I think I can sympathize with the wish not to have punitive death sequences in a game. However, it seems to me that the needs of dramatic tension sometimes require that you place the audience in danger's path, and the only credible way for them to experience the tension is to have a brush with death. How to make that happen without breaking immersion probably requires that you script out ways that death can be avoided in any situation where death is imminent, and try to give the player ample hints without breaking the fourth wall.
If all else fails, a death sequence could be handled in such a way that either the player receives the answer to the question of 'what should I have done', perhaps spying the answer as they lay dead on the floor, and/or have them suddenly jump back to a point before they entered the danger zone, where they shake their head and realize they were lost in thought, and have them kind of do a 'well, that won't work. So how do I do this?' At this point, any possible solutions might pop up as hints, assuming they have prior knowledge of the appropriate objects/areas.
It's really down to situational awareness, which in these games requires that you give the player a little poke when they pass something important that they may need to exploit shortly. Not like highlighting an object they need to pick up (I'm not fond of inventory-heavy games. I like an inventory, but any game that requires you to pick up everything that isn't nailed down feels like bad design to me). Just a subtle heads up mechanic to let them know that they just spotted something out of the corner of their eye that might be important. Maybe a little glint of light off of an object, or a dramatic fall of light across a closet door where they might be able to hide, something like that.
I'm not saying that death sequences should always be handled in such a way. I think some games really do require that you handle imminent danger in more creative, comedic ways. I can think of a number of Sierra-type games I enjoyed that would have been so much better if the death sequence problem hadn't been so frustratingly unavoidable. I guess I'm just of the mind that, if heightened danger is called for, the answer is to make the player think it over and be aware of their surroundings, and actually provide them ways of avoiding death. I'm not a fan of death sequences, but I'm terribly fond of narrow escapes.
Of course, a fair bit of this requires art assets that might prove prohibitive, and programming that might not be possible, depending on the engine you use.
Just my 2ยข. I'm going to make some soup and spend some more time with the MetFall plotline now.
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