History Main / HeroMustSurvive

* In ''ActOfWar'' most of the missions feature a named hero character who also appears in many of the cutscenes. He must be kept alive to preserve the story. He's actually considerably tougher than your average infantry unit, he's great at turning enemy troops into [=POWs=] for money, and best of all he's the only unit that has regenerating health which gives you a good incentive to use him over your other troops. However if you get too aggressive and bite off more than you can chew, it's an instant game over.

* In ''RiseOfLegends'', heroes can simply be resummoned anywhere in friendly territory if they're destroyed. Justified for the Alin because their heroes are immortal genies whose physical defeat means little and for the Vinci because you presumably only destroy their vehicle and not the hero inside. The Cuotl are a more mysterious case.

* The ''ShiningForce'' games are possibly {{Ur Example}}s, having this as an inherent and central game mechanic. Each game has a hero character that acts as the leader of the force. If the hero dies, you're sent back to the last save point with half your gold.

* In VideoGame/BladeStormTheHundredYearsWar, you control a mercenary captain who can control a squad of other units. While you can [[RedShirtArmy send them off to die]], if your character gets knocked out, the mission ends immediately, and you only get paid what you earned in battle (usually a pitiful amount), and are returned to the tavern.
* In VideoGame/FedaTheEmblemOfJustice, the game ends if [[TheLeader Brian]] or [[{{Deuteragonist}} Ain]] die off.

* VideoGame/BattleNations averts this one. The heroes can die with no plot problems: they simply walk it off. The only "straight" version of this trope comes from the duels Morgan fights in, where his death is an instant loss condition.

* In the first ''AgeOfWonders'' game the death of a leader means the defeat of their whole empire. No matter how badly you're losing, you can make it all better with one assassination. Conversely, one stupid mistake with your own leader can avert what would be a winning game.
** Other ''AgeOfWonders'' games averted this with instant retreat Wizard Towers. If a leader is defeated but they have at least one other city with a Wizard Tower in their empire, they respawn in that city automatically. They still lose all items the leader had equipped at the time of death.

* ''VideoGame/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 (unless playing Ironman mode, in which case the hero is LostForever).

* ''TheBattleForWesnoth'': Practically every campaign. Here, you have a choice of risking your leader's death and making him powerful, or leaving him in the keep to recruit more units and make your army powerful. Similarly, most campaigns accumulate various hero units that spawn for free and can be very useful in combat, but must be kept from dying.

** The original Tiberian Dawn didn't exactly have this mechanic, rather the commando was the only unit you controlled. Loosing him meant you lost all units you controlled, which is the default condition for Loss. Red Alert was the first one to start using this mechanic, where you can still have your entire compliment of troops there, but if you lose Tanya the mission would automatically fail. it was also the only lose condition that had a unique announcement: "Tanya has been lost". The only exception is the final Allied mission where after you receive your base-building unit it's possible to lose Tanya without failing the mission, since it's the last mission and therefore Tanya wouldn't be making any subsequent appearances (this is before they decided to make a sequel to Red Alert).

* ''VideoGame/TheLordOfTheRingsTheBattleForMiddleEarth'' used this in a few of its levels, though others you could just summon your heroes back at your base if you had enough money.

* ''VideoGame/TheLordOfTheRings: The Battle For Middle-Earth'' used this in a few of its levels, though others you could just summon your heroes back at your base if you had enough money.
* ''LordsOfMagic'' has a version of this. If your lord dies it is all over for that side. However if that side liberates the temple of a friendly faith, they get an heir unit.

** This carries over to many boss battles in ''WorldOfWarcraft''. In most cases, though, if the person you're trying to protect dies, the enemies despawn; your group will have to try again, but the survivors won't have to run in or pay a repair bill.
* ''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 (unless playing Ironman mode, in which case the hero is LostForever).

* Applies to the Commander in TotalAnnihilation campaign, as this unit is supposed to represent you (though it does raise the question of how were you able to control your army in the first Core mission, when it was deactivated). It doesn't necessarily apply to skirmish games, but many players keep it in their base, and upon its death it destroys almost everything in a three-fourth of a screen radius around it, often triggering a chain reaction of explosions and leaving unfortunate player at a disadvantage that is impossible to overcome.

* In a VisualNovel example, during the Kawakami War segment of MajiDeWatashiNiKoiShinasai, the war instantly ends if [[TheProtagonist Yamato]] or [[PrivilegedRival Hideo]] is defeated in combat. While Hideo's a pretty good fighter, [[ActionSurvivor Yamato]] tries to spend as little time on the front lines as possible.

* ''YggdraUnion'', ''VideoGame/BlazeUnion'', and ''KnightsInTheNightmare'' all feature this. In fact, all through the first chapter of ''VideoGame/BlazeUnion'', it's Game Over if ''any'' party member dies; this just gets less strict as the game progresses.

** Fortunately, StarWarsGalacticBattlegrounds avoided this by making most of the heroes Jedi with healing abilities.

* ''TheDarkLegions'' does this over the course of its' second campaign. 90% of the time, it's a heavy calvalry unit that goes by the name of Theodoric (complete with golden armor), the rest is either a specified Knight or a King, or sometimes all of these.

Contrast NonEntityGeneral
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* Another ''{{Warhammer40000}}'' computer game, ''Rites of War'', has a couple of missions where you lose if a certain key hero unit dies. In the very last mission, only the Avatar of Khaine can kill the Hive Tyrant, who must be killed to win. Bear in mind, other units can ''wound'' the Hive Tyrant, but only the Avatar can finish it off. Obviously, then, you lose if the Avatar is killed. Of course, the Avatar is by far the strongest unit in your army, and quite possibly the strongest unit in the game, so that helps.

* ''HaloWars'' has Sergeant Forge and Red Team (Douglas-042, Jerome-092 and Alice-130.) in Campaign using the same 'downed' system as ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresIII''. Also averted in Skirmish where Spartans/Covenant Leaders can be rebuilt if killed.

* The ''Alexander'' expansion of ''RomeTotalWar'' requires Alexander to survive in the campaigns and the historical battles.
* ''TacticsOgre'', despite playing WeCannotGoOnWithoutYou straight for Denim (the main hero), averts HeroMustSurvive quite strongly. While the game does have plot armor "escapes" for certain uncontrollable characters should they fall in battle, once a character is in your army, they absolutely can die in battle - did I mention, this game features PermaDeath? That's right, if any of the plot relevant characters die in battle, they die for good, and all subsequent scenes and plot points will be rewritten without them, including endings.

* ''DawnOfWar'':

* ''DawnOfWar'' campaign heroes can be rebuilt like any other unit.[[note]] the skirmish/multiplayer games just have a generic 'Force Commander', 'Farseer' etc., so replacements could well be actual ''replacements''[[/note]] The Tau commander's death line is even "Carry on... without me."

* In a VisualNovel example, during the Kawakami War segment of MajiDeWatashiNiKoiShinasai, the war instantly ends if [[TheProtagonist Yamato]] or [[PrivilegedRival Hideo]] is defeated in combat. While Hideo's a pretty good fighter, [[ActionSurvivor Yamato]] tries to spend as little time on the front lines as possible.

* In ''ActOfWar'' most of the missions feature a named hero character who also appears in many of the cutscenes. He must be kept alive to preserve the story. He's actually considerably tougher than your average infantry unit, he's great at turning enemy troops into POWs for money, and best of all he's the only unit that has regenerating health which gives you a good incentive to use him over your other troops. However if you get too aggressive and bite off more than you can chew, it's an instant game over.

* Lords tend to be treated this way in the ''FireEmblem'' games.