When You Die, You Go Back to the Beginning.

[water dog]

Demon's Souls does this mechanic to an extent. That is to say there aren't any "bonfires" to save your progress like there are in the Dark series. Each level is "divided" into sub levels. For example, World 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-2, World 2-1, 2-2, 2-3, etc... and when you die, which is very easy to do, you have to start that particular area over form the start.

What I'm trying to say is, is that this works for some games. It works marvelously in Demon's Souls. But in some classic games, I could see it as a bit too incapacitating. I know there are games out there that make you start over from the very beginning of the game if you fail--mostly arcade titles.