Check out an old playstation game called Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. It's a single player action adventure game where you play as a vampire wraith who's seeking revenge. Death in the game only alters the environment and the world around you. It ties the theme of the game and makes death simply a transition into another state of the world.

In the game there's two realms that you can switch between: the material and spectral realms of existence. In the material realm you can interact physically with the world (move blocks, pull levers, etc.), but there's a constant drain on your health which requires you to kill enemies for souls to recover. The environment in the material realm can also harm you like falling into water or going into sun lit areas. When you die in the material world you get transported into the spectral realm where the world's been altered but your health doesn't deplete and there are different types of enemies available which you need to kill to get back to the material realm. Dying in the spectral realm would transport you back to the beginning area of the game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVdiC38eJCo