🎉 We Hit 1,000 Views! – A Survivor’s First Milestone

Estimated time to read: Slightly less time than it takes to get eaten by a wolf in Voyageur mode.

Somehow, somewhere, in between falling through the ice in The Long Dark, and getting flattened by a doedicurus in ARK—I hit 1,000 views on this blog.

One. Thousand. Views.

I don’t know which one of you read the Subnautica Maps page more than once, but I appreciate you. Whether you’re here for map guides, day one disasters, or just to feel better about your own survival skills—you made this happen.

So to celebrate:

I’m still alive (in at least one save file).

The permadeath chaos continues.

More games are coming (seriously, there’s a Subnautica diary on the horizon and I may be foolishly eyeing Blast Corps as a permadeath challenge—because why not add demolition trucks to my stress levels?).

To everyone who’s clicked, read, liked, or even accidentally stumbled here while Googling “how to not die in Mystery Lake”—thank you. The chaos is portable, but so is the community we’re building here.

Once again, thank you to everyone who has clicked on my little corner of chaos on the Internet.

Here’s to the next 1,000 views—and maybe even surviving past Day Five next time.

Stay warm. Stay weird. Stay Incognito.
– Survivor Incognito

25th Jul 2025 0

Snowrunner Survival: The Permagear Diaries – Driver Log Two: Climbing Regret Mountain

Day 2 of SnowRunner starts with optimism and ends clinging to a winch on a steep incline. Join me as I upgrade my scout, take on a task I probably shouldn’t have, and learn the hard way that not all paths are visible… or survivable.

📜 Series Hub: SnowRunner Survival: The Permagear Diaries Main Hub

🛠 Rules: SnowRunner Permagear Rules

💡 Why Permagear Works: Read the reasoning behind the challenge

Missed Day One? Find it here.

Climbing Regret Mountain, One Winch at a Time

Day 2 kicks off with my usual ritual: staring at the map and pretending I know what I’m doing. Several jobs seem a bit out of reach (both literally and figuratively), so I settle on something that sounds reasonable—Fallen Powerline.

Seems easy enough. Famous last words.

I jump into my trusty Chevrolet scout, cruise toward the task, and along the way discover a bonus job: The Place Beyond the Spruces. It’s a scout task, so I mentally bookmark it for later. First, Fallen Powerline.

I reach the task marker, accept it… and immediately regret it. I need concrete blocks, and from what I can tell, the only place that has them is in uncharted territory. Brilliant.

Time for an Upgrade

Back to the garage. I top off the fuel and swap out the scout’s tyres for 38″ AS II wheels. Big, beefy, and made for the kind of rough terrain that got me stuck yesterday.

Good news—they’re working. I scale the hill much more easily than before, retracing the route toward the Watchtower. I pass the turn-off for that and continue forward.

Bad news—the map claims there’s a path where my eyeballs clearly see nothing but trees, rocks, and despair.

The Path Less Traveled… Because It Doesn’t Exist

So, I make my own path. It’s slow going. The winch saves me more than once. Somewhere in the chaos, it dawns on me that if this scout gets stuck, it’s game over for this vehicle. There’s no backup. Nothing to rescue it. Just me, the hill, and gravity slowly eroding my optimism.

The end goal is in sight, but the terrain isn’t giving up without a fight. Every inch is a battle. Gravity starts to win. I start panic winching.

But I make it. Task complete.

Victory is mine—sort of.

Because now I’m sitting at the edge of a steep drop, staring into the void, and wondering…

Now what?

I have no clue how I’m getting down.

Next time: I either become a physics-defying downhill expert or I lose my scout in a deeply emotional farewell. Stay tuned.

Want to find out what happens? Read Day Three here.

25th Jul 2025 2

Sneak, Snipe, Repeat: Skyrim Survival Day Thirteen

A peaceful morning turns tragic as a detour into Darkshade cave leads to the end of the run. My Argonian meets his match in a brutal troll ambush, marking the end of this survival tale.

Missed the previous entry? Find it here: Skyrim Survival Day Twelve

The Long Road Home

I wake up in Kynesgrove, still alive after yesterday’s dragon incident — which, let’s be honest, felt like a miracle in itself. Looking at the map, I realise the trek back to Riverwood is going to be long. Possibly frostbitten. Definitely hungry. So, to lighten the load and my pack, I make a detour to Windhelm to sell off some loot and rethink life choices.

Gold in pocket and slightly less overencumbered, I continue south. I pass a black mage on the road and instinctively prepare for a spell-flinging ambush… but nothing happens. They just nod and keep walking. Huh. That’s… unsettling.

The Cave That Should Have Stayed Unexplored

Then I find it: Darkshade Cave. A delightful little murder hole nestled along the path. The bones outside should have been a clear warning, but I’m tired, curious, and suffering from a chronic case of “What’s the worst that could happen?”

Spoiler: everything.

The first troll nearly turns me into lizard paste. I’m chugging health potions like I’m in some sort of Nurnroot energy drink commercial. Somehow, I survive. Barely.

I breathe out. Relief washes over me.

That’s when the second troll appears.

Stronger. Meaner. Less camera-shy.

I dodge a few swings, land a few blows… but it’s a losing battle. I get hit with Gutworm, which sounds exactly as bad as you’d imagine. I make a mental note to look up what it does, assuming I live long enough to Google it.

I don’t.

The End of the Road

And just like that… my Argonian is dead.

After everything:

The chaos of Helgen

The bitter cold of the mountains

Losing Lydia

Hiring a mercenary only to lose them too

Gaining Loki, my summoned saviour

Battling dragons, undead, frostbite, and starvation…

In the end, it wasn’t fire or ice that killed me. It was two angry cave trolls with boundary issues.

Rest well, my scaly friend. You deserved better.

Final Thoughts

So ends my first attempt at surviving Skyrim.

Maybe it was foolish to enter that cave. Maybe I should’ve gone straight to Riverwood. Or maybe — just maybe — trolls need to be nerfed.

Either way, it’s game over for now. But don’t worry. I’ve got more lives than a Khajiit with a lucky coin. A new run is coming.

Eventually.

24th Jul 2025 0

The Cold Chronicles Day Nine: A Voyageur’s Tale of The Long Dark

The Cold Chronicles – Day 9: Bears, Bunnies, and Blizzard Dodging

Difficulty: Voyageur
Optional Features: Cougar enabled (still lurking… somewhere)

Day 9 in Coastal Highway brings a near-bear encounter, a rabbit triumph, and a warm trailer evening. Still not at Mystery Lake — but at least I’m well-fed, slightly warmer, and marginally better at sewing socks.

Missed Day 8? Read it here.

Still Not Mystery Lake

I woke to a stillness that felt suspicious. No howling wind, no wolves pacing outside — just quiet. That’s usually when the game decides to spring something on you.

Determined to make a second attempt at reaching Mystery Lake, I packed up and retraced yesterday’s route. The wolf from Day 8 was gone, which should have been a relief, but nature likes balance. In the wolf’s place? A bear. Of course.

It was lumbering near the path, swaying its head like it owned the place — which, to be fair, it did. I froze. When it didn’t spot me, I slowly backed up the slope to my right. This wasn’t cowardice, this was strategy. The slope spat me out at the cabins the bear had been guarding the day before. I swept through them quickly, but they held little worth taking: a few tins, some thread, and an old hoodie with more holes than fabric.

Rabbit > Trailer

Heading further down the trail, I spotted a trailer and made a mental note to check it out. Then I spotted rabbits. And just like that, the trailer was forgotten. I crouched, aimed, and — miracle of miracles — hit one. Bagging small game in this weather felt like winning the survival lottery.

By the time I’d harvested it, the trailer was a few minutes behind me. I considered going back but decided to keep pushing forward. Momentum in The Long Dark is fragile — stop too long, and you’ll talk yourself into a nap instead of a trek.

Shelter from the Storm

Another trailer appeared just as the weather turned. Inside, I found a jerry can. Heavy, useful, but not worth the burden today. I left it behind with a mental bookmark in case my fuel stores ran low later.

Outside, the wind had picked up. Snow swirled, biting into any exposed skin. My pace slowed to a crawl, every step feeling like I was dragging my boots through wet cement. The landscape faded into muted greys — that in-between stage before a blizzard hits where you have just enough time to regret your choices.

I stumbled into the Train Unloading area in Coastal Highway just as the light began to fail. There was no way I was pressing on to Mystery Lake in these conditions unless I wanted to end up as tomorrow’s beachcombing loot.

Good news: there was another trailer here. Better news: it had an intact stove. Even better news: no wolves inside.

Hot Meal and Light Reading

I set up shop outside the trailer. The rabbit carcass became a proper meal — cooked meat, boiling water, even a little stockpile for the morning. As the fire crackled, I pulled out my sewing book and read by the flickering light. Sewing Level 2: achieved. I’m still not turning out runway fashion, but I might be able to patch my socks without making them worse.

With the wind howling outside, the trailer felt almost cosy. I had a belly full of rabbit, a few litres of water cooling beside me, and just enough optimism to think tomorrow might finally be the day I reach Mystery Lake.

Maybe. Unless the bear decides to relocate. Or the weather decides to remind me who’s in charge. So… probably not.

Continue the journey:
Day 8 |
Day 10

🏝️ Day One Diary: Stranded Deep Tutorial – Sunburnt & Sinking (Warm-Up Edition)

A practice run before the chaos begins: I tackle the Stranded Deep tutorial on Nintendo Switch, battle a crab, get lost on a tiny island, and somehow manage to build shelter. The real journey starts next time—with a brand new seed and no hand-holding.

🛩️ “The plane crash was just the beginning. My real enemy? Inventory management.”

I load up Stranded Deep, hoping to ease myself back in with the tutorial. Instead, I’m treated to a cutscene straight out of Final Destination—a plane going down, debris flying, and my character waking up underwater inside the wreck. No time for panic. I dive out, kick my way through the wreckage, and find my trusty inflatable raft.

Then comes my first real survival challenge: how to unequip the oar. After some determined button-mashing and a healthy amount of muttering, I figure it out. I drag the raft ashore—because I’ve seen enough YouTube fails to know that leaving your raft in the water is how you end up stranded before the game even starts.

The tutorial gently nudges me along, but even then, the menus are… a bit of a puzzle. I gather supplies, make a campfire (conveniently close to the raft), and promptly get ambushed by a crab. It’s small, angry, and determined to remind me I’m not in charge here.

Navigation proves tricky. Despite the island being roughly the size of a football pitch, I still manage to get lost several times. I also hoard everything I see, which turns my inventory into a mess of sticks, rocks, and plant bits.

As darkness falls, I realize I need to craft shelter. Fibrous leaves are required, but I’ve used most of them, and a torch sounds great—except I have no idea where to get cloth. I spend several minutes wandering aimlessly in the dark, wondering if this is how it ends. Eventually, I find what I need, cobble together a basic shelter, and finally—finally—save the game.

🔚 End of Day Summary:

Survived tutorial ✔️

Beat up by a crab ✔️

Got lost on a tiny island ✔️ – Yes, that actually happened

Built shelter and saved ✔️

Confidence level for real run: …debatable

🧭 What’s Next?

Next time, the real run begins. New seed, no hand-holding, and full permadeath rules. I have no idea what’s waiting for me, but if it’s another crab, we are going to have words.

If you enjoyed this one, please check out my other day one diaries here

22nd Jul 2025 0

🗺️ New Page Live: Subnautica Maps Are Here!

Lost in the Kelp Forest again? Swam into the Dunes thinking it was the Grassy Plateaus? Yeah… me too.

That’s why I’ve just launched a brand-new Subnautica Maps page on the blog! It features:

🧭 A direct link to the incredibly detailed interactive Subnautica map

🖼️ Gorgeous static region maps from RocketSoup.net

🧪 Some helpful blurbs and probably too much sarcasm

Whether you’re a new diver or a returning survivor who still forgets which way the Aurora crashed, this page is your new best friend. Or at least your most reliable one, since bladderfish don’t offer much conversation.

👉 Click here to check out the new Subnautica Maps page.

Stay buoyant out there.

—
Survivor Incognito
Still unsure which way is north

21st Jul 2025 0

Day One Diaries Return Tuesday – This Time, It’s Stranded Deep

Just a quick heads-up: a new Day One Diary drops this Tuesday, and we’re heading somewhere sunny… and deadly. That’s right — it’s time for Stranded Deep.

The Day One warm-up lands this week. The official permadeath run starts next week.

Get ready for sunburns, sharks, and me trying to build a raft that doesn’t immediately flip over.

Want to get caught up? Check out the hub page for Sunburnt & Sinking: A Stranded Deep Survival Diary.

21st Jul 2025 0

Here’s What You Missed – Week of July 15th

Another week, another batch of survival stories wrapped in chaos and questionable decisions. Here’s what went down on Survivor Incognito this week:

Tuesday: Dark Waters: A Dredge Survival – Final Entry
Wednesday: The Cold Chronicles (Customloper) – Day Four
Thursday: Sneak, Snipe, Repeat – Day Twelve
Friday: SnowRunner Survival: The Permagear Diaries – Day One

That’s one series wrapped, one launched, and two still going strong.

Also, a quick thank you — last week the blog saw nearly 200 views. Whether you read one post or all of them, I appreciate you surviving alongside me (or at least watching me not survive).

On another note, the next few weeks are going to be busy for me. But I’ll do my best to keep the chaos here going

More mayhem next week.

20th Jul 2025 0

☣️ Permadeath Pending: Games That Might End Me Next

Here’s a look at the survival and horror games currently on deck at Survivor Incognito — including Subnautica, Alien: Isolation, Resident Evil, and more. Expect disasters. Possibly nuclear.

While I’m still trying to survive sand, snow, sea monsters, and supply chain disasters (SnowRunner coughs in Michigan), I’ve also been staring at my backlog and thinking:

“What else could go horribly wrong?”

Here are the games lurking in the blog pipeline — all under consideration, none guaranteed to go well.

🎮 Games Under Consideration (aka: The Next Mistake)

🪸 Subnautica & Below Zero

Status: Planned
Blog Potential: Longform underwater dread, optional screaming

Classic survival, but 500 meters underwater with alien jellyfish. Subnautica is set to follow Stranded Deep, assuming I don’t starve to death on a raft before then.

Below Zero is the colder, weirder sequel. I’ll likely run it once I’ve built enough fake confidence from the original.

👽 Alien: Isolation

Status: “Definitely Maybe”
Blog Potential: High panic, high perishability

It’s just me, a broken flamethrower, and one very judgmental alien. I’m currently designing blog rules that allow me to survive more than one encounter without invalidating the whole series.

If I pull the trigger, it’ll be part of Survivor’s Dread — assuming the alien doesn’t pull it first.

🧱 Minecraft: Skyblock

Status: In Freefall
Blog Potential: Infinite resource drama, void-based trauma

Floating blocks. Limited resources. Me forgetting how gravity works. A Skyblock run could easily become a short-form Day One Diaries arc or a full permadeath challenge titled Skyward.

Every entry will involve a mistake that absolutely could have been avoided.

☢️ Blast Corps (Permadeath Series)

Status: Scheduled post-SnowRunner
Blog Potential: Explosions. One life. Bulldozers.

This one’s simple: if the nuclear truck explodes, that’s the end of the series.

Expect a short, chaotic run where I flatten towns in the name of safety. The tone will be lighter. The stakes will be extremely not.

🧟 Resident Evil (Zero, One, Revelations 1 & 2)

Status: Rotating Horror Fodder
Blog Potential: High-panic short arcs, possible scream counters

Classic survival horror. Typewriters. Puzzles. Me mismanaging ammo like it’s my first zombie rodeo. These games could work as Survivor’s Dread mini-series or feature as one-off challenge runs.

Permadeath rules apply. Panic is inevitable.

🧠 XCOM 2

Status: Under Tactical Review
Blog Potential: Emotional damage disguised as strategy

Turn-based survival meets naming your doomed teammates. Could become a squad diary under a name like Operation Incognito, or a straight-up permadeath campaign where I get attached and suffer the consequences.

If you want to watch me cry over fictional soldiers, this is the one.

📁 Completed Games & In Progress (For Now…)

These titles have had their moment on the blog — but might make a comeback when I’ve emotionally recovered:

Skyrim Survival Mode
My Argonian necromancer lived through cold weather, clumsy ambushes, and accidental vampirism. We may revisit his tale. Just… not Bleak Falls Barrow again.
The Long Dark – Voyageur Run
We tackled Mystery Lake, Coastal Highway, and transition zones full of regret. Future runs may include Customloper or Misery Mode, depending how brave (or foolish) I feel.
SnowRunner (Michigan Arc)
Once Michigan is cleared, I’m calling it. I’ll return to stuck trucks and bad contracts eventually, but first — nukes.

💬 So, What Should I Play Next?

Here’s where you come in. Got a favorite from the list above? Think I should suffer through Alien: Isolation before jumping into the ocean? Have your own terrible suggestion?

Drop a comment. Vote with chaos. Whisper “Skyblock” into the void. Whatever works.

19th Jul 2025 0

Snowrunner Survival: The Permagear Diaries – Driver Log One: It Begins With a Scout

My SnowRunner permadeath journey begins with a scout vehicle, a few tutorial missions, and one very heavy curtain trailer. Day One sets the tone: slow, strategic, and a little bit chaotic.

📜 Series Hub: SnowRunner Survival: The Permagear Diaries Main Hub

🛠 Rules: SnowRunner Permagear Rules

💡 Why Permagear Works: Read the reasoning behind the challenge

🛻 It Begins With a Scout

My journey starts in a Chevrolet scout, an eager little vehicle that handles like a nervous goat but gets the job done.
Mission One: Find the Watchtower.
Easy enough—until I hit mud.

Lesson learned:

Use low gear in sticky terrain.
Turn on AWD whenever possible.
Fuel up when the game offers. (Not optional. A warning.)

Watchtower found. Map revealed. Let the chaos begin.

🛠 A Truck, a Bridge, and a Hopeful Start

Next up: Find the truck.
It’s nearby. It doesn’t have AWD. I’m sure that won’t be a problem.

Mission: Repair the bridge.
Step 1: Deliver metal beams. The truck barely handles the terrain, but low gear carries me through.
Cue a satisfying cutscene where the bridge assembles itself like IKEA furniture—only sturdier.

Step 2: Fetch timber from the lumber mill and complete the job.
Done and done.

🏚 Finding the Garage (And Dragging a Dead Truck)

Mission: Find the garage.
I switch back to my scout—it’s lighter, faster, and slightly less grumpy than the truck.

On the way, I:
• Discover another Watchtower
• Spot a broken-down truck near the garage
• Stumble upon a raised suspension upgrade for the scout—a very tempting find

Instead of turning round after I find the upgrade, I decided to do this…

The catch? I can’t install it until the vehicle is safely in the garage.

So I finish the trip, reach the garage, and then use the scout to tow the dead truck across the yard like I’m dragging a fridge with a rope belt.

Once everything’s safe and parked, raised suspension installed. My little scout has grown up.

🧊 An Invitation to Alaska (Declined)

The game suggested I check out Alaska.
I suggested it wait its turn.
We’re sticking to Michigan for now—it’s got enough ways to kill me already.

📦 The Curtain Call

With the tutorial chain complete, I take on my first real contract:
Deliver a curtain trailer to the farm.

The trailer’s right by the garage, so I:
• Switch to the same truck that repaired the bridge
• Unlock a raised suspension upgrade for it too (thanks, Michigan)
• Install the upgrade in the garage
• Attach the trailer and hit the road

It wasn’t fast. The trailer was heavy, the truck groaned, and I crept toward the farm like someone afraid of commitment.

But I made it. Trailer delivered. First contract—and Day One of this adventure—is complete.

Want more SnowRunner? Day Two can be found here.

18th Jul 2025 1

Author: Survivor Incognito