permadeath

[ pur-muh-deth ]

noun

1. (in a game, often a video game) the permanent death of a defeated character, after which the player of the game cannot continue with the same character.

Word History and Origins

Origin of permadeath¹

perma(nent) + death

Example Sentences

“They stayed up late, texting and posting on social media and watching videos on YouTube. They stayed indoors playing games online, inhabiting multiple roles in massive multiplayer virtual realities ... hearts pounding, adrenaline pumping, narrowly avoiding permadeath as they tried simply to survive, and this was on top of their afterschool activities, their music lessons and soccer practice. No wonder they were tired.”

From Los Angeles Times

As a non-roguelike-lover, Hades took the biggest thing that I really don’t like about roguelikes—the permadeath—and made it into something to look forward to.

From Slate

The slick trick even allow a player to choose a permadeath option that will eliminate any currently used character if he dies, offering another layer of decision-making strategy to the recruiting process.

From Washington Times

The older Fire Emblem games were famous for permadeath, which is the video game term for, uh, death.

From The Verge

In the standard mode the game still features permadeath, so you have to be careful.

From The Verge