I like this idea, but unfortunately it's handled terribly in the games that have tried—by encouraging save scumming and metagaming, mostly. You rarely ever get in-game hints that you are going to be in over your head and that it would be wise to turn around... it's just a quick death followed by a sense of "wha?" → reload.
True. Going to be interesting to see how Bioware tackles this in DAI, as it's been one of their key selling points.
You'll have to run around the map in circles and fight green imps for three hours.