long to grow attached to your troopers, because as they get more experienced, they become much more adept on the battlefield. But there's a risk attached to each mission you take, and every decision you make when you're on the ground. One misstep can see your lovingly nurtured Captain or Major appearing on a memorial wall near you.

It is undeniably brutal seeing one of your prized assets go the way of the dodo. The added threat of permadeath hangs over every decision, forcing careful consideration before each and every move. Tension shrouds every decision, adding gravitas to each exchange of fire.

The threat of permanent retirement necessitates a cautious approach, sure, but it affects the game in a much more subtle way. The brevity of your typical soldier's life, coupled with having previously watched several unlucky troopers face an unfortunate end, creates a bond between player and character that is difficult to replicate in other games. We care about these units more precisely because they might die at any minute. Permadeath adds more to the experience by threatening to take away at any moment.

Faster Than Light is a slightly different kettle of fish. At the very beginning we're presented with a ship and its crew. Before the game starts proper we can alter the names and gender of our crew, and rename our ship. The graphics are nothing special, and it's not really the characters and ship that we become attached to. The connection is between player and game; each play-through is unique thanks to randomised maps and an unpredictable narrative.

Completing FTL isn't a time consuming experience, but it is difficult to achieve. Progress is made across 8 sectors, each providing increasingly tricky encounters. By the end the challenge is solid, and each individual victory is hard-earned. But it's very much like walking a tightrope, one mistake and it's a long fall back to the start. The fear of failure ensures that the level of immersion is turned up to eleven, where any mistake could prove deadly, but every victory is oh so much sweeter as a result. It inspires a level of focus that just isn't present when failure isn't punished with the same permanency.

Faster Than Light bears a lot of similarities to classic Roguelike games (named after the classic dungeon crawler that went on to inspire the sub-genre, Rogue), in that permadeath is present, and progress is randomised. Realm of the Mad God, {Dungeons of Dredmor} and {The Binding of Isaac} are amongst the games currently riding the crest of this particular wave. Each features permadeath in one way or another, and each has proved successful by offering gamers the chance to fail.

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FTL and Xcom aren't the only two games that I've been playing recently that embrace permanent death. Day Z, the zombie survival mod for Arma 2, is another game that gives you one bite at the apple.

Each new character awakens on the shore of a bleak ex-Soviet landscape. Armed with nothing but the knowledge that everything is out to kill you, you guard your life until the bitter end, fighting off the undead and other players (they can be notoriously brutal) until the last drop of blood escapes from your body.

Most have us have played some zombie titles at some point in our gaming lives. {Dead Rising}, {Resident Evil} and {Left 4 Dead} are all enduringly popular franchises, and whilst the fledgling Day Z community might not be as large, it's certainly as dedicated. Gamers are discovering the harsh thrill of permadeath, and are enjoying the significance that adds to their experience.

Perhaps its inclusion in Day Z best highlights why the feature has once again returned to prominence. Too many games come with the description "survival horror," but when failure to survive is only a minor, temporary setback, it certainly detracts from the overall atmosphere. How often do we all run into virtual rooms, guns blazing, when the situation really should dictate a more considered approach. The relatively minor punishment for death is hardly a disincentive to play recklessly.

{Zombi U} is another game that is adopting a permadeath mechanic (of sorts). When killed by a zombie the player character dies, and the player is relocated to another, nearby character, and the survival adventure continues. You can even track down your now undead former-self and take back your precious inventory. It sounds like a nice halfway house between survival horror and permadeath, though we'll reserve judgement till we've played the final version. It does go to illustrate just how popular this relatively hardcore mechanic has become, if Nintendo are flirting with it for a launch title it must be hovering on the fringes of mainstream acceptability.

There are definitely times where it wouldn't work, and developers are usually canny enough to adopt the mechanic appropriately. Early game content needs to be exciting and fun to avoid player frustration when treading on worn ground. That's one of the primary reason that permadeath fits so snuggly within the Roguelike subgenre, as the randomly generated content ensure a fresh and engaging adventure, no matter how many times the game is replayed.

Games like {Diablo III} and {Torchlight II} feature hardcore modes that equate to permadeath. They're modes designed to give hardcore players a challenge after the regular content has been conquered. MMOs usually shy away from the mechanic, but Paradox's {Salem} is one that looks to buck that particular trend.

Other games from different genres have also applied the ideas in different ways: {Minecraft} has a Hardcore mode, where you constructed world disappears after death, and the one in {Dead Space 2} gives players a limited amount of saves. Death ensures a long trek back from the last save point, amping up the atmosphere in an already tense game. It's not going to be everybody's cup of tea, but for players who have already invested hours and hours into a particular title, a hardcore/permadeath option only adds to longevity and can resurrect the fear of failure absent in a regular play-through.

There are plenty of games out there prepared to offer a sterner challenge than the rank and file. They're providing permadeath options and hardcore modes because gamers want them, the added threat of permanent death is reinvigorating tired ideas and helping gamers capture a long-lost buzz that can only be achieved when walking the finest of lines. I for one am embracing this recent change of emphasis, whether it comes in the form of a revitalised Roguelike genre, or from more unusual sources such as DayZ and Xcom.

The safety net is being removed, and one slip means certain death, loss of progress, and a swift restart. But you know what? I don't mind that one bit.