This article examines the meanings of death and dying in digital games and how they are conveyed through rules, narrative, aesthetics, and interface. It focuses on the key difference between the typologies of “mechanical death” and “reflexive death”, linked to ludic mechanics (e.g. respawn, permadeath), narrative functions and ethical implications. A genesis of screen death is traced historically from arcade games to the present day and illustrated with selected indie and AAA titles. The selective sample aims to reveal the breadth of death semantics for research and practice. It becomes clear that death in the game can be simply an obstacle but also a moment of insight.