In Project Zomboid, death is inevitable.
Regardless of how careful you are, there’s always room for mistakes. So instead of trying to avoid death, you should make preparations.
Recommended Read: How to Forage in Project Zomboid
So exactly what happens when you die in Project Zomboid? What should you do to prepare for the next life?
In Project Zomboid, you can still continue discovering the world after death, but with another character. In addition, death costs you all skill levels and experiences, recipes, and experience multipliers from reading books and holding items.
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What Happens When You Die in Project Zomboid
In Project Zomboid, there are several reasons for dying. They are starvation, injuries, open wounds, etc.
Although most of the damage can be treated, the bite of a zombie will leave you with no chance of a cure.
So let’s just say you suffered a bite from a zombie and are about to die in Project Zomboid. When you are dead, there will be a small text that will show:
- Your survival time
- The number of zombies you killed
- The game mode you are recently on
After that, the game will offer three selections: “New Character”, “Quit To Desktop”, or “Quit To Menu”.
Select “Quit To Desktop” in case you give up on Project Zomboid.
On the other hand, you can choose “Quit To Menu” or “New Character” for a new challenge.
Select “Continue”, and the following window will showcase four spawn locations: West Point, Riverside, Muldraugh, and Rosewood. Pick any location you want to respawn, but we’d recommend choosing the old one to quickly loot the items of your dead character.
Sometimes, your new character can spawn in the exact location of your previous character. So note this as an advantage for future plays.
You might be confused about whether you’re starting a new game. But the good thing is that you don’t lose your world.
Most things will remain the same, except for a new zombie if your old character dies because of zombification.
But unfortunately, there are still some points that you’d never get back:
- Skill levels and experience: Death will lead to losing all XP you’ve gained. So it takes time to level them back.
- Learned recipes: Any recipes you have learned, including cooking and crafting, will be lost upon death.
- Experience multiplier from reading books: All experience multipliers for reading books will be lost if you die, so you must start over again. It might be too frustrating for you who have invested much time to learn, but it adds realism and challenges to the game.
- Items you hold: You’ll drop what you have when you die, including items, weapons, or tools. However, anything on your backpack or inventory will remain with your character’s corpse. Just be sure to retrieve your belongings quickly, as your corpse will attract zombies and be looted by other players in multiplayer mode.
Although you begin with a new character, you will keep your map knowledge, which includes any markers or symbols you have made.
This will help you locate your base and other vital places.
Additionally, you will still remember maps you have previously read, allowing you to see those areas too.
Dying in Project Zomboid means losing all the progress and skills you’ve learned, but the map knowledge and markings remain.
It’s better to keep in mind that death is a part of the game, so you should use it as an opportunity to improve for the next playthrough instead of regretting it.
That’s what happens when you die in Project Zomboid.
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