Two words, nuclear meltdown. Seriously though, city building games do still exist, although often the gameplay is part of a wider genre like 4X, kinda like stealth mechanics in action adventure games.

Max Payne “I was too tired to go on.” or “I was afraid to go on.”

Game over screens too like Arkham City with the villain mocking Batman. System Shock with the hopeless death animation. Sometimes the deaths can get elaborate and repetitive though like some horror games.