Okko The Exiled Death Penalty: Do You Lose Currency?

By Rowan Achterberg · Updated October 1, 2026

A few days before launch a player opened a Steam forum thread saying that losing currency on death would be a dealbreaker for them. The developer answered it directly, and the answers are the best information there is.

What you lose

Dying costs a small percentage of the currency (gems) you carry. You do not lose everything.
What you lose is gone completely. Asked whether you can return to where you died and pick it up, as in Silksong, the developer answered: lose completely.
The penalty was significantly lowered for the full game compared with the demo.
Some Pacts make the cut even smaller (how Pacts work).
Currency is unlimited: you can replay levels to defeat enemies and loot gems again. The developer says they do not want players grinding for money.

How small is small? One player started a boss with about 2,000 gems, died roughly 50 times, and still had about 1,400 at the end, which they made back within a few screens of the next level. The developer has not published an exact percentage.

Why it works this way

Asked to add a second currency that is never lost, the developer said the currency is tied into the game’s lore and they are happy with the balance. They describe the game as taking a “tough but fair” approach closer to Hollow Knight than to games with assist menus, and expect players to crush things late in the game once they have every ability.

How to lose less

Spend first. Upgrades and items bought at The Old Throne are safe. Go into an unfamiliar boss with as little unspent currency as you can.
Equip a death-penalty Pact while learning a fight.
Learn heartbeat timing. Faster kills mean fewer hits taken (combat guide).
Pick up gems the first time. A launch-week reviewer noticed enemies do not respawn within a stage. If you are short, replay an earlier level to farm.

Checkpoints and leaving a stage

Restarting from a checkpoint is free and refills your health, a player in the same thread points out, which makes practice attempts cheap.
Two Chinese-language reviews flag a trap: at a save point mid-stage the game asks whether you want to leave the stage. Leave, and you will replay the stage from the beginning. There is no fast travel out and back.

Mashing Start while respawning can freeze the game at the moment. The developer has promised a fix; see the fix log.

Did this get you past that part of Kutala?