How to Recover a Hardcore World in Minecraft

The whole point of Hardcore mode in Minecraft is to have one life, one chance, in the challenging survival mode, making it even more difficult. You knew what you were getting into, but you grow attached to the World you played in and now that you’ve died, that’s it – is there really no going back?

Luckily, there is a cheat that makes it possible to return to Hardcore mode and save your world from vanishing together with you. To find out how to recover a Hardcore World in Minecraft, keep on reading.

Related: How to Teleport in Minecraft Bedrock Edition

How to Recover a Hardcore World in Minecraft

To get back into your Hardcore World in Minecraft after you die, follow these steps:

1. Go to Spectator Mode – After you die in Hardcore World, click “Spectate World.”
2. Enable LAN – Pause the game, click on “Open to LAN.”
3. Turn on Cheats – Make sure that the Allow Cheats option is set to On.
4. Enter the command /gamemode <mode> – Instead of mode, type in: 1 or C for Creative, 0 or S for Survival, or 2 for Adventure. After patch 1.13, you need to enter full names of the modes – <Creative>, <Survival>, <Adventure> or <Spectator>.

This will be enough to gain access back to your Minecraft Hardcore World and give you an opportunity to save it. But if you want to get back lost items and experience that you had before dying, try enabling “keepInventory” to save your items from disappearing after death. For experience, type /experience set <number of levels>.

Now you know how to overcome death in Minecraft Hardcore Mode, but still be careful when using these cheats. While it’s totally fine to use this cheat to save a world you’ve played alone in, we don’t recommend trying these methods on multiplayer Hardcore survival servers.

For more Minecraft guides, check out Best Base Ideas for 1.19 (2022), Best Ancient City Seeds, and Was Herobrine Ever in Minecraft? – Answered.