In many games, companions are what breathe the most life into them. They're the lifeblood of their respective series, the thing that keeps you pushing forward, wanting to learn more and more about them. But of course, games can handle their companions very differently.
Sure, there's the kind that has a deep pre-defined character and history, but sometimes it can be a character that you make yourself or are given to you at random that you grow to love. So of course, the deaths of those companions can be devastating, for story and gameplay. So what about the games where when your companions die, they stay dead?
10 ꦡ The Fire Emblem Series ⛎
Beginning all the way back in 1990 with the original, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Fire Emblem has had permanent character death as a staple from the very beginning. This remained the default for the games up until Awakening when they added an easier mode 𒀰where companions simply left the battle after death.
With the series propelled to greater heights with Three Houses, it's nice to see this more challenging version of the game still present, where every move could mean the loss of a beloved character.
9 The Mass Effect Series 🅘
Bioware has become famed for their well-realized character and their wondrous depth, from their early beginnings to their latest releases. But the series where its companions stand out the most may well be 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Mass Effect. After a trilogy is spent with these characters, their parting can be all tಞhe mor💝e painful.
This is seen especially in Mass Effect 2's Suicide Mission. The time you've invested into your companions is critical. Completion of their loyalty missions is key to boosting their confidence, and your own knowledge of their skills is integral to giving them the right tasks. It weighs heavier knowing their lives are in your hands.
8 XCOM 2
Maybe a slightly more unexpected entry is XCOM 2. The XCOM games have become known for their harsh odds and punishing combat, and this too is in your characters. It's like playing chess, where every scenario needs to be taken into account to ensure everyone survives.
But losing a valuable unit isn't the only negative here. With the War of the Chosen expansion, your units can develop relationships with each other as well, and the loss of one can lead to a mental break in the other, making their death traumatizing not just for you, but your other units as well.
7 ꦇ The Fallout Series ♓
Starting in 1997, the Fallout series has changed drastically over time - from its beginnings as an isometric game under Black Isle Studios, to the third-person shooter it is now under Bethesda. But a feature all the games have reta🌟ined is that of your companions dying.
The original is grueling, death coming for you almost as easily as your companions, but where it shines brightest is in New Vegas. In hardcore, basically, every NPC can die at any time, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:your companions included. This is even more devastating on account of how interlinked many of the companions are to the game's many quests.
6 The Outer Worlds 🐲
As a natural follow-up to Fallout: New Vegas, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:The Outer Worlds is Obsidian making the game perfectly to their own vision (and headed by one of the creators of Fallout, no less). It's heavy satire, and every choice holds some consequence, big or small.
But a major aspect of the game is that any character can die, and the game just continues. And of course, your companions included. There's a certain camaraderie amongst the companions of The Outer Worlds, all of them bundled up in your ship. So the loss of any of them makes the whole journey feel just a little bit more empty.
5 🍌 The Dragon Age Series
Another of Bioware, the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dragon Age series has always handled character death a little more interestingly. Rather than being able to die in combat, they can only die in specific scenarios. But after that, they're gone for good. You could kill Zevran or Wynne on your first meeting, Anders on your last, and even put Blackwall on trial.
Origins likely has it the strongest, offering multiple opportunities for many companions to die. With Morrigan in the party, Wynne can be killed on her first encounter, any of the grey wardens could die against the archdemon, and Leliana can die at Lothering or be killed by you if you defile the Ashes of Andraste. There's a feeling that each companion is reacting to your decisions, sometimes at the cost of their lives.
4 ﷽Divinity: Origin⛎al Sin 2
Larian Studios are often seen as a shining star in modern RPGs, blending some of the isometric view and depth of choices of classics with deeper combat and detail of modern games, and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Divinity: Original Sin 2 is a wonderful example of it. From the depth of the opening section to the great expanses of the character creator, you truly feel like you're carving out your own place.
Companions, however, work interestingly. They can die in combat, true, but can be revived with scrolls or certain individuals. But if you choose to actively target them yourself? That's it. There's no coming back from an active choice like that. It hurts all the more knowing you can even choose to 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:play those characters.
3 ღ 🤡 Darkest Dungeon
168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Darkest Dungeon's companions fit a similar vein to those of XCOM. They're maybe not people with incredibly deep stories, but rather forged by the experiences they live through. Similarly, active planning and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:effecti꧂ve use of your party a🙈re essential to survival.
The most interesting shift in Darkest Dungeon however is the fact that, at times, you simply can't anticipate how your characters will react. They may have their own fears, or when over-stressed, may simply break down or find a new lease in life. It's thrilling and stressful, knowing that there's always a degree of uncertainty determining your adventure, and your very lives.
2 Baldur's Gate
Another game series originally by Bioware, though one in a style quite different from their more recent games, is 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Baldur's Gate. A series developed by a great many developers, and most recently by Larian Studios, many of the games feature a similar system of companion death to Divinity: Original Sin 2, t✅hough a degree harsher.
When your companions die, they can be revived in the typical way, scrolls or paying - though death comes easier here, and it is harder to come across those means of survival. So common is death, in fact, that there is a massive 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:breadth of companions to countꦜer this exact issue. The third entry even has a similar system in place.
1 Final🅘 Fantasy T🐻actics
Originally released in 1997, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Final Fantasy Tactics serves as a kind of spiritual successor to Tactics Ogre, another series created by the same director, Hiroyuki Ito. The game had a distinctive art style and depth of dec▨isions and characters. As a result, a major aspect of that was the death of ch🃏aracters.
Intended to be more accessible than other tactics games, when characters fall in battle here the𝓰re is a turn counter, counting down how long 🔥you have to revive said character. If you fail to reach it in time, however, the character crystallizes and is gone forever, their input on the story gone too.