History Main / HeroMustSurvive

* In ''{{Sacrifice}}'', any HeroUnit that sticks with you for a god's campaign (i.e. Thestor, Gammel, Sirocco, Tholdor and Pyromaniac Faestus) is expendable. Losing one means losing that unit for the rest of the campaign, however, and most of them are too valuable to lose (especially considering the last two levels).

* Age of Empires III (also by Ensemble Games) uses the same 'downed' system as Halo Wars for heros in campaign and the explorer/warchief/monk in skirmish. Complete with a little text box to show their annoyance at being nearly dead.

In many strategy games, the characters from the storyline appear in some missions to fight on your side. They might be average or above-average units, or heroes if the game differentiates "heroes" from "units". However, being a common unit or hero also carries the possibility that they will die. What would happen to the storyline if a character was killed in battle? Here's the simple solution: if the hero dies, it's instant GameOver. Usually indicated by a mission objective: "<hero> must survive".

* WarlordsBattlecry, where you must protect Your Hero and the other minor storyline heroes. Note that Your Hero is also in the skirmish games but there you don't need to protect him/her.

* ''Command and Conquer: Red Alert'' games require Tanya to live through all missions for the Allies.

* TheBattleForWesnoth: Practically. Every. campaign.

* ''AgeOfMythology'': In the campaign, hero units come back to life if there are no enemy units nearby.

** Age of Empires III subverts this trope as hero units will fall to the ground if defeated and must regain enough hit points to be rescued/revived, but will never actually die outside of cutscenes.

* ''HaloWars'' has Sergeant Forge and Red Team (Douglas-042, Jerome-092 and Alice-130.) If they are killed, they are 'downed' and their health bar regenerates very slowly. When it reaches halfway, they can be picked up by any unit of your army.

* {{Warcraft}} II and the adventure levels in {{Warcraft}} III.

** Averted in the first mission of Yuri's revenge, where if Tanya 'dies', the player is given a short cutscene of an injured Tanya where she is being put on a transport copter, then returns you to the mission as normal.

* ''{{Warcraft}} III'', in the base-building levels. You can build an altar which has the capability of resurrecting fallen heroes.

* ''AgeOfMythology'': In the campaign, hero units come back to life if there are no enemy units nearby.

* ''[[MetalGear Metal Gear Solid 3]]: Snake Eater'': After you encounter Ocelot for the first time, he gets knocked unconscious in a cutscene. If you kill him while he's lying on the floor, the Game Over screen appears with "Ocelot Is Dead" instead of "Game Over", eventually fading out into "Time Paradox".

* Inherent in the original ''FinalFantasyTactics'', and in jagd in ''FinalFantasyTacticsAdvanced'', but it goes back to ''FinalFantasyVI'': If the enemy gets to Terra in the first multi-party battle, it's game over. Also, if Banon dies in any Banon fight ever, game over.

* {{Warcraft}} III, in the base-building levels. You can build an altar which has the capability of resurrecting fallen heroes.

* ''[[MetalGear Metal Gear Solid 3]]: Snake Eater'': after winning the game once, you are awarded [[spoiler:a Patriot, an [[BeyondTheImpossible insanely powerful]] bullet- rather than tranquilizer-loaded automatic, for use right from the start]]. During [[spoiler:the Virtuous Mission]], there is a point where [[spoiler:Ocelot is unconscious and at your mercy]]. In the first run, you usually have only non-lethal weapons by that point. If you choose to [[spoiler:kill him the second time through, however]], the game instantly ends, with the words [[spoiler:OCELOT IS DEAD]] appearing, then changing to [[spoiler:TIME PARADOX]], as [[spoiler:Ocelot]] is required to appear in later scenes for the game to continue.

* ''[[MetalGear Metal Gear Solid 3]]: Snake Eater'': after winning the game once, you are awarded [[spoiler:a Patriot, an [[BeyondTheImpossible insanely powerful]] bullet- rather than tranquilizer-loaded automatic, for use right from the start]]. During [[spoiler:the Virtuous Mission]], there is a point where Ocelot [[spoiler:is unconscious and at your mercy]]. In the first run, you usually have only non-lethal weapons by that point. If you choose to [[spoiler:kill him the second time through, however]], the game instantly ends, with the words [[spoiler:OCELOT IS DEAD]] appearing, then changing to [[spoiler:TIME PARADOX]], as [[spoiler:Ocelot]] is required to appear in later scenes for the game to continue.

* ''[[MetalGear Metal Gear Solid 3]]: Snake Eater'': after winning the game once, you are awarded a Patriot, an [[BeyondTheImpossible insanely powerful]] bullet- rather than tranquilizer-loaded automatic, for use right from the start. During the Virtuous Mission, there is a point where Ocelot is unconscious and at your mercy; in the first runthrough of the game, you usually have only non-lethal weapons by that point. If you choose to kill him on the second time through, however, the game will instantly end, with the words OCELOT IS DEAD appearing, then changing to TIME PARADOX, as Ocelot is required to appear in scenes for the game to continue.

* ''[[MetalGear Metal Gear Solid 3]]: Snake Eater'': after winning the game once, you are awarded a Patriot, an [[BeyondTheImpossible insanely powerful]] bullet- rather than tranquilizer-loaded automatic, for use right from the start. During the Virtuous Mission, there is a point where Ocelot is unconscious and at your mercy; in the first runthrough of the game, you have only non-lethal weapons. If you choose to kill him on the second time through, however, the game will instantly end, with the words OCELOT IS DEAD appearing, then changing to TIME PARADOX, as Ocelot is required to appear in scenes for the game to continue.

* ''[[MetalGear Metal Gear Solid 3]]: Snake Eater'': after winning the game once, you are awarded a Patriot, an [[BeyondTheImpossible insanely powerful]] bullet- rather than tranquilizer-loaded automatic, for use right from the start. The first time through the game, there is a point where Ocelot is unconscious and at your mercy; if you choose to kill him, the game will instantly end, with the words OCELOT IS DEAD appearing, then changing to TIME PARADOX, as Ocelot is required to appear in scenes for the game to continue.

* ''[[MetalGear Metal Gear Solid 3]]: Snake Eater'': after winning the game once, you are awarded a Patriot, an [[spoiler:[[BeyondTheImpossible insanely powerful]]]] bullet- rather than tranquilizer-loaded automatic, for use right from the start. The first time through the game, there is a point where Ocelot is unconscious and at your mercy; if you choose to kill him, the game will instantly end, with the words OCELOT IS DEAD appearing, then changing to TIME PARADOX, as Ocelot is required to appear in scenes for the game to continue.

* ''AgeOfMythology'': In the campaign, hero units come back to life if there are no enemy units nearby.
* ''Command and Conquer: Red Alert'' games require Tanya to live through all missions for the Allies.
* ''[[MetalGear Metal Gear Solid 3]]: Snake Eater'': after winning the game once, you are awarded a Patriot, an [[spoiler:[[BeyondTheImpossible insanely powerful]]]] bullet- rather than tranquilizer-loaded automatic, for use right from the start. The first time through the game, there is a point where Ocelot is unconscious and at your mercy; if you choose to kill him, the game will instantly end, with the words OCELOT IS DEAD appearing, then changing to TIME PARADOX, as Ocelot is required to appear in scenes for the game to continue.

* ''AgeOfMythology'': In the campaign, hero units come back to life if there are no enemy units nearby.