Death and Video Games

Dying is a part of almost every video game, you either die, or kill, hundreds of times in the average game. Even in games that try to focus less on the minute-to-minute gameplay and instead try to emphasis their world and/or story you will most likely have killed hundreds of people and died at least a dozen times by the time you reach the credits. The Last of Us is a fantastic example of this. Death even creeps into the cozy genre of gaming. Just look at Stardew Valley that opens with the death of your character’s grandfather. Then we have games aimed at younger players, like Pokémon, that attempt to downplay any connection to death and dying. Defeated pokémon don’t die, they faint, only to be revived at the nearest pokécentre. But then we see Marowak haunting the Pokémon Tower, or Ogerpon’s former master being killed in the Gen 9 DLC. Death is still a vital part of these more family friendly games. Now that we understand the many ways that we see death, and even deal it out to others, I’d like to start to understand the relationship between it and gaming. So, let’s ask and then try to answer a simple question.
What relationship does gaming have with death?

Vita - Chapter Two - Adolescence

 2E 396

Within the temple’s right wing, towards the back of the infirmary, on the ground floor, resided the morgue. This was a dark room, lit with only a few candles resting upon the stonework surface at the back of the room and two sconces, one either side of the heavy wooden door. These flames created long, dark, shadows that flickered and danced along the walls of this unloved space. Within a temple dedicated to life, this room of death was often ignored, pushed away from the forefront of the minds of those that called this temple home. Six tables took up the bulk of the room, each of them built from strong oak which had aged over the years. The bodies of those the temple healers were unable to save occupied four of these tables. Each one covered with white linen sheets. These sheets had been removed from the faces of the bodies by the hidden dweller of this dire chamber.
Hidden within the dark shadows, atop the shelves of supplies at the back of the room, a troubled nineteen-year-old Lia perched. She liked it here, only the spiders and corpses for company. She stared at the still, empty, bodies below her; the things that had once been people. The recent argument with her brother repeated itself within her mind.
How could he be so foolish?
She clenched her fist tight, feeling the sting of pain as her fingernails began to dig into the flesh of her palm. The pain was a welcome distraction. Proof that she was not like those empty bodies below her. Eleven years had passed since she had witnessed her mother slip from a person to a body. From a she, to an it. The shock of her death had sent Lia and her brother in two different directions. Anton had leaned in closer to the temple, relied on them while he grieved, which strengthened his faith in Vita. He was now a twenty-five-year-old man, and a healer devoted to Vita.
Lia had become the black sheep of the temple. She had begun to question the teachings of the Goddess of life. Vita taught that life was a gift that should be cherished, nurtured, and protected. This teaching stood in complete contradiction to the lesson taught by one of the bodies in front of Lia right now. Three of the bodies were of a natural age for death to have collected their souls. Lia would have guessed they were within their seventies or eighties. But the fourth body. The boy couldn’t have been any older than fifteen. As far as Lia could understand it, life wasn’t some wonderful gift, it was a chaotic mess. You could be young, fit, and seemingly healthy and then just die because your heart was simply too weak to continue. This had been what had happened to her mother. Maybe the dead child in front of her had fallen down a flight of stairs or had been unlucky enough to have caught an illness too strong for the healers. Whatever had killed him was just another part of the chaos that was life.
For a while after the loss of her mother, Lia had latched onto the idea that life didn’t end with death. That souls would be able to spend eternity with their chosen Deity. She had gone searching for stories of those able to communicate with the dead. All she had found were stories of souls trapped within the physical world as ghosts, wraths, liches, or other forms of the undead. She had found no evidence of anyone being able to talk with those that had passed on from this physical realm. Despite what all the faithful within this temple told her, Lia could find no evidence that life continued after a soul left the physical realm. As far as she could understand it, the evidence pointed towards a soul just ceasing to exist when it left the physical realm. This, oblivion, this, true death, was not something that Lia could allow to happen to her. Any existence was surely better than no existence at all!
Such a claim was heresy. It went against what the Gods and Goddesses had assured their faithful. To claim they were either mistaken or intentionally hiding the truth would have been heretical doctrine within almost any church.
Yet, as Lia stared into the absent blank stare of the dead boy below her, she could believe nothing less than this. It was what the evidence pointed to.
The loud sound of her brother opening the heavy door to the morgue pulled her attention away from the bodies.
“Lia?” His voice was trying to sound concerned, but the irritation was still obvious after their last argument. She had fled from their shared dorm room, slamming the door behind her, and had hidden within her new favourite spot.
How long had he been looking for her?
The flickering of torchlight from the open door told her that it was at least past sunset.
“You in here?” Anton questioned as he took one uneasy step inside. Lia couldn’t help but smirk at his natural discomfort with the very idea of this room. Death was something that he was unprepared for as a monk dedicated to the Goddess of life. As he looked around, she imagined his eyes struggling with the darkness. Eventually he noticed that the linen sheets had been pulled back from the faces of the bodies in front of him. “I know you’re here. I can see you’ve removed the burial shrouds!” After a moment of no response, he sighed and took a step forward, towards the bodies. Without looking directly at them he slowly, and carefully, pulled the linen sheets back over the faces of the corpses. He eventually reached the body of the young boy and began to pull the sheet over the boy’s face.
“Stop!” Lia’s loud command broke the silence like a hammer through a window. Anton physically jumped at the sound. Although he turned to face her direction it was obvious that he still couldn’t see her in the darkness.
“I’m not doing this again, Lia. Especially not here!” Anton called into the shadows.
“Why not? Look at him.” Anton turned to face the body of the child in front of him, laying there, dead on the table. He quickly turned away, uncomfortable at what he saw. “Was he undeserving of your lady’s gift?”
“We’ve been over this Lia! Vita doesn’t control death, she only puts life into the world, once the lives are there, her power over them ends.”
“What about mum?”
“The same went for her too.”
“Does Vita let you talk to her?”
“You know the answer to this. Vita says that the living and the dead must remain separated.”
“How convenient.” Lia snapped at her brother, venom dripping from her words.
“What are you saying Lia?” Anton’s words held a threat of their own.
“I don’t think I can believe in something without evidence.”
“Are Vita’s words not enough evidence for you‽” Anton’s tone had softened; it sounded almost like he was pleading for her to stop this line of thinking. She dropped from the shadowed shelf onto the stone workbench below her. As she landed on the hard stone she scooped up a knife used during autopsies.
“I need proof, real proof.” She drew closer to her brother, who in turn took a step away from her. A fear response. “Look at this poor boy. He’s gone, Anton, just gone. All we know for sure is that he's not here anymore. I need more evidence than the vague words of a Goddess that refuses to show herself to me just because I question her teachings.”
“Don’t go down this path Lia.” Anton’s voice had lost all its edge now; he was outwardly pleading with her.
“How much do you truly believe that souls go to their God?” Lia’s voice was sharp, a razor ready to cut.
“With my whole heart.” With this Lia lunged forward, pushing Anton up against the wooden door, as she plunged the knife towards his throat. It was only due to her precision with the weapon that it didn’t end up pinning him to the door. As it was the knife was dug about a centimetre into the wood, with the blade held against Anton’s throat.
“So you wouldn’t mind if I sent you to her?” Lia could feel her brothers throat strain against the blade as he swallowed down his fear. He was obviously trying to figure out the perfect thing to say.
“It is my duty to protect the gift given to me by my Goddess!” A bead of sweat dripped down his forehead.
“Coward!” Lia pushed the knife deeper into the wood of the door, the blade pressed hard enough against her brother’s throat to draw out a trickle of blood. As she was considering what to do next, all the air from her lungs was forced out as Anton’s knee collided with her ribs. Lia fell backwards, knocking one of the tables containing a body over as she did. She hit the floor along with the body of an old woman. Lia’s knife clattered to the floor next to her. She quickly snatched it up and began to lunge at her brother, but he was gone. The door to the morgue was slowly closing under its own weight. Through the shrinking opening of the doorway, she saw her brother sprinting away down the hallway.
She couldn’t stay at the temple anymore. After what she had done, what she had said, she would no longer be welcome within Vita’s home.
She had taken her first real steps away from her old life…

Vita - Chapter One - Infancy

 2E 385

The sun shone bright and warm in the sky above the Temple of Vita that Lia called home. The gardens outside the temple walls were bursting with life of all sorts, as suited the Goddess of Life. The wildflowers and thorny weeds of the garden were deemed just as worthy of Vita’s gift as any other creature, plant, or organism that called Honosreach home. Lia was one of many children that also called the lush, fertile, temple home. She loved to spend her time by the large pond that resided within the temple’s gardens. Each of the many ducks that called the area home during the summer months had been given a name by the creative child. She was currently picking apart the remains of her lunch and throwing it to the ducks. As she threw a particularly large chunk of bread to a mother duck and her parade of ducklings, an opportunistic fish snatched up the morsel before the duck and ducklings were able to reach it. Lia imagined how upset the duck must have felt.
“Don’t worry Dina, I’ve plenty more bread for you and your babies.” Lia assured the mother duck as she picked off another bit of bread. “Besides, it’s nice to share. Think about how happy that fish must feel now.” She added as she threw another chunk of bread towards the duck, she had named Dina. The next hour passed peacefully like this; with Lia making sure that each of the ducks, and several of the fish, had all had at least a single piece of bread. Her conversation with the ducks mirrored the lessons she had been taught during her schooling hours. Outside of the basic reading and writing classes, these were mostly lessons about the goddess Vita, and the gift of life she granted all that lived. After she was out of bread, Lia started to think of names for the many new ducklings that had recently hatched.
Lia was lost in the process when her older brother, Anton, rushed up to her. She knew that something was wrong as soon as she saw him. His eyes were red and puffy and through his panting she could hear him sniffling. Lia was eight, and had known Anton her entire life, so this wasn’t the first time she had seen her brother cry, but since he had grown into a teenager, it had become much rarer. Whatever was wrong, it was bad enough to trump any feelings of embarrassment that her brother may have been feeling regarding his tears.
“Lia, you need to come with me.” Between the sniffles and panting Anton was having trouble talking.
“Why? What’s wrong?” Lia probed, nervous of the answer.
“It’s mum. She’s, well, she’s, something’s wrong with her. The healers are doing their best, but they say, they’re saying, she doesn’t have long left.” Lia didn’t fully understand what Anton had told her.
Lia was about to ask questions when she felt Anton take her by the hand and pull her towards the inside of the temple. She let her brother lead her through the interior of the building as she blindly followed through the many hallways and up the stairs towards a part of the temple that she didn’t know that well. Before she really had time to register it, she was standing in one of the many rooms of the temple’s infirmary. She had never been here before, and she didn’t like being here now. This was a place for grown-ups. Worse than that, it was a place that she had noticed made the grown-ups sad. Lia looked around, the room was long, with walls that were a pale, off-looking yellow colour; the colour reminded her of old paper. While there was a desk with a nun behind it at the end of the room, the rest of the room was full of beds. None of them looked comfortable. They had bare metal frames and mattresses that were the same nasty yellow colour as the walls. Most of these gross mattresses were hidden by beautiful blue bed sheets, and thin but soft looking blankets. Most of these beds contained people, but none of them looked happy. They all shared the same blank eyed expression; like they were looking at the world but not quite seeing it. Lia wondered why all the people looked like this.
“Hello Anton, Lia.” The soft voice startled Lia as she hadn’t notice anyone approach her or her brother. The voice belonged to one of the nuns. She was young, only a little older than Anton, with a kind face, and a smile that didn’t feel genuine.
“Do you know what’s happened to her?” Lia heard the fear in her brother’s voice.
“We can’t be certain, but Father Jones, a skilled healer, thinks that it was her heart.” Lia didn’t understand what this meant.
“I’m sorry, but what does that mean? Will...” Anton choked on his words as he tried to ask his next question, fresh tears welling up in his eyes as he struggled with the words. “Will she be okay?” Lia hadn’t seen her big brother act like this since she had been a baby, and he was a little boy. It was scary to see her almost grown-up brother cry like this.
Why wasn’t she crying?
Was there something wrong with her?
She didn’t know. If she was being honest, she wasn’t sure what was happening.
“There’s no easy way to say this, but I’m afraid not. Her heart is weak; she has hours at most. I’m sorry.” Lia could hear the kindness in the lady’s words. It wasn’t enough to stop Anton from bursting into tears. He buried his face in his palms and hid from the nurse and his sister. He turned to face the lady in the bed next to them. He continued to sob like a little boy again.
Lia wasn’t sure what was happening or why she was here.
“Excuse me miss.” Lia began as she tugged slightly on the nurse’s long pink dress. “What are we supposed to do?” The nun smiled at her, but the smile looked sad. That confused Lia even more, how could a smile look sad. You smiled when you were happy, yet this smile was sad. It made no sense to her.
“All you can do is say goodbye to your mummy.” That answer confused her even more.
“Why? Where’s she going?” The nun’s smile faltered for a moment at this question, but she recovered so quickly that it almost felt like she had never stopped smiling at all.
“She’s going to be with Vita. You know Vita, right?”
“Yes, Father Mark talks about her a lot.”
“What does Father Mark say about her?”
“He says that she’s the mother, that’s like a mummy, to all the living things in the world. She lives in her own realm, where she looks after all the souls that are yet to be born. He says that we’re responsible for looking after the lives that Vita puts into the world. That’s what we do here, at the temple.” The nun’s smile broadened, feeling genuine for the first time, as Lia answered. She felt proud of herself for remembering her lessons.
“That’s right. I look after people that get poorly. Most the time me and the other healers can make them better so that they can enjoy Vita’s gift of life for longer. Sometimes, we can’t make them better. When this happens, we get them ready to go and be with Vita, or whichever God they worship. Does that make sense?” Lia didn’t really understand it all, but she wanted to make the kind lady smile again, so she lied.
“Yes it does. When people can’t get better, they go away to be with Vita.”
“That’s right. Your mummy is getting ready to be with Vita now. So, you and your brother have to say goodbye to her.” Despite Lia having said the right thing, the nun’s smile returned to looking sad.
“When will I be able to see mummy again?”
“You will see her when you go to be with Vita yourself, when you’re older.”
“Oh…” The word trailed off. Lia wondered how long that would be. She was eight now, mummy was fifty-something, which meant, it would be longer than Lia had been alive. That was a long time. While it didn’t really make complete sense to her, she felt like she was beginning to understand why her big brother was crying. If she wouldn’t see mummy in more years than she could remember, which felt like forever, then that was sad.
How would mummy see her grow up and have babies of her own like Dina the duck?
Lia turned away from the nurse and looked up at the bed in front of her. For the first time, she noticed that the lady in the bed was her mummy; but she didn’t look right. Her normally dark skin was lighter than normal. She was having trouble breathing, with the strained sounds of her raspy inhales marking the passing of time. Worst of all were her eyes. They were looking towards Anton, who was a blubbering mess. Despite her brother’s sobs, it was like mummy didn’t see him.
“Mummy?” Lia called out, as she tugged on the blankets that covered her mummy. Nothing happened. So, Lia tugged harder and called out louder. “Mummy‽” Still nothing happened. She tugged as hard as she could on the blanket, pinching mummy’s arm by mistake. “Mummy‽” At last, mummy turned to face her. Mummy was looking at her, or rather, she was looking in her direction, but it was like mummy couldn’t see her.
Normally when Lia came home from playing outside or learning about things in class, mummy was so happy to see her. Mummy’s face would burst into a big, happy smile, and she would ask about her friends in class, or the adventures of the many ducks that lived in the pond. Other times, when Lia got into trouble, she would come home to a sad or angry look on mummy’s face. Sometimes when mummy was talking to other grown-ups, she would have expressions that Lia didn’t understand.
Now though, it was different. Mummy didn’t look happy, or angry, or sad, or any of the other looks that she had with grown-ups. She didn’t have any look on her face at all. It was blank. Like the fancy dolls she had seen in the toy shops in town.
Lia decided that she didn’t like that look.

Tomb Raider The Amulet of Power Review

Written by Mike Resnick
Published by Ballantine Books, New York, 2003
ISBN: 978-0345461711
Notes: All three of the classic Tomb Raider novels can be read for free by visiting 'Raiding the Globe''s website.

Circuits & Sorcery

 Epilogue

Keygoire was stood waiting at the landing pad, he was at the top of the massive three-hundred-and-nineteen story building that was set into the side of the mountain. He was within the ancient city of Biblio, holding a metal tablet within his hands. Technology had changed more in the last two-hundred-and-twelve years than the entirety of his previous four-thousand years. The device he now held would have seemed alien to him only a couple of centuries ago. That was saying nothing of the steel and glass megatower that he was now waiting at the top of. This newest addition to the ancient city was so vastly beyond what was once possible on Honosreach. After the crash of UAV-Abyss, he had been able to work together with the engineers of Biblio to integrate the technological marvels found within the craft with the magical runes they were more familiar with.
The first thing that had happened was that Theo’s physical infrastructure had been very carefully transferred to Biblio. This had been achieved with the help of the AI himself and of course Haley Ellison. After all they were the two most familiar with the technology. Then Theo had taken up permanent residence within the massive city. The AI helped the engineers understand how the circuit boards that made up his brain worked, how to build them, combine them, and maintain them. Then the engineers showed Theo how the arcane runes worked. The AI’s understanding of these magical runes was astonishing. Both Theo and the engineers quickly started to modify and upgrade his circuitry, combining runes and circuitry. Before long Theo had a physical body that was still able to disappear and reappear at will. This ability was limited to within Biblio, where his rune engraved projectors were located, but it was still an impressive ability.
After this, the first expansion to Biblio had begun. Before long the megatower had been built, it leant against the massive mountain that had once concealed the secretive city. Things were different now. While the older sections of the city, including the vaults, and arcane libraries, were still off limits to the public, the newer sections of the city were some of the busiest places in all Honosreach. This was because of the intergalactic teleportation port that now connected their world to the rest of the galactic community. While non-human life had never been rare on Honosreach, the explosion of new species passing through Biblio was quite something else. Keygoire often found himself engrossed in conversation with creatures that possessed bodies and cultures so alien to him that he couldn’t help but learn all they were willing to share. The old world-weary smugness had slowly eroded into a further of passionate learning. For the first time in thousands of years, Keygoire felt young again.
At this present moment, however, he was waiting on an old friend. Theo appeared next to the wizard.
“Ship in bound, they should be here any moment.” The AI’s voice betrayed their excitement, despite their formal choice of words.
“Thank you Theo.” The AI nodded in return.
Then the ship, beautifully white with its golden trim descended from the heavens above, smoothly and cleanly touching down in front of the wizard and the AI. The canopy lifted itself, revealing Samual White. The pilot removed the wire connection from their neuro-feed and climbed out of the ship. Where once there had been a young enby, now stood a union of mortal and machine. Their body was almost entirely cybernetic, except for their brain and nervous system, which remained mostly organic. Despite this drastic change, outwardly they didn’t look all that different from their old self, besides the faint separation between plates along their limbs and torso, where compartments could be opened and closed at will. Small laser engraved runes ran along seams along their cybernetic limbs that helped maintain and further augment them. The largest visual change to their biology became obvious when they turned around. A section of their head, behind their face, revealed an exposed metallic plate that featured a myriad of ports, plugs, wires, and runes that all connected directly to their brain. These connections allowed for external processing power, memory storage and the ability to connect with other devices, such as their ship.
All in all, the biggest difference that Keygoire noticed between the Samual White that stood in front of him now, and the timid pilot he had first met two-hundred-and-twelve years ago was their attire. They were no longer wearing the Alliance Navy’s uniform, now they were adorned with religious robes. Samual White had risen to be the head of the Church of Solas on Ociea Prime. Sam bowed towards Keygoire and Theo.
“I’ve missed you both. I hope you’ve been well.” The once quiet and timid voice of the pilot had been replaced with a modulator that sounded much more confident.
“We have. Thank you for coming such a long way to pay your respects, Sam.” Theo’s kind voice hadn’t changed at all over the long years.
“The captain, Harley, deserves a visit in person. There was no way I’d miss the anniversary of her passing. While she has left this realm of existence, my lady assures me that Harley’s story continues with Selencia, Goddess of knowledge and understanding. Just as Sir Reginald continues to serve his lady Solas.”
“That is good to hear Sam. Shall we continue?” Theo led the three surviving members of that ancient adventure into the megacity of Biblio, to the grave and memorial of captain Harley Ellison, and the rest of the UAV-Abyss’ crew.
The city of Biblio, as well as the world of Honosreach, and the entire known universe had been forever changed by the clashing of circuits and Sorcery!

© Robyn Timmons, 2025