The Flame in the Flood did it well. I usually like to bide my time in games, but in this game it simply wouldn't be right to just wait around and not be penalised for it. You've gotta eat, sleep, and stay warm. If you keep moving on, land to land, you can upgrade your raft to make things a little easier, but ultimately staying in one spot where food doens't regrow, will be you death.

Miasmata
https://www.gog.com/game/miasmata

The whole premise is that you are sick with some disease and you need to find plants and make the cure while avoiding the dangerous creature.

IIRC, Doom 3 also did this but health would never drop below 25%. I've never played Doom 3 on Nightmare mode though so I'm not sure if it's thrilling or annoying.

Ziggurat has a similar mechanic where one of the characters loses mana over time but can regenerate it when taking damage. It wasn't that big of a deal because in Ziggurat, there isn't much in the way of exploration anyways.

For Gauntlet though, it was friggin annoying..........


In all though, I hate this mechanic, if improperly done, the game can rely entirely on luck. It can push you into action even when you really shouldn't be jumping into a fray

In Dark Half you lose Soul Power for every step you take. Killing monsters or doing some other stuff will increase your Soul Power, so you always have to be on the ball.

In South Park: The Stick of Truth when you enter Canada you will fight enemies known as Dire Wolves which can cause the "Dire Aids" affliction on your character which drains your health. This can be cured but there is a trophy were you must beat the final boss while having Dire Aids.

I played a game - Xorron 2001 - with such a mechanic and it wasn't fun. Never came over level 3 or so.

This reminds me of a mechanic in Wonder Boy 2, that is also implemented (for Hard/Extreme mode only, fortunately) in the remake of Wonder Boy 3: The Dragon's Trap. There is an hourglass that will steadily drain, and if it empties, you take damage. However, collecting a heart dropped by an enemy will, in addition to healing you, also turn the hourglass back over, resetting the timer until you take damage.

Of course, the problem is that heart drops are random (though in Dragon's Trap, you eventually get armor that significantly increases the chance of enemies dropping hearts; neadless to say, that particular suit of armor is *very* useful on hard mode).

The armor is buyable, though you have to complete the first major area of the game first.

Furthermore, I note that this mechanic only applies to Hard Mode; if you play on Easy or Normal (or if you play the original rather than the remake), the mechanic won't be there, and you can take your time as much as you want and not take damage.

(Wonder Boy 2, I believe, had this mechanic because it was an arcade game; if you're charging people to play a game, you don't want people to be able to play forever on one credit.)

I don't see the purpose. It's basically a time limit that's extra punishing to players on the lower end of the skill scale.

The point is challenge. As long as this "feature" is an optional mode, or only in effect at certain times, and as long as the gameplay is balanced to take this mechanic into account, this sort of thing is fine. (I suppose the same goes for when it's "always on" in a game that specifically marketed as being super hardcore, as long as the mechanic is mentioned in the promotional copy.)

I seem to remember you posting in my old Terraria discussion thread about playing through that game on Hardcore (permadeath) character difficulty. I should think you, of all people, would understand the desire for a bit of self-imposed challenge.

Or a choice. Explore more with the chance for more reward or rush to the level end.
In the days when I beat Turrican 2 with 42 lives left I usually died two times from time limit - it's simply not possible to "harvest" some of the huge levels within the time given. On the other hand you find more extra lives and power-ups than you lose, so...

What, no mention of Adventure Island? (well, I guess dtgreene mentioned Wonder Boy)

What of NWN2 Mask of the Betrayer? Never played it (plan to do but backlog). From what I heard you can't "rest" (in a DND game!), or you can, but the consequences are bad. Would that qualify in a way?

Not to mention the end of NWN - Hordes of the Underdark, where you and your companions constantly take cold/frost damage.