Painkiller

Painkillers are how Max Payne's health is restored in the series. In the first game his health is shown as a white figure on the HUD that fills with red as he is hurt, and the player replenishes it with painkillers found around the levels or dropped by enemies; finishing the game on Dead on Arrival unlocks The Last Challenge, a perpetual bullet-time firefight that starts the player with a set amount of painkillers, weapons and ammunition. Max Payne 2's adaptive difficulty makes more painkillers available if the player dies too often, and in Max Payne 3 they regenerate health after damage. By the third game, nine years after the second, Max has retired from the NYPD and is nursing an addiction to painkillers alongside his alcoholism.