Restarting a scene is one of the most common actions in a game. You use it when the player loses, presses a restart button, chooses “Try Again,” or wants to replay a level from the beginning in Phaser 4.

In Phaser 4, scene management is handled through this.scene. To restart the current scene, use:

this.scene.restart();

The Basic Scene Restart

The simplest way to restart the currently running scene is calling restart(). For example, restart a level when the player loses:

gameOver() {
    this.scene.restart();
}

Phaser runs the scene lifecycle again:

init() -> preload() -> create() -> update()

In most cases, this means the level setup in create() runs again and creates a fresh player, enemies, score UI, and input handlers. Remember that if you were manually destroying objects, you should clean up your scene properly. Check out our guide on Destroying Game Objects in Phaser 4 to ensure you aren't leaking memory before a restart.

Restarting with Data

You can send data when restarting a scene:

this.scene.restart({
    level: 2,
    lives: 3
});

Then receive it in the scene’s init() method:

init(data) {
    this.level = data.level ?? 1;
    this.lives = data.lives ?? 3;
}

Resetting Variables Correctly

A scene restart only resets values that you reset during the lifecycle. Use scene properties for level-specific state so they are overwritten when the scene re-initializes.

create() {
    this.score = 0; // This resets every restart
}

Preventing Multiple Calls

A game-over event can sometimes happen more than once. Protect your restart logic with a flag:

endGame() {
    if (this.isGameOver) return;
    this.isGameOver = true;
    this.physics.pause();
}

FAQ

Conclusion

this.scene.restart() is your primary tool for creating a fluid "Retry" loop. By combining it with proper data passing in init()and state flags like isGameOver, you ensure your game remains stable across multiple playthroughs.