Is death really the end of all things? For a lot of video game characters, no, it’s not. Not even dying can stop some of them from making a triumphant return in a sequel in some form or another, even if a character died a pointless death.

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It could be for plot-related reasons, or to appease eager fans who were hoping to see their favorite characters become playable again. They could be resurrected as ghosts and zombies, or have been brought back due to science, genetic mutations, or even divine abilities beyond anyone’s understanding. Whatever the reason is, these characters never let losing their lives get in the way of making a big return.

9 Albert Wesker (Resident Evil: Code Veronica)

First Appearance: Resident Evil

Wesker’s return was not anticipated in the slightest. After all, he was brutally impaled by his so-called “ultimate life-form”, the hulking bioweapon known as the Tyrant. There was surely no way Albert Wesker could’ve survived that. And yet… he did.

The reason is because of the virus that was transmitted through his body from the Tyrant’s attack (one could argue that he was about to die, or, on the other side of the coin, he was killed and resurrected). Thanks to his superior genetics, it gave him exceptional regenerative abilities, increased strength and speed, and so much more. None of this was made clear yet when he appeared in Resident Evil: Code Veronica when he confronted Chris Redfield’s sister, Claire. Nevertheless, it remains a shocker of a return.

8 Simon Whittlebone (Twisted Metal: Head-On)

First Appearance: Twisted Metal 2

was developed by SingleTrac, though 989 Studios took over with a sequel that got ragged on by fans and critics. It wouldn’t be until 9 years later that Incognito Entertainment (made up of some of the original members of SingleTrac) would create a ‘true’ sequel to the game: Twisted Metal: Head-On, which featured some great destruction derby gameplay.

With it was the return of Simon Whittlebone, rider of the construction vehicle Mr. Slamm. In the second game, he won the Twisted Metal tournament to create the biggest tower in the world… only to fall to his death after gloating a bit too hard from its highest point. Here, he came back as a literal ghost in the machine, hoping to become reborn and prevent his beloved Whittlebone Tower from being destroyed.

7 Vince Desi (Postal 4)

First Appearance: Postal 2

Vince Desi is the CEO of Running With Scissors, the creators of the Postal series. He appeared in the second game as… well, himself. The protagonist, Postal Dude, is fired by him on his first day of working at RWS. He miraculously survived the town of Paradise being nuked (a marketing tactic requested by Desi himself), and started his own religion in the add-on Postal 2: Paradise Lost. After being infected by zombies, he somehow becomes human again if the player decides to go and thank everyone in town for helping him find his recently reunited dog… only to have to kill him.

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Once again, regardless of whether the player murdered him in the main game or add-on in his zombie or human form, Desi returned as a mob boss in the border town Edensin, ready to offer even more questionable work.

6 Sgt. Johnson (Halo 2)

First Appearance: Halo: Combat Evolved

The curious case of how Sgt. Johnson managed to escape a Halo ring from being blown up, only to appear in a sequel, is a mystery that has perplexed players. The rest of his troops were wasted by the Flood, including Captain Keyes. In Halo: Combat Evolved, upon beating the final mission on Legendary difficulty, a secret cutscene shows Johnson fighting an Elite on the same ring that is obliterated by the Master Chief.

Revealed to be alive and well in the sequel, no explanation of what exactly happened was ever given. When asked by Master Sergeant Gunns about how he “came home in one piece”, Johnson responded with “Sorry, Gunns. It's classified.” However, he would officially meet his end in the third entry.

5 Lucien LaChance (The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim)

First Appearance: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

One of the most memorable characters from The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion was Lucien LaChance of the Dark Brotherhood. After the player rises through the ranks, he directly offers them contracts to fulfill. Partway through, they end up getting tampered with, whereby the protagonist ends up bumping off members of the Black Hand instead! LaChance was mistakenly killed by the survivors, thought to have been the traitor.

In The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, however, he returned under the name ‘Spectral Assassin’. Capable of being summoned by the player, it turns out his soul was kept intact for all his years of servitude to the guild by the worshiped deity known as the Night Mother. LaChance was more than honored to keep murdering in the name of the Dread Father, Sithis, as a ghost.

4 Liu Kang (Mortal Kombat: Deception)

First Appearance: Mortal Kombat

Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance practically saved Midway when the fourth entry in the series didn’t quite leave the impression that they had hoped for. With a new entry for sixth-generation platforms, the developers pulled a shocking twist right from the get-go: the Earth-Realm champion, Liu Kang, dies.

Liu Kang canonically won most, if not all, of the Mortal Kombat tournaments up to that point. And then, he was defeated by the combined power of sorcerers Quan Chi and Shang Tsung. It was revealed that the thunder god Raiden, after sacrificing himself in Mortal Kombat: Deception, returned in his dark form. Consequently, he revived the monk’s body as a zombie, while his separated spirit still aided the good guys.

3 Mileena (Mortal Kombat 11)

First Appearance: Mortal Kombat II

The savage Tarkatan clone Mileena deserves a spot on her own as well, and there’s a darn good reason for that. Fans were outraged at her execution in Mortal Kombat 10 by D’Vorrah, who has killed off some of the series’ favorites and thus garnered a sour reputation. And, to the disappointment of many, she wasn’t in the sequel.

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That was until the Kombat Pack 2 DLC dropped for Mortal Kombat 11. Thanks to overwhelming support from fans (she herself says in one of her dialogue exchanges, “a million souls cried out for my return”), she made a triumphant return to great fanfare. It just goes to show that no one truly dies in this series.

2 Kazuya Mishima (Tekken 4)

First Appearance: Tekken

The Mishima family has a long history of father-and-son Heihachi and Kazuya trying to kill each other. Heihachi dumped Kazuya off a cliff when he was a boy, but he just came back stronger. Kazuya reciprocated it in his ending for Tekken. In Tekken 2, Heihachi is revealed to have survived and got his revenge by dumping his son into a volcano.

Kazuya wasn’t around in the third game, being replaced by a new character, Jin. However, he came back for the fourth entry, thanks to G Corporation reclaiming his intact remains days after his death. And so, he lived to fight another day.

1 Kane (Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun)

First Appearance: Command & Conquer: Red Alert

The enigmatic leader of the fanatical Brotherhood of Nod said it best: “You can’t kill the Messiah”. For the longest time, there just seemed to be nothing that could stop Kane from returning.

In the first game, he was vaporized by an orbital laser. But he came back almost 40 years later to wage another war in the famed RTS games, Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun. After being stabbed by a GDI commander and tossed off a cliff into a canyon of the highly toxic crystal Tiberium, he still came back for Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars to start yet another war. It’s no wonder he’s got such a dedicated following when he’s capable of coming back for more bloodshed again and again.

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