Death is pretty integral to videogames. Not in some fancy, high-falutin conceptual way, but as the default failure state in most action games. Even when it’s not explicitly referred to as such by the game, we talk about dying, about losing lives. At the same time, the attitude towards death is rather relaxed. You die, you restart, you try again. No biggie, until some story beat snatches a beloved NPC away from you. (Aeris! *sob*)
While some games have played with this, embracing death as a game mechanic, like Planescape: Torment, or rejecting it entirely, like Fable 2, the big shake up for dying in games came with Dark Souls and chums. Suddenly death mattered beyond simply losing progress. I’m not going to go into detail, for fear of stealth Soulsborne article accusations, but if you’ve carefully edged through a tough area to reclaim your lost souls/echoes/rings, you’ll know what I mean.
Thing is, it’s been a while and that approach is getting a bit stale. Did it really need to be in Tunic? Like Anor Londo, it’s beautiful, but stagnant. We need a fresh take on popping the old clogs. That’s where Blood West comes moseying into town, all cocksure gunslinger swagger. Death is a big part of the game, not least because that’s how you start out, a freshly raised undead desperado (undeasperado), tasked with collecting cursed golden artefacts by the (supposedly) benevolent spirits who dragged you back to the land of the living. Since they’ve done it once, they can do it again, rendering death a very temporary state of affairs.
Maybe surprisingly, you don’t drop anything when you die. No loot to recover, no experience points lost, nothing. On the other hand, resurrection isn’t a simple task (apparently, I don’t have extensive training in the necromantic arts) and you come back with a flaw. Just a minor one at first, a small health debuff maybe, or a penalty to your sneaking ability. Each time you die, it gets a bit worse and, after three deaths, flourishes into a full blown curse with a much stronger effect.
Here’s the really clever bit. You’re not stuck with the curse for good. The powers that dragged you from the grave can also lift a curse, once it’s fully active. There’s no cost involved, but you do have to perform a task as a symbolic part of the curse breaking ritual. They’re simple enough – kill a few of a certain enemy, bag yourself a bevy of headshot kills, that sort of thing, but they create a rather pleasing gameplay loop as you patch up your dodgy body and soul. Dying still hurts, since some of the enemies you’ve felled will respawn when you do, but it also gives you a chance to sell some loot and stock up on ammo, maybe go to your stash and grab some different weapons and try another approach.