Surreal Key

Updated as of Version 1.2.1.7

## Overview

The **Surreal Key** is an easter egg in the game and an optional challenge for those who wish to put the time and effort in. It is not required to complete any achievements, medals or sidequests in the game.

## Obtaining the Surreal Key

To obtain the Surreal key, you must not die until you unlock the Tomb of the Immortal King by completing every single other Tomb in the game. Starting new game+ resets the death counter and allows you to attempt this challenge again. Deaths in Tombs do not count for the death counter, as when you die in a tomb time rewinds to the point that you entered the tomb. The Amber Mana Pills also do not increase the death counter (it only doesn't increase the death counter after the bug was fixed in version 1.2, which at the time of writing this has only been released on PC). Golden Ferry Tokens  is a trinket that prevents item loss on death, but also has the secondary effect of preventing the death counter from increasing on death. Once you have obtained the Surreal Key once in a savefile, you don't have to do the challenge to obtain it again. You will still have it whenever you start a new game+ on that savefile.

## How to use the Surreal Key

To use the Key, you must travel to 612º 672º, which is found just west of Mandrake's Diamond Mine in Sunburn Desert. Between 23:00 and 04:00 (11pm and 4am) each in-game night a glowing door appears. Using the Key on the door opens it and (as of version 1.2 onwards) grants you a special reward.

## Tips on Completing the Challenge

* If starting from a new save file, prioritise skills that will allow you to survive fights over other skills.
* Also if starting from a new save file, level up as much as possible in the early areas of the game and farm for as long as you can stand to gain the food items necessary to use the cooking recipes.
* Cooking Recipes can be completed at any time and do not require you to find the recipe in the world to use it. If you have completed a recipe before searching the location where it is usually found, that location will instead give you some of the food items that are required to cook the recipe. Use this knowledge to boost your health and damage resistance as early as possible.
* Take things slow. There are no penalties for taking your time with this challenge. Pick nastier enemies off from range as much as possible to limit danger to yourself. Only do the sidequests that you are certain that you can survive.
* Be wary of falling hazards. Many runs have ended due to an incautious survivor falling into a spike trap, water, lava etc.
* Be ESPECIALLY wary of Pets. Pets have collision, and in some sections of the game this can push an incautious player off a ledge. They can help with some of the harder fights in the game, but consider whether you want to have them equipped before doing any of the harder parkour sections.
* Trinkets: equip as many defensive trinkets as you can. Rubber Duck can save you from falling into water. Bag of Blood is usually a trinket that you will have equipped for the entire challenge as the extra +20 HP at max upgrade level can be the difference between life and death. The evade chance from Rabbit's Foot can save your life in a pinch. The Thimble  from the Underworld DLC can boost your damage block just enough to negate some of the nastier hits. Sweatbands can allow you to outrun and outmaneuver enemies. If you are struggling in some late game sections the Old Pocket Watch can give you a bit more thinking time.
* The Golden Ferry Tokens  from the Doomsday DLC can reduce the difficulty of the challenge to nothing, as while you have them equipped the death counter does not increase when you die. The problem is that they are only obtainable after beating the first boss in that DLC.
* Hostile machine gun turrets do 100 damage per shot, and fire shots every 0.3s. This can very easily chew through your HP before you can react. It's strongly advised to memorise where they are found so that they don't end your run, and to pick them off from outside their aggro range with weapons such as the Hunting Rifle. Equipping enough upgraded items with damage redirect (Soldier Helmet and Shiny Piece Of Metal) will cause them to be destroyed after the first hit, saving your life if you had enough HP and damage deflect to tank the hit. Hostile Rocket Turrets only do around 40 and the projectiles are easier to dodge, but they can hit you from further away so be wary of them.
* You should always have Bandages in your inventory, as they will allow you to refill your entire healthbar multiple times. This can save you when you are between campfires. The Home Portal teleports you to a campfire where you can rest and then teleport back, which allows you to refill your health and ammo when you get low on supplies.
* Stun effects are very strong against bosses and tankier enemies. They allow you to get in cheap hits with almost no risk to yourself. The Sawed-off Shotgun  is very good at applying stun, and does enough damage that you can probably kill the Old Loyal Champion boss in Serpent's Pass in two shots. Secondary weapons such as the Throwing Knives have the same percentage chance of stunning an enemy as your primary weapon, so you can pair them with weapons like the Shotgun or the Sledgehammer to get some cheap shots in. The Lightning Rod gives every weapon a passive or increased stun effect which can be very helpful in the late game.
* If you are on a platform that allows you to play local co-op mode in the game, you can have character equipped with items that makes them incredibly tanky and the other character as any other build. In co-op mode it only counts as a death when both players die, and dead players can be restored by resting at a campfire. So explore with the character that you built how you wanted to build them, and if that character dies run the tanky character back to a campfire.
* Be wary of bosses, and cheese them as much as possible. Place turrets in boss arenas before entering them and before starting mech fights, hit them from outside their arena if you can to skip the introductory cutscene and put your character in a more beneficial location, dump down Proximity Mines before luring bosses into them. You are not here to play fair, you are here to survive.
* Be very careful where you AFK. Patrolling enemies may notice you and the day/night cycle temperature changes may harm an incautious player.
* If all else fails backup your save file if you can. Failing that, if you force quit the game without saving when you die, you may be able to quit before the game saves the death.
* Above all else, have fun and good luck.