General content poll (Patreon)

In the recent release of Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven, Part 3, I wrote several dead ends where choices you make lead to death. This has led to some pushback, since it resets your character back to the beginning of Part 3. Some people have asked for checkpoints like I had in the original Zombie Exodus. Coding checkpoints is actually quite difficult. The number of variables in this game is huge, and adding checkpoints would be an incredible amount of work to test and edit every time a new variable is added to the game. Therefore, I've thought of a few other options for handling deaths in the game.

1. Take away player death. I personally think I have only created deaths in situations that should be obviously avoided or in situations in which players are not using their strengths. But I'm seeing some many posts about deaths, I'm thinking I could just remove them all.

2. Include a death scene to show the player made the wrong choice and then immediately spring them back to life. The death can be a glimpse of what could have happened. This would be extra coding, but would be fun for players. I could also give a choice at the beginning of the game on whether you want this type of mechanic or the more hard mode.

3. I could add checkpoints. This would dramatically increase development time and testing time.  Therefore this would increase the time between releases.

Which option seems best to you?