Cheat Death
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Cheat Death is a mechanic in Survival Mode of The Long Dark, allowing the player to escape a previously lethal situation at the cost of increased difficulty. Cheat Death was added for free in the Part 5 update of Tales from the Far Territory.<ref>TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, PART FIVE, NOW LIVE!, Hinterlands Studio, June 24, 2024</ref>
This option is available for every difficulty Experience except Misery, and is not present in Challenges.<ref>Dev Diary – May 2024, Hinterlands Studio, May 13, 2024</ref>
Overview
Cheat Death is an optional change to The Long Dark's permadeath system which adds new gameplay to players who aren’t ready to lose their favorite survivor after dying. Cheat Death may be performed up to 3 times (for 4 total lives), with progressively harsher penalties each time. Each extra life is symbolized by a Campfire that can be seen upon quickly checking your status in the pause screen. If the player chooses to persist upon death, an extra life is used up, and the Campfires will become extinguished starting with the left, middle, right Campfire. Once a player dies a 4th time, the player will fade away into The Long Dark.
Choice
Upon reaching 0% Condition while playing Survival Mode, the player will be presented with two options.
- "End Game"
- "Cheat Death"
- Ability to keep some carried items from the time of death, and later recover missing items.
- Retain Skills, Tales, Survey, Collectibles, Technical Backpack, and certain Achievements progress.
- The world remains the same: explored/looted areas, stored gear, etc.
- Increasing Penalties added each time Cheat Death is used (up to 3 times).
If the player closes the game at this point, the save file will be wiped by default. Choosing "Cheat Death" allows the player to continue playing in the same Survival Sandbox, but at a cost...
Cheat Death Consequences
If the player chooses to Cheat Death, they will be presented with a list of consequences for this option.
Achievements
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Timers for Achievements that require cumulative play time will be reset, and must be started from the beginning:
| Image | Name | Description |
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Exploration Game | Visit every interior location in both Mystery Lake and Coastal Highway (single game) |
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Waste Not, Want Not | Harvest 10 Complete Deer Carcasses (single game) |
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Night Walker | Survive an entire Night outside (single game) |
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Beneath a Starry Sky | Survive 3 consecutive Nights outside (single game) |
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Silent Hunter | Survive the first 50 days without firing the hunting rifle, revolver or the distress pistol (single game) |
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Pacifist | Survive the first 25 days without killing anything (single game) |
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Living Off the Land | Survive 25 consecutive full days only consuming calories harvested from wild plants and animals (single game) |
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Natural Healer | Heal yourself using all types of natural medicines (single game) |
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Happy Harvester | Harvest 25 of each kind of plant (single game) |
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Something Wicked | Survive 1000 days in a single Survival Mode game without Cheating Death. |
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Expert Angler | Catch 4 different Rare Fish – Burbot, Goldeye, Red Irish Lord, and Rockfish (single game). |
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Tackle Box | Craft a full set of 3 Fishing Lures (single game). |
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Thanks for the Memories | Collect 12 Mementos – one from each Lower Great Bear Island Region (single game). |
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Hot Shot | Kill 25 Rabbits with Fire Hardened Arrows (single game). |
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Down Below | Enter all 9 Prepper Cache locations (single game). |
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To the Teeth | Collect 7 Expansion Firearm variants (single game). |
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Rüdiger's Dream | Complete all 3 Tales (single game) |
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Something Warm to Drink | Collect 7 Insulated Flask Variants (single game). |
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Quick Draw | Kill 10 Ptarmigans with Arrows (single game). |
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Exposure | Take a photo in each Great Bear Island Region for a total of 16 (single game). |
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Shutterbug | Take 10 photos with each film type – Colour, B&W, and Sepia (single game). |
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On the Lookout | Reach all 6 Vista locations in the Far Territory (single game). |
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Ends of the Earth | Travel from Desolation Point to Sundered Pass (single game). |
Affliction
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The player's Condition and Stamina recovery will be halved when they awaken (Weakened State).
Backpack
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Many items in the player's inventory will be missing when they wake up. Some items will be carried over to their new life, but many will be lost until they are recovered by finding the Recovery Backpack.
Penalty
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The player will be given the choice of the severity of a penalty for choosing to Cheat Death (see next section).
Respawn
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The player cannot choose where to respawn, but how they will respawn (see later section).
Cheat Death Penalty
The player can choose their Cheated Death Penalty. The player can mix the two penalty types per death as they please:
- Short Term Penalty:
- A temporary, but harsh Recovery Time penalty (10-30 days depending on Experience).
- Max Condition reduced by 50% for the first death, 60% for the second, 75% for the third.
- Permanent Penalty:
- No Recovery Time penalty, but...
- Max Condition PERMANENTLY reduced by 25% for the first death, 35% for the second, 50% for the third.
Respawn
When you Cheat Death, you'll be given the option to respawn somewhere inside the region you just died, or in a safe but far away location:
- Close, Risky Respawn will always put the player outdoors near danger in the same region you died in, and most of the time the hike back to where you died will be halfway across the map, but sometimes it will be shorter.
- Far, Safe Respawn will always send the player in or near an indoor location that they may or may not have already discovered in another region. "Safe" is relative, since based on the condition of clothing and remaining inventory, survival may still be a challenge. It is possible to be sent to a region the player has not explored yet, may be a neighboring region or one quite distant (ex, from Sundered Pass all the way to Coastal Highway).
Once the respawn conditions are chosen, the player will be asked to confirm, allowing them to cancel Cheat Death or amend their previous choices.
Risky respawn locations
This section could use expansion.
Safe respawn locations
This section is a work in progress. You can help by adding eligible locations found in the current version of the game.
It is unknown if there are any eligible Safe respawn locations in Forlorn Muskeg or Hushed River Valley.<ref>Cheat death "safe" respawn scouting, Recorded November 22, 2025 </ref>
Cheating Death
If the player accepts the terms of Cheating Death, the survivor will wake up looking at their hands and commenting in their confusion if they really just died. Upon awakening, the following occurs:
- Approximately one in-game day will pass between their death and respawn, dependent on the safe/risky choice and time of day.
- All previous Afflictions and Affliction Risks are cured (including the incurable Frostbite).
- The player can respawn at varying levels of daylight, such as in the middle of the night or during the morning/evening.
- The player will be afflicted with their chosen Cheated Death Penalty, along with Weakened State. Weakened State gives the player very low Condition and Stamina recovery, and will always give the player a Black and White screen. Always take this into consideration when choosing how to respawn, as this can make it difficult to see one's surroundings when you respawn in an already critical state, especially if the player happens to respawn at night.
- Your previously worn Clothing will be intact but will be heavily torn (in the 20% yellow range), resulting in the player easily freezing.
- Some items the player was carrying will still remain in their backpack, but most will be lost where they died in a Recovery Backpack.
- The Recovery Backpack will be somewhere in the region you last died in, and is represented by a Campfire icon on the region map. The backpack will also be located next to a recently burned out Campfire, as if someone else found your remains. Many items you were carrying when you last died being lost upon opening it (Some of your items can also be around the campsite), suggesting that whomever found your remains took some of your belongings.
- Recovery Campsites can appear in multiple locations with the same region, so do not expect your items to always be in the same location.
- Dying before reclaiming your Recovery Backpack and Cheating Death a second time will remove the first Backpack from the game world and generates a second one. The previous campsite will be removed from the Map and a second campsite will appear at a new location. This will result in the loss of all lost items tied to the Recovery Backpack from your first life if you did not recover them, including unique, one-of-a-kind items that can be found only once in the game world. The only exception to this is that any items around the first campsite rather than inside the Recovery Backpack will remain in the game world, but finding this camp can be troublesome without the icon on the Map.
- Example: dying with Barb's Rifle and not having it in your inventory when you awake, then dying and cheating death a second time before it was recovered will result in the permanent loss of the rifle on that playthrough.
Achievements
Game History
- {{#switch:update|update=UPDATE|hotfix=HOTFIX|hidden=HIDDEN}} 24 June 2024{{#if:The Long Dark/Changelog#2.28| (Update)|}}:
- Added to game.
References
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