Escape from Tarkov's Season 1 (Kord Breach, 1.0 story) finally gave the game a real ending — four of them, actually — and which one you get is decided by a handful of irreversible choices you make deep in the story chapters. Pick wrong once and you can quietly brick your run into the worst outcome without even knowing it. This is the current, fact-checked map of all four endings, the exact decisions that lock each path, and the one trap that ruins more Savior runs than anything else.
Quick answer: Tarkov has four endings — Savior (the "good" ending), Survivor (clean escape), Debtor (walk away in debt), and Fallen (the bad/default). Your path is set by three decisions: who gets the armored case (keep it vs give it to Prapor in Falling Skies), whether you trust Mr. Kerman, and whether you deliver all 8 major pieces of evidence to him. Savior requires trusting Kerman, unlocking Lightkeeper (for the Batya quest), and handing over every evidence item. Reaching the Terminal map costs 300M roubles if you gave Prapor the case, or 500M if you kept it.
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What are the Tarkov endings?
The endings are the final stage of Escape from Tarkov's storyline, added with the 1.0 story overhaul that also launched Season 1 / patch 1.1.0.0 (Kord Breach). After you complete the main story chapters — Falling Skies, The Ticket, The Tour, Batya and the evidence hunt — the game resolves your character into one of four outcomes based on the choices you made along the way. Each ending has its own icon, epilogue text and reward set.
The important thing to understand up front: these decisions are permanent. As the community overview thread on r/EscapefromTarkov put it, these are "irreversible story decisions" — there's no reloading a save. If you're aiming for a specific ending, you plan the whole run around it.
Here are the four, ranked from best to worst outcome:
- Savior — the canonical "good" ending. You strike TerraGroup, expose their secrets, and free humanity. Hardest to earn.
- Survivor — a clean personal escape. You get out of Tarkov, no heroics, no debt.
- Debtor — you escape, but you walk away owing a fortune. A "survived, barely" outcome.
- Fallen — the bad ending, and the default if you stop the story or brick your evidence chain.
The three decisions that decide your ending
Almost the entire ending tree comes down to three branch points. Nail these and you can't really get lost.
Decision 1 — The armored case (Falling Skies)
Early in the story, in the Falling Skies chapter, you get an armored case and a choice: keep it for yourself or give it to Prapor.
This doesn't lock you out of the good endings on its own, but it changes the cost to reach Terminal later and it feeds the Fallen path:
- Give the case to Prapor → later you pay 300M roubles to reach the Terminal map.
- Keep the case → later you pay 500M roubles to reach Terminal.
If you already have Lightkeeper access, there's little reason to hand Prapor the case — experienced players report the odds of bricking your run are tiny once you know the steps. If you're a first-timer worried about mistakes, giving Prapor the case is the safer, cheaper hedge.
Decision 2 — Do you trust Mr. Kerman?
Mr. Kerman is the story NPC who offers to help you dig up dirt on TerraGroup. This is the single biggest fork:
- Trust Kerman → opens the Savior / Fallen branch (you'll go hunting evidence for him).
- Refuse / don't trust Kerman → pushes you toward Survivor / Debtor (you pay your way out through Prapor instead).
To even have a shot at Savior, you must trust Kerman.
Decision 3 — Do you deliver all 8 major evidences?
Once you're working with Kerman, the story sends you to collect evidence against TerraGroup. Delivering all 8 major pieces of evidence is what separates Savior from Fallen:
- Trust Kerman + deliver all evidence → Savior.
- Trust Kerman + fail/skip the evidence → Fallen (the bad ending). IGN notes the Fallen ending is "hard to get on accident, but you can still accidentally end up here" — this evidence step is exactly how.
How to get each ending (step by step)
Savior ending (the "good" one)
The hardest and most prestigious ending. Requirements:
- Progress the main story through Falling Skies and into the Kerman branch.
- Trust Mr. Kerman when offered.
- Unlock the Lightkeeper. Savior requires the Batya quest, and Batya requires Lightkeeper. In Season 1 the Lightkeeper unlock now runs through the story — when Kerman tells you to go meet the Lightkeeper it starts Network Provider – Part 1 (see our Lightkeeper unlock guide). To open Lighthouse at all, hand $20,000 to Mechanic.
- Collect and deliver all 8 major evidences to Kerman — including the USB flash drive from Interchange (see the trap below).
- Reach Terminal (300M or 500M roubles depending on the case decision) and finish the final chapter.
Epilogue: you "escaped from Tarkov for humanity" — the strike against TerraGroup tears off their mask and topples the corrupt structure behind the city.
Survivor ending (clean escape)
The easiest good ending — same final escape as Savior, but you skip the evidence grind. Two routes:
- Give the case to Prapor, then pay 300M roubles to reach Terminal.
- Keep the case, then pay 500M roubles to reach Terminal.
Pick Survivor if you want a clean finish without min-maxing the whole story.
Debtor ending (escape in debt)
You get out, but you owe. The path: don't trust Kerman, pay Prapor your way to Terminal (the 500M route), and walk away with the debt. Community pathing notes suggest Give Case to Prapor → unlock Lightkeeper / get the case back → refuse Kerman can also land you in Debtor rather than it being disabled outright.
Fallen ending (the bad / default)
The worst ending — and the one you fall into if you stop playing the story or brick your evidence chain. To reach it deliberately (or by mistake): keep the case in Falling Skies, work with Kerman initially, then don't help him find evidence. It's the default state, so simply abandoning the story after starting the Kerman branch drops you here.
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The #1 Savior trap: the Interchange USB flash drive
If Savior runs die anywhere, it's here. During the evidence hunt you must retrieve a USB flash drive in the basement power station on Interchange. The catch, straight from players who've done it:
"If you take the USB stick without first pressing a button under a desk then you won't be able to get all 8 major evidences to Kerman, locking you in either Survivor or Debtor."
Two things trip people up:
- You must press the button under the desk before pulling the flash drive. Miss the order and you can lose access to a required evidence piece.
- The room needs power. One player found the button wouldn't respond until they turned on the power in the room right as they entered — then pressed the switch. If the prompt won't fire, check the room's power first.
The other soft trap: don't side with Skier during the BTR quest line — it can also knock you off the Savior path. Outside those two spots, players agree the chain is hard to mess up once you know the order: "As long as you don't pull the flash drive out before pushing the button and you don't side with Skier during the BTR quest line, you pretty much can't mess the ending up."
Which ending should you go for?
- Want the canonical story and the flex? Go Savior — but budget for Lightkeeper, Batya and the full evidence hunt.
- Just want to finish cleanly with less grind? Go Survivor — give Prapor the case for the cheaper 300M Terminal cost.
- Don't trust Kerman and have roubles to burn? Debtor fits — refuse Kerman, pay Prapor, walk away.
- Not chasing an ending? You'll drift into Fallen by default, so if you don't want it, at minimum keep your Kerman evidence chain intact.
Every "good" path runs through serious rouble walls — 300M to 500M just to reach Terminal, on top of the hideout, quest and karma costs behind Lightkeeper. If you're short on cash, topping up with instant Tarkov Roubles clears the Terminal gate without weeks of loot runs, and Tarkov Leveling gets you to the level and karma the story chapters require.
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FAQ
How many endings does Escape from Tarkov have? Four: Savior, Survivor, Debtor and Fallen. Which one you get is decided by irreversible story choices — mainly whether you trust Mr. Kerman, whether you deliver all 8 major evidences, and what you did with the armored case in Falling Skies.
How do I get the Savior ending in Tarkov? Trust Kerman, unlock the Lightkeeper (needed for the Batya quest), collect and deliver all 8 major pieces of evidence — including the Interchange USB flash drive — and reach Terminal (300M roubles if you gave Prapor the case, 500M if you kept it). Savior is the "good" ending where you strike TerraGroup.
What's the difference between Savior and Survivor? Both are "good" escapes with the same final choice, but Savior requires the full Kerman evidence hunt (and Lightkeeper/Batya), while Survivor skips that grind — you just pay your way to Terminal. Survivor is the easy good ending; Savior is the completionist one.
Why did I get locked out of the Savior ending? Almost always the Interchange power-station USB flash drive: if you pull the stick before pressing the button under the desk (and the room may need power on first), you can't deliver all 8 evidences and get pushed to Survivor or Debtor. Siding with Skier in the BTR quest line can also break Savior.
Do I need the Lightkeeper for the Savior ending? Yes — indirectly. Savior needs the Batya quest, and Batya requires Lightkeeper to be unlocked first. In Season 1 the Lightkeeper unlock runs through the story chapters, and opening Lighthouse costs $20,000 to Mechanic.
How much does it cost to reach Terminal? 300M roubles if you gave the armored case to Prapor in Falling Skies, or 500M roubles if you kept it. That's the biggest cash wall on the way to any of the escape endings.
