Retreating

See also: player concession (surrendering)

The exact meaning of this depends on the game, though most common distinctions come with how time progresses in the game.

For games with separate combat mode, this likely means the player can send characters to an "exit" zone where they leave the combat area for the rest of the battle.

In real-time strategy games without separate combat mode this likely means that you can order them to retreat to nearest friendly base/HQ or similar, often performed at faster movement speed than normally possible while losing control of the characters for the duration of the retreat. This may also cause the retreating characters to become more vulnerable to certain types of attacks while also becoming less susceptible to others.

Player is likely to lose control of a retreating character/unit for a period.

This is usually an important tactic in making certain a character/unit/whatever survives.