If you die, you must play against death to get back into the game. You can play as many times as you'd like
Some ideas:
Whenever you finally beat death, you get a piece from the death-set, the only way to collect them
It can spawn at the site of death or be given to the player or be on the ground where they spawn... maybe make those options?
You choose the difficulty of the game with chess, minimal difficulty spawns you as normal, advanced you come back with all your kit and levels, scale in between
If you die, you must play against death to get back into the game. You can play as many times as you'd like
Some ideas: