Numerous deaths in countless games have, for the most part, desensitized us to the deaths of our characters, allowing us to stomach the frustration of re-occuring, highly preventable deaths.
But what are the most cliché ways to die? We’re talking about deaths so common that any gamer worth their salt has experienced them any number of times.
Here are the most hackney deaths of all time:
The Spike Trap
When walking through desolate tombs, you’re bound to encounter at least one triggered spike trap, instantly impaling you and concluding this particular playthrough.
It’s a pretty normal occurrence these days, having taken place as far back as the original Prince of Persia.
For the sake of flavour, spike traps come in a great many varieties, like the hollow ditch spike traps. We can’t be the only ones to have fallen into a pit of pointed sticks.
In summation, avoid odd or noticeably different tiles, even if they’re just a slightly lighter shade. Surefooted or not, they will mean the end of you.
The “OMG, is he chasing me?! I am about to di…”
You know how it goes. Having just entered an unsavoury looking, dimly lit room with nothing more than an empty revolver and a flashlight, a large brute in the distance makes his move for us.
Not wanting to be eaten, mishandled or however else the brute plans to end our lives, we run in the opposite direction. An because it’s never mean to be that easy, we’re giving the developer the benefit of the doubt here, objects placed out of sight and a poor camera leads us to becoming trapped between a brute and a non-clippable place.
And like a tax, death is indubitable, a part of the experience. Worst of all is when we finally do manage to circumnavigate these obstacles, we walk over a freaking spike trap just as we’re about to escape.
The Black Screen
The black screen has become more popular over the past few years, and I can see why.
Instead of filling the screen with blood and guts when your character dies, the black screen allows for a more subtle interpretation of what is going on.
When you’re grabbed by a Clicker in The Last of Us, for example, you don’t see the gory death, but you see enough to know what is about to happen.
It’s an easy bit of editing and leaves it up to the player to imagine what’s going on.
Like a tangible menace, the black screen signals your death as surely as the brute or spike trap.
The Mashing of the Button
We’ve all been through it, that moment where you’re playing a co-op game with AI teammates and you’re down. Now, thanks to terrible programming, you have to witness your teammates standing around, not a care in the world, failing to revive you.
Your only chance of postponing your death is to mash buttons as fast as possible, but in the end, it will do nothing to keep you alive.
The same goes for playing online with friends, most of whom are too preoccupied with looting fallen adversaries to care about your meaningless life. It’s either that, or they’re frustrating trolls and have better things to do.
That said, at least when playing with friends, as they teabag you into oblivion, you’ll go out with a bang.
The Misjudged Jump
You’re trying to make it across a platforming section in a game, and you’ve done pretty well up until this point.
But don’t let that current high fool you into thinking you’re going to get away lightly. Whether your hand has a sudden spasm, you completely miscalculate that final jump or your controller loses its shit for but a brief moment, you’re going to fall.
But being the professional that you are, you quickly blame the tools at your disposal. It’s not you; it’s the game.
The same thing goes for those darn walls that you’re supposed to shimmy your way across, jump from ledge to ledge, and climb along. Sometimes it really is the character that decides to disobey your instruction and be their own soul.
The Out of Bounds Area –Seen in: Basically every game.
Okay, so game worlds are only so big, and even though the landscape in the distance looks like it has been made to be explored, chances are it’s just a collection of pretty textures.
We have this thing called the “death by misadventure”, also known as “going into an area that you cannot be in”. But you know what, you’re going in anyway!
We’re given warnings, advised to steer clear and eventually die, repeatedly, but we keep pushing those boundaries.
It’s not that we don’t learn; it’s that we don’t like being told we can’t do something.
What cliché death scenes do you love the most? Let us know in the comments and forum.
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