I must say that I am loving the way the Vengeful Ghosts mechanic works.
Death is much more than a corpse run now, in fact, it costs almost no time at all. I can easily teleport right back to where I was and continue. Now, in the case that I died to a boss, that boss effectively becomes harder, which is a fun and interesting mechanic.
I don’t “want to not die” because I’ll have to do something boring, something other than playing the game. I try to stay alive because dying has true consequences. The first time I died to a boss and went back, and then died again, I found myself unable to conquer that dungeon, it was impossible at my current level. Deciding to move on to other places, not inhabited by my own poor choices, was an interesting game choice I haven’t had the opportunity to make before.
In a normal, linear adventure game, failure is just reloading a save or checkpoint, or maybe missing bonuses. In a persistent game without saves, the penalty is usually just a time sink. A rogue-like game makes you start all over again, no hope of returning. Here, I can either overcome the obstacle I put in my own way by trying different tactics, or do something else until I am able to return. I feel like I actually have choices and all the options are right.
