What Carries Over Between Runs

Direct answer

Confirmed carry-over is centered on memory and learned progress, not a guaranteed transfer of the entire safehouse. The official store says failure becomes experience and the character returns with memory, while an August 14 update says Respawn Notes bring back most proficiency progress and added missing defense notes. Items, money, furniture, attributes, recipes, character unlocks, and map progress are To be confirmed individually.

New Game+ and later cycles also move some second-floor, basement, and trap unlock quests earlier while acknowledging prior story memories. That confirms the next run is not narratively blank, but it does not prove that every physical possession survives. Treat each category separately and verify it in the current save interface.

Confirmed: failure becomes experience

The official Steam store description states that every failure becomes experience and that the survivor is reborn with memory. This establishes the game’s broad loop: ending or losing a run can contribute to later attempts rather than functioning as a completely disconnected reset. It does not define every database field transferred into the next save.

Memory-based progression is the safest wording because it matches the official premise without expanding “experience” into unsupported inventory rules. A player may reasonably expect learned or recorded progress to matter, but the exact implementation must be checked category by category. Do not translate a narrative promise into a claim that all stats or objects persist.

The Survival Log itself is associated with tracking important decisions and survival learning. Older demo material also referred to hidden supplies, survival skills, and abilities being recorded, but that wording requires formal-version retesting. Any claim based only on the demo description is marked To be confirmed here.

Confirmed: Respawn Notes preserve proficiency

An August 14 official update states that Respawn Notes bring back most proficiency progress. This is the clearest specific carry-over mechanism in the supplied research. The word “most” also establishes an important limit: it should not be rewritten as “all proficiency transfers.”

The same update added omitted defense notes, showing that note coverage has been corrected by patches. This version history matters because older saves or guides may appear to disagree about what a note records. Keep the game updated and inspect the actual notes available after the run.

The research does not provide a percentage, list every proficiency, or explain whether transfer differs by cause of death, ending, character, or mode. Those details are To be confirmed. A reliable guide should preserve the official qualifier rather than inventing a complete proficiency table.

Confirmed: later runs remember progression

Official update material says that New Game+ and later runs move the second-floor, basement, and trap unlock quests earlier. It also says those versions contain memories of story progress from the previous run. Together, these facts confirm that later cycles can recognize earlier completion and adjust pacing.

Earlier quests are not the same as rooms or traps starting fully built. The source describes timing and remembered story context, not automatic ownership of every renovation or defense. Whether any physical safehouse state transfers directly is To be confirmed.

This distinction prevents a common misunderstanding. Narrative memory can make a quest appear sooner while still requiring the player to perform the current run’s work. Follow the active objective and do not assume a missing structure is a bug merely because its quest unlocked earlier.

Items and stockpiles: To be confirmed

No verified statement in the supplied research defines whether food, water, materials, fuel, weapons, mission items, or general inventory move into the next run. The game’s strong stockpiling theme does not itself prove persistence. Unless the current transition screen explicitly lists retained items, treat physical inventory carry-over as To be confirmed.

The same caution applies to hidden supplies mentioned by an older demo page. That phrase may describe a recorded discovery, a later-run benefit, or a demo-specific mechanic, but the formal-version behavior has not been cross-checked. Do not promise that a hidden cache will appear unchanged after death or New Game+.

Players can test this safely by recording a small, ordinary inventory sample before transition and comparing it afterward, without extrapolating from one category to all others. This page does not report such a test because the user-supplied research does not contain one. Results should be labeled with game version and transition type.

Money and furniture: To be confirmed

The research does not state whether remaining money transfers between runs. Preparation achievements and the ten-hour shopping phase show that money matters, but they do not define New Game+ finances. Starting funds, bonuses, or penalties should not be inferred from the phrase “failure becomes experience.”

Furniture persistence is also unconfirmed. Official material establishes furniture purchasing, installation, safehouse expansion, a bedroom, storage, and large equipment, while later-run updates move some unlock quests earlier. None of those facts says placed furniture remains in the same position after transition.

Basement and second-floor progress must therefore be described carefully. Earlier access to their quests is confirmed; automatic retention of repairs, layout, containers, appliances, and stored contents is To be confirmed. Check the current new-run summary before planning around inherited infrastructure.

Attributes and skills: partially confirmed

Proficiency progress has the strongest direct support because Respawn Notes return most of it. Broader character attributes are not defined in the same source, and the word proficiency should not be silently replaced with every stat. Attribute points, base values, temporary conditions, and role-specific bonuses remain To be confirmed.

An Endless Mode update fixed a problem where only the first level of initial attribute points took effect and removed misleading run-information text. That patch proves attribute handling and run descriptions have needed correction, but it does not establish general New Game+ inheritance. Endless Mode and story-cycle rules should not be merged without evidence.

Skills recorded in older demo descriptions also need current verification. The safe statement is that memory and most proficiency progress have documented support, while the complete skill and attribute matrix does not. Preserve that boundary until official notes or repeatable tests fill it.

Recipes, characters, and map progress: To be confirmed

The formal version includes exact recipes, tag-based cooking, crafting unlocks, character-specific rescue missions, multiple locations, and branching endings. However, the supplied sources do not say which recipe discoveries, crafting entries, explored locations, or map markers transfer. Each system must be verified independently.

Character progression has a separate confirmed rule: completing any ending can unlock the next available character when no character-unlock mission was completed in that run. That is an unlock fallback, not proof that all character states or inventories transfer. The exact next character can depend on what is already available and remains To be confirmed for a given save.

Map behavior in Endless Mode includes overrun exploration points marked on the map. This is a mode-state rule, not evidence that story-map exploration persists into New Game+. Do not combine those facts into an unsupported map inheritance claim.

A safe verification checklist

Before a transition, record the version, character, mode, transition type, proficiency levels, inventory, money, placed furniture, unlocked recipes, available characters, and explored locations. Afterward, compare each category separately and preserve screenshots or notes. One retained item does not prove that every item class carries over.

Use official patch notes to interpret differences because carry-over bugs and misleading text have already been corrected in updates. A result from an older demo or unpatched save can still be useful history, but it should not be presented as the current universal rule. Mark unresolved differences To be confirmed.

Official sources

This guide uses the official Survival Log Steam store description and official Steam Community update notes. Confirmed statements are limited to memory-based rebirth, most proficiency returning through Respawn Notes, restored defense-note coverage, earlier later-run unlock quests, prior-story memories, and the separate ending fallback for characters. Every unlisted inventory or progression category remains explicitly unverified.