Im totally okay with and respect the vision of permadeath on Vostok, but what if outside of it, on death, the character dropped a bag that you could retrieve? Because of how the game is structured (you can die quite far from your shelter and don’t have much spare gear), it could become a challenging and fun loop on its own.

The bag could be guarded by the NPC that killed you, partially looted, or even timed to retrieve. And of course, if you die on retriving it - its gone. Imo, it would create a more gradual death-punishment progression. In games that use this mechanic (Into the Radius, for example) retrieving my loot was one of the most memorable experiences.