The open-world genre has grown exponentially over the past decade, and there is now a huge variety of open-world games that borrow from all sorts of other video game genres. From survival games to RPGs and plenty more, it is stunning to see how the average size of a video game world has changed in the industry over the last ten years.

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Permadeath is the process of being completely reset in a game when the player dies, as opposed to getting brought back to a recent checkpoint or simply being made to restart a mission. Players return brutally to the main screen if they die, making for a lot of frustration. Fewer games use this feature nowadays, but some open-world games have included it.

7 Minecraft

It is true that Minecraft doesn’t always play with permadeath, but there are different natural modes that Minecraft comes with, and Hardcore is one of them. Many players choose to focus on the simple creative mode to build fantastical ideas straight from their imagination in the giant, block-filled worlds of Minecraft.

Others decide that simple survival featuring respawn is a good way to play. But the bravest Minecraft players choose to tackle the Hardcore mode, where they play in the exact same way as survival, except there is no option to respawn if they die in any fashion. Many Minecraft players have created wonderful worlds that are completely lost after a sudden hardcore death, making for a heartbreaking ending to many great playthroughs of this infamous game.

6 ELDERBORN

A fascinating game that takes a somewhat realistic approach to fantasy fighting, ELDERBORN is a short RPG where the player has to try and fight their way to the very top of the world of ruthless slayers. In an almost souls-like fashion, players have to work their way up, becoming more powerful with the more enemies they defeat.

However, the catch is that players, upon a single death or loss, will fall back to the very bottom in permadeath fashion, losing all of their progress. ELDERBORN is a great example of a game that seems unfriendly because the general standard of video game difficulty has changed so much in recent years.

5 No Man’s Sky

Another game that isn’t frequently played in the permadeath mode, No Man’s Sky is much more focused on the exploration aspects than fighting and other survival-game pieces. However, if players desire, they can also play this amazing survival game with permadeath added, as there is a permadeath mode that is again similar to the more frequently used survival mode.

The permadeath option also adds to the dangers that players will face, putting No Man’s Sky on a higher difficulty. Players have to sweat out many decisions that could mean a much more permanent death for their character, making the whole game a lot more terrifying to play through.

4 Wasteland 2

While not strictly containing permadeath, the brutal world of Wasteland 2 has shocked many players with the savage way that characters under the player’s control can be dispatched almost out of nowhere. In these open-world, turn-based-tactics games, player characters are extremely difficult to revive, and the time to do so is very limited.

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Players have to keep a constant supply of the right materials on them, as the time needed to save a character once they go down is limited. It is common in turn-based-tactics games for this kind of brutality to exist, whereupon the player’s team can be killed in a much more permanent way. In Wasteland 2, players usually get an early shock and lose one of their characters forever within the opening couple of hours.

3 Watch Dogs: Legion

Another game where the permadeath mode is optional for players, Watch Dogs: Legion is a game that added a fascinating twist to the franchise’s usual formula. Instead of having a single main character, players have a roster of recruited NPCs that, in permadeath mode, can die and never return.

This means that players will have to keep their roster filled and play carefully; if their roster is emptied, they will simply lose the game. While this is slightly less brutal than other games featuring permadeath, it is still a savage way to try and play through a modern game, as most games today don’t even bother adding the option for something so harsh.

2 Don’t Starve

Perhaps the most brutal survival game in terms of difficulty that is currently on the market, Don’t Starve is known for the cruelty with which it treats players. Though there are various ways to avoid death when near it; if the player doesn’t manage to stay alive, they are gone permanently.

There are a lot of things to watch out for while adventuring through the randomized open-world of Don’t Starve. Players need to not just find food and water but also different ways to keep their sanity meter from falling too low if they seek to avoid death. All of this is made a little easier if players join together for the co-opDon’t Starve Together mode instead.

1 The Sims 3

Though the fourth game in the franchise was questioned for leaving the open-world aspect aside, The Sims 3 did feature one, and this franchise also features permadeath for characters. The strangest thing about the permadeath in The Sims compared to other games is that it is inevitable; characters will eventually die.

Though there are ways to prolong life, potentially forever, if players are careful, once a Sim dies, they are gone. The randomness of some deaths and the looming inevitability of others makes this franchise one of the more brutal as far as character deaths go, leaving players as emotional wrecks by the end of their playthrough.

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