7 Days to Die

Horrid downgrades year after year with a terribly half-baked "1.0" release so they could triple the price.

The game sucks balls. They turned it from a halfway decent zombie sandbox game to a low-effort shitpost of an rpg, some fake game you would see a kid play in the background of a movie. In conclusion, save your money for jerkmate premium, it would genuinely be a better purchase than this :steamthumbsdown:

after a bit i realized why the game bothers me so much this game is not a survival game this is a RPG game all about grinding exp with light survival elements i skyrim stealth archer sneak attack ciritcal every wandering zombie not beause it makes the world safer they reaspawn but rather to get 400 exp i use stamina potions (grilled meat and other foods) to get ready for a big dungeon the quest giver gave me not beauce i want anything in there its usualy junk and i lost stuf doing the mission but i will get exp for the quest my character needs to read 4 more magazines before he knows how to make tea. i opened a purce full of guns and found 4 crossbow bolts and a magazene beacuse i dont have enough exp to earn real loot rather than one well armed and armored mega store that had what you needed for the right price now theres like 5 with mostly junk in there inventory and 3k sneakers. no steam workshop suport? base building? who cares you dont have enough exp to discover a wrench and you havent read enough magazines to make a forge or tea or grilled meat basic medical equipment or anything useful go grind more exp and magazines. so whats your reward for all of this exp grind? a more unsafe world to get more exp to get to a bigger level and build a wicked cool base that shreads zombies instantly that was not even that difficult to make after you read a couple thousand magazenes even though its not acuely practical its far quicker and cheaper to dig a hole in the ground deep enough to avoid it but then you dont get exp so you can instead build a hallway with about a hundred trap doors to grind them for exp oh basic iorn used to be useful to reinforce doors but now without about 200 magazenes in you its basicaly worthless i also spend all my trader money on even more magazenes because the rest of the stuf is just junk

in the 1.0 announcement video, they called this the pinnacle of the survival horror genre.
And so far, all they've managed to do is remove features and make it boring

pinnacle my ass. this shit aint outa early access and you know it.

I really loved this when I was younger and the game was much different. Now it just feels like they change things that were working fine last update, it's frustrating when you get a grasp on things and then it's all changed for the worst. On top of that I would've expected much better animations and especially performance since this game has been officially released. It feels like an early access asset flip, definitely not worth 45$.

My hours in this game didn’t count correctly! Well let me tell you this is and it would be an even better zombie survival game if it wasn’t plagued by old-timer developers with way too much ego. If you don’t know what I’m talking about you haven’t been here long enough to experience how they treat updates and to watch some of their interviews. Even with all that and the game running like crap it is still one of the best zombie survival games you can play and spend your money on, pick it up on halloween sale and go blasting some zombies with friends.

7 Days to Die always had silly things, Nonsense things, even though the game is now complete, the skill system and the whole deal with new books, t made the game more boring.
In general, the game is fun, But starting from the beginning once or twice becomes boring.

The 1.0 release of 7 days is horrible. You are better going back to alpha 20 or 19 to actually enjoy this game. They "dumbed" down progression and locked it behind random looting, instead of what it was: skill based progression. Their new clothing based "armor" is more akin to fortnight, and the game is so unpptimized, my relatively strong PC can barely run medium settings. It's really sad to see them make this game dumber and more simple to adjust for console players or consoles in general. Right now, it's not a fun game to play.

This would be my favorite game of all time if they could somehow figure out how to properly code it to keep 60+ fps. In areas where i'm getting 60-120+, the game is insanely fun and endless. In most POI's, or when many zombies have to script to you, when you get 3-15fps the game is awful. I'm running an extremely high end system. Shadow settings help a bit, but still terrible. Maybe once they patch this for the next few years it will become stable.

This was the very first game that I bought on Steam. We have run a family server for many years and love playing this game with our teenagers. Slaying zombies is very therapeutic after a long day at work...especially during back during the pandemic. We play with 3 of our four kids and our oldest's girlfriend. Lots of fun and the more people the more fun it gets.

Ive bought this game for around 7 euros a couple of years ago and I feel it is not worth more than 15 euros. Ive had lots of fun with this game but I have to say I expected a whole lot more from the full release of this game. From Alpha to full release there have only been a handful of changes surely not enough to brand it as "full release" now worth 44 euros. Im going to share some of the things I dislike about the game now:

1. Trader Quests: Back in the days Trader Quests were completely optional now it has become pretty much the essence of the game: You wont find yourself exploring the world youre more likely to run back and forth from trader to quests for the first 30 days. All day. Every day.

2. Its not possible to drink from rivers or stillwaters anymore, the goal of this was to have the players focus more on the actual survival aspect. I dont think it does a lot but oh well. Its terrible for new players who dont know what to do and just more annoying for players with more hours, adding nothing to the gameplay experience imo. You will have to buy water filters from the traders instead to keep up with your water supply in the long term, which are very expensive in the early game.

3. Skill advancement: (Subjective) Although the changes in skill progression were meant to combat the rng aspect of finding the schematics you needed I found myself enjoying the old system a whole lot more. Sure, it was frustrating to look for that one schematic you needed to progress in the game but the new system just cannot match the happiness when you luck out and find some really good schematics. Whereas if I find books now that give me a skillpoint its just kind of a "oh a book ok whatever" moment. Additionally if you play with friends you would ideally have one person learn one half of skills and the other the other half. (If you wanted to progress as quickly as possible you would have to carry all the books for your duo which takes up a shitload of inventory space.)

4. Perks/Skilltree: There have been a few skilltree adjustment throughout the patches, mostly for balance. For an alpha version of the game I was okay with skilltrees being unbalanced some skills being a must pick others straight up useless. What I didnt expect for the full release was that pretty much nothing changed. Sure they nerfed buffed a few things here or there but there are still those 5 perks you always go for and the other 5 you just never pick because its a waste of skillpoints regardless of playstyle.

5. Performance Issues: If you had a NASA pc this game wouldnt run on more than 120 fps. It just is what it is. Given that the graphics are not overwhelming I find it highly questionable that cyberpunk on high graphic settings runs better on my pc than this game on medium.

Of course there are some other minor things I dislike but since theyre too subjective I wont go into them.
There are also a lot of things I really love about the game that I didnt mention. If youre into building your own houses you have a whole lot more options than in other games.
You can just pick up vehicles which makes absolutely no sense but I love it.
A skilltree to spend skillpoints on as you progress in the game (yes I listed it as a negative example because I expected more from it being a full release 44 euro game)
etc. etc.


Although I really loved this game the full release has been very disappointing to me and if I had to buy it again paying full price knowing what it is right now, I wouldnt pay it.

Don't let this game fool you. The zombies are not the main enemy of the game. The main enemies are:
- You are out of stamina.
- You feel weak.
- You are thirsty.
- You are hungry.
- *eats something* You are thirsty again.
- You feel sick. Get a vitamin.
- You're stamina recovers slower.
- *Picks up 3 sheets of paper* You are overencumbered.
- YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO CRAFT THAT. PICKUP A MAGAZINE!

This game takes the fun out of the experience and replaces it with pure chore. The magazine system is bad. There are situations where you in a room with zombies and you can't do anything because yOu'eR oUt oF sTAmiNa and then you just run around in circles until another status effect kicks in and you die. I'm trying to give it a chance over and over again but I just can't enjoy it because it feels like a chore. Steam hours on record doesn't reflect how much I played this game actually, it's around 400 to 500.

This game keeps me coming back. Its definitely my favorite survival game and the Devs keep the game fresh.

I used to recommend and LOVE this game, but the recent changes have made it unplayable. why they thought they were good ideas I dont know, but they have ruined it. They nerfed a bunch of stuff, made it dependent on finding books and have made surviving so hard, YOU CANT! starting a new game is impossible and surviving in general is impossible. They ruined it. it WAS a great game, until the devs suddenly stopped thinking.

I've played this game on and off since the PS4 version was released 8 years ago.

Unfortunately, in that time this game has continued to be updated by developers who have no earthly clue what they're doing with this game, and with absolutely no clear vision for it going forward. It has been a constant game of "One Step Forward, Two Steps Back"

As someone who owns both versions, switching between the two is rather embarrassing given the EIGHT YEAR difference in development time, with most features being removed or greatly reduced in importance. I'll provide a list here.

Cooking: Recipes are no longer found. You just magically know how to make food now if you find skill magazines(Skill Magazines are another travesty I'll get to later.) The recipes are also nonsensical. Hobo stew is made with rotten meat. It is somehow healthier for you than the exact same recipe made with NON-ROTTEN meat. Spaghetti, Tuna on Toast, and Fish tacos are some of the healthiest foods in the game. A stew made with fresh vegetables and hunted meat is mid tier, as is Literal Steak and potatoes. Bear in mind, those "healthy" recipes are made with canned food from the apocalypse.

The drinks provided are also completely illogical, giving ridiculously powerful buffs. This is the only game I've ever seen where drinking an energy drink makes you move faster than riding a literal bicycle at max speed. Nevermind Beer turning your character into a killing machine. If you're going to add things nobody asked for, at least make them logical.

Level Up System: It's now essentially a ripped off Fallout 3/4 type system with Skill Magazines that you FIND JUST LYING AROUND giving you all of your Skills. On PS4, it's essentially a ripped off Skyrim leveling system. Previously doing something made you get better at doing it. Now, you just dump points into base stats until you get a perk. The community has been very vocal that the New system is garbage. Radio silence on that one from the Devs. It was brought up in the last game update thread on Steam within the first 2 posts, Mods closed the thread within 4 hours. It's very clear that someone has arrogantly decided they know what makes a game good, and are blatantly ignoring their player base.

Weather: On PS4, the weather is a constant threat to your survival. Walk into a blizzard with nothing on, and you will die. Walk into the desert with no water and you will die. Clothing mattered and there were different types for different situations. Now, clothing has been REMOVED and replaced with armor sets, another Fallout 3/4 system rip-off. Not that it matters. You can walk into a blizzard wearing nothing now, and not die because they essentially nerfed the entire system. There is NO REASON to even focus on weather biomes, as they are just basically texture packs by this point. Way to brick your own game mechanic, I guess.

Farming: Farming on PS4 requires you to till the soil and is dependent on weather(Rain makes things grow faster) Farming now requires you to craft a farming plot....aaaaaaand that's it. Right click with a seed, and you're a farmer now boi. Time frame is identical on all crops and weather has no effect, from what I can tell. Seeds are crafted from the crop itself. For example, you have to destroy 3 potatoes to get 3 potato seeds. I guess our characters are just eating the seeds and pits from the fruits and vegetables we're eating, like idiots, as that's the only explanation as to why seeds aren't generated upon consumption like you have happen in REAL LIFE. Great, more removed features and stupid implementations of others that no one asked for.

Crafting: It's identical with no changes between the two versions. Thank god, you boys at least didn't ruin that. While I'm here though, can anyone explain to me in a game with farming and crops, why making cigars requires random plant matter and animal testosterone? Instead of, Oh I don't know, actual Tobacco? What a hackeyed workaround that seriously makes me question your intelligence and work ethic.

Physics: The physics engine has not changed at all in 8 years. Gravity matters, sort of. Its' extremely basic and hackey. It was acceptable 8 years ago, now there is no excuse. I'm still waiting for them to just remove it without a word in a future update, much like the above mentioned temperature effects.

Graphics: Graphics are the only thing that have improved in the 8 years. Whoopie, I guess. PS4 version graphics are still acceptable, and realistically, for there have been 8 years of dev time, the graphics are still trash. Way to go guys. I appreciate losing Split Screen, just so I can watch virtual boobs bounce on a dead zombies body. That really added to the overall immersion of the game, I'm totally locked in now /s

Gameplay: It's identical. 8 years of development and the game is essentially a greatly feature reduced version of the PS4 version.

Buy the PS4 version, it's an actual survival game. The next gen is basically just run around and collect loot. PS4 is unfortunately the superior game by this point and significantly more immersive. The devs of this game should be ashamed of themselves.

Buying this trash is just throwing your money away.

Graphically game has improved a lot! However they removed some stuff that makes no sense..

After drinking water from glass , it disappears.. It used to just show up as empty bottle you could refill .

===[ ❤ Audience: ]===
☐ Kids
☐ Everyone
☑ Casual players
☑ Pro players

===[ ☼ Graphics: ]===
☐ Potato
☐ Really bad
☐ Bad
☐ OK
☑ Good
☐ Beautiful
☐ Masterpiece

===[ $ Price/quality: ]===
☐ Full price
☑ Wait for sale
☐ Average
☐ Refund it if you can
☐ Don't do it

===[ ☣ Requirements: ]===
☐ 90' PC
☐ Minimum
☑ Medium
☐ Fast
☐ High end
☐ NASA computer

===[ ☼ Difficulty: ]===
☐ You just need 2 arms
☐ EZ
☑ Easy to learn / Hard to master (However, difficulty can be customised)
☐ Hard (first few hours)
☐ Dark Souls


===[ ۞ Game time/length ]===
☐ Really short ( 0 - 2 hours)
☐ Short ( 2 - 8 hours)
☐ Few hours ( 8 - 12 hours)
☐ Long ( 12+ hours)
☑ Endless!

===[ ♬ Story] ===
☑ It doesn't have (However, there are lore elements)
☐ Still better than Twilight
☐ Average
☐ Good
☐ Fantastic

===[ § Bugs ]===
☐ Game itself is one big BUG
☐ Bugs destroying the game
☐ Lot of bugs
☑ Few Bugs
☐ You can use them for speedrun
☐ Nothing

===[ ✦ Play Options: ]===
Multiplayer: Yes
Singleplayer: Yes

===[ Other Notes: ]===
As an OG fan of 7 Days to Die, I have been playing this game since 2016 in its early access on Steam, and it’s been amazing to see how much it has improved over the years. Back then, it was much rougher around the edges, with simpler mechanics and more bugs, but the developers have been consistently updating and expanding the game. It’s clear they’ve put a lot of effort into improving it, and it shows in the deeper crafting systems, better visuals, and more varied gameplay.
7 Days to Die blends survival, crafting, and base-building with a sprinkle of zombie horror. Set in a post-apocalyptic open world, the game challenges you to scavenge, craft, and fend off increasingly challenging zombie hordes, particularly during the infamous “blood moons” every seven days.

MY LIKES:
The core mechanics of survival, crafting, and base-building in 7 Days to Die have remained enjoyable, but the game has added a lot of depth over the years. The atmosphere is one of the best parts; whether it’s the eerie silence of the wasteland or the tension of hiding from hordes during the night, the game truly nails the survival experience. The developers have done a PHENOMENAL job capturing the terrifying essence of navigating the wasteland, especially through the game's sound design. The contrast between the dangers of the outside world and the relief you feel when returning to your home base is perfectly executed. There’s something deeply satisfying about the ability to build and modify your base however you want, allowing for endless creativity (though the game's physics can be a bit frustrating at times). As you gather better weapons, gear, and resources, the progression feels rewarding, especially when preparing for the intense Blood Moon hordes (Be sure to double-check your defences, 'cause nothing says 'oops' like running out of ammo when they're banging down your door). The recent updates have significantly improved the game’s graphics and performance, which were major issues in the past, and it’s clear that a lot of care has gone into updating the game. Overall, 7 Days to Die continues to shine with its immersive survival mechanics and constant improvements. I can tell that a lot of care has gone into updating this game, and it shows!

MY DISLIKES:
While 7 Days to Die has come a long way, there are still some issues that can break the immersion or make gameplay feel frustrating. One of the biggest complaints I have (and that I’ve seen from the community) is the clunky AI. Zombies can sometimes act in ways that feel unintentionally goofy, with their pathfinding being inconsistent. This lack of AI polish, particularly during horde nights, can undermine the tension that the game strives for. Another issue is the performance optimization. Despite the improvements, the game can still struggle to run smoothly on mid-range PCs, especially in later stages when the map is heavily populated with zombies and structures. This results in frame rate drops and stuttering, which can negatively affect the overall experience.
Additionally, while the random world generation is impressive, it can feel a bit repetitive. Some biomes or areas lack variety, and the world can sometimes feel too sparse or uninteresting to explore, making it hard to stay engaged with the environment. There’s also been some criticism regarding the lack of meaningful end-game content. While building and surviving is fun, once you’ve built up a powerful base and stockpiled resources, the game can feel like it loses some of its momentum, especially for players who prefer a more narrative-driven experience. Lastly, the game’s buggy elements are still a source of frustration. While there have been improvements, issues like clipping, texture bugs, and occasional crashes remain, and these can take players out of the experience (I can't tell you how many bones I've broken from the drawbridge glitch). The lack of a dedicated story also leaves some players wanting more structure and direction beyond the survival aspect.
These drawbacks don’t make the game unplayable, but they can occasionally detract from the overall experience, especially for those who are looking for a more polished, seamless survival game.

VERDICT:
Overall, 7 Days to Die has come a long way since its early days, and as a long-time fan, I can confidently say it’s improved massively over the years. While there are still some bugs and technical issues that can occasionally disrupt the experience, the core gameplay remains incredibly satisfying, especially if you're a fan of survival crafting and base-building. The atmosphere, sound design, and progression system really shine, and there’s a real sense of accomplishment when you successfully defend your base against the Blood Moon hordes. The recent updates have made a noticeable difference in the game’s performance and visuals, which is a huge plus. That said, there are still some areas that could use refinement, such as AI pathfinding, performance optimization on mid-tier PCs, and more endgame content. However, if you enjoy survival games and the freedom to create your own experience, 7 Days to Die is well worth a try. I’d recommend picking it up during a sale for the best value. It’s a game that's worth playing, but not without its flaws. It’s definitely one of the better survival games out there at full price too. I’m honored and beyond excited to continue witnessing the growth and evolution of 7 Days to Die in the years to come!
(DISCLAIMER- I originally purchased 7 Days to Die in 2016 for $11.19, and have been playing it ever since. My experience and perspective are based on this long-term engagement with the game, as well as the significant updates and improvements made over the years.)
I give this game a 7.5/10! 👍

Pros:

Immersive Survival Gameplay:
7 Days to Die combines survival mechanics with a unique blend of sandbox and RPG elements. Gathering, crafting, and scavenging create a satisfying loop that keeps players engaged.

Dynamic Horde System:
The “blood moon” event every seven in-game days brings relentless waves of zombies, forcing players to strategize and prepare defenses. This mechanic ensures a tense, exciting rhythm to the gameplay.

Deep Crafting System:
The crafting system is robust, offering hundreds of recipes for weapons, tools, armor, and building materials. The progression feels rewarding as players unlock new items and technologies.

Flexible Base Building:
The game supports highly customizable base building. Players can fortify abandoned buildings or construct sprawling compounds to withstand hordes. Creativity and practicality go hand in hand.

RPG Elements and Skill Progression:
With a variety of skills and perks, 7 Days to Die allows players to tailor their characters to preferred playstyles, whether as a combatant, crafter, or scavenger.

Open-World Exploration:
The procedurally generated maps are expansive, offering diverse biomes, abandoned towns, and hidden treasures. Exploration is both rewarding and dangerous.

Cooperative Multiplayer:
Playing with friends enhances the experience significantly. Coordinating defenses, dividing labor, and surviving together makes the gameplay more enjoyable and strategic.

Cons:

Outdated Graphics:
Despite its engaging mechanics, the graphics feel dated, with blocky textures and inconsistent animations detracting from the immersion.

Steep Learning Curve for Beginners:
The game lacks comprehensive tutorials, which can make it overwhelming for newcomers to understand survival mechanics, crafting, and base defense strategies.

Repetitive Gameplay:
Over time, scavenging and combat can become repetitive. The lack of significant variation in zombie AI or mission types might feel monotonous for long-term players.

Performance Issues:
Optimization remains a concern, with frequent frame drops, glitches, and crashes, especially on lower-end systems or during intense horde attacks.

Unbalanced Solo Play:
While playable solo, the experience can feel excessively challenging, particularly during later blood moons, which favor coordinated group efforts.

Overall Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ (4/5)

7 Days to Die stands out as a unique survival horror game that blends sandbox creativity with tense zombie action. While it has its flaws in graphics and performance, its deep mechanics and engaging multiplayer experience make it a standout choice for survival enthusiasts.

Everything wrong with the game is what they 'improved' from the original game. Made it a grind based system, where you need to read books to even move on in the game. Made it so you cant get water from any normal water sources, you need a dew collector (Which you need a book for btw, thats just one thing too). Honestly everything is controlled by books, idk if theyre politically telling us we need to read books, but wtf

I absolutely adore the linear pathing of looting a single structure. If there is a locked door, there is always another way around it. It may not be clear at first, but it's fun to figure out the way to go about it. A lot of structures tell a story in the way you're meant to go about looting them and I appreciate that.

Spent many years playing and loving this game, but over the last couple years the devs have decided to introduce so much pointless inconvenience, just for the sake of making things more difficult and trying to squash meta/ cheese. Not only has this not worked at all but its actively taken away roles and play styles.

This game has had multiple core systems that worked well, made sense and where well liked. Only to be completely reworked (sometimes more than once) making them objectively worse and more obtuse.

Sure doubling zombie health makes the game "harder" on paper. But in reality it just means I'm hitting a zombie 10 times instead of 5. No challenge, just time consuming and annoying.

Game is honestly fun if you're playing with friends! I played by myself and still find it fun but with friends its even better, with all the corpse launches with the sniper rifles and to building basses and surviving horde nights its honestly really fun and i would recommend it to someone who hasn't played it yet ! Just make sure you do your challenges when you start out.

Game feels like a crappy rust clone, but with zombies. I've played Project Zomboid, and was looking for a fps zombie survival game.

I came across this game, and it initially looked promising, but it is quite dissapointing.
The gameplay feels clumsy, and the game itself feels half finished.

In my honest opinion not even worth 10 bucks.

Great game, Loads of content making for good long sessions of game play!! LOVE IT....

7 Days to Die Review – 132 Hours In

Gameplay – Survival at Its Core

World – Vast and Unforgiving

Highlights – What Stands Out

Cons – Things to Keep in Mind

Final Thoughts – A Survival Masterpiece

Deelt wrote:

If you found this review helpful, please give it a like or an award! Thanks for reading, and happy surviving!

Please do not buy this game for $45. Not even for the winter sale's 30% off. This game is worth maybe $10-15. It's decent, way better with friends, and REALLY fun when you throw a modpack on top of that. But they really didn't change much and "released" it, essentially just gouging tons of people with the hype. Don't buy it for much. It really isn't worth the money at all.

used to be a good game but now the devs are taking it down the wrong direction and don't take kindly to you pointing that out

I used to really, really enjoy this game, as did my friends. Unfortunately, the devs have made some recent changes that spoil the experience. In addition to some frankly unforgivable technical and graphical glitches, the player freedom has been curtailed in order to make the game "more challenging" and nullifies the relevance of certain skills and playstyles, seemingly to satisfy only the whims of the devs at this point. Guys, things were actually better last year- disappointed.

I've sank over 700 hours in this game. That's just what's on steam. I probably have maybe a third of that on Xbox before switching to PC several years ago. I've seen this game at it's best, worst, and best. Now? The game is not anything that I thought it would be.

New players probably were brought in from the "full release" announcement and ones that have received the Xbox update after many years due to the publisher/developer debacle. I'm happy for them. I certainly wished I had this game on Xbox up to the standards that it was brought to well before completely switching to PC, but I didn't.

The new mechanics of the game about using magazines to open up blueprints is dogs**t. I hate everything about it. And it gets in the way of progression entirely. Which, by design, is supposed to be that way. And, it's completely random. Yes the perks "increase" the chances of you finding that specific magazine but it's all completely random due to the loot factor. It doesn't even work in any time of realistic perspective. Was your character a complete neanderthal before getting robbed of all your belongings???

I get it, the developers want people to sink time in the game and have it drawn out, but what's very egregious is that they don't give you any option to pick what loot system you want. There are 3 different loot systems that I have been through previous to this one through my years of playing. I liked some, hated others. Why not allow players to pick their progression system?? The foundation is already there! The ones like me who have played alpha version after alpha version know there can be options. But no, they obviously want the game to be played this way. And while that may be fine for some, it's not for me.

Also, this "full release" hype has been just complete hollow hype at it's worst. Yes, we get character customizing but beyond that, everything else is the exact same. Nothing has changed other than that. For Xbox players who have meme'd this game to death on Twitter/X about when's the next console update now have the game Steam users have. But Steam users who have been with this game for over the decade it's been in early access, have nothing new.

A fact on a feature I have been denied is we still have no human enemy NPC's, no raiders, nothing to fight against other than the zombies. Stuff that was in the Alpha's LONG ago as tests and things that TFP were announced we should have got. But no, they are still missing and no real foundation for it, other than a friendly follower which is the drone. Yet still broken even at full release.

The trader missions should have been a step in the right direction, not the main highway idea. I always felt the traders were useless in Alphas but it's good that they are able to be used. However, they are just an endless mission bank, something that keeps you busy between looting houses and horde nights. You don't get to build any affiliation with any of them, there is no special perk you get when you max out all the difficulty missions you complete, and it means jack-squat if you max out every traders mission. So ultimately, just a filler for your grinding needs.

Now, for the worst thing I hate about this game after so much time and effort has been put in this game by the developers with nothing to show for itself.

NO STORY

This point completely hurts. There is nothing in this game that gives you any story behind the madness that happened in 7D2D. No reason why blood moons happen, no reason why certain parts of the map are trashed in ruins, no reason why the zombies have mutated, NOTHING!!! This was something I wanted above everything else when I heard the full release was happening. I wanted reasons as to why things happened in this game. The game TRIED to do that from the very first second you get in the game. A little note that says "thanks for your stuff". But soon after the tutorial, that falls flat after finding the first trader.

TFP still treat this game as if it's STILL in early access. Adding things, fixing things, experimenting with things, and this game STILL can't find it's foothold against being an adult version of Minecraft. The calling for 7 Days to Die for me is long gone and even with me just being a casual player after haven't 700+ hours in this game, I will still continue to play it with a blind hope that eventually I will start up a new save and be completely blown away. But I seriously doubt it since it took so long for the game to come this far.

However, this review shouldn't be considered a slander on the game itself, but against The Fun Pimps for not only taking 11 years to move this from Alpha to full release, but for there to be nothing to show for it other than better models, better graphics, and a broken loot system with a hollow to non-exisitent storyline.

I recommend this to players that have ever wanted to try this game, at least. But only buy this game when it's on sale, and a heavy one at that. Any veteran player will still desire to play this game with new players, but they will not want you to pay full price. At least, they shouldn't, considering if they have spent as much time or more into this game than I have. And new players are the only thing that will excite veterans into getting back into this game.

As for The Fun Pimps, I expected much better than this. I've been excited for what you could have brought to this game for so long but ultimately left me disappointed in not only your progress of this game, but total lack of regard of what the some of the community has expected of you and wanted out of it, even though we stuck with you for as long as they have. You could look at the hours I have spent into this game and call it a success, but you should see this as insight from someone that will probably never believe you again on the next game you make.

I used to LOVE this game in the earlier patches where if you used a bow you gained archery xp, if you used a pistol you got pistol weapon xp, etc etc

But they gutted that whole system for a simple basic lvl system that just gives base XP for all actions and now you spend your points when you lvl up to get your archery or pistol etc up. This made the game a lot more boring IMO. I loved when certain actions got you xp within those skills and not a generic xp/lvl system.

Other then that, I know they visually updated the game but damn I dont think its worth 30-45$.

I would maybe buy again if it was below ~25$ on sale. Definitely not worth it near 50$

I love this game to death, my hours here are deceiving, as majority of my time was on xbox, which is where i originally played it. 7 days to die was a fantastic, albeit not polished open world sandbox survival game. But as i got it on PC. It seemed to have a change in development, and was leaning significantly closer to a RPG game, with defined classes, no longer having to grind specific skills. Why would you spend an hour upgrading your base when you can kill 20 zombies and just upgrade the skill directly, right? I realized that the game was going downhill with the removal of reusable jars, They had claimed it would be balanced by the rain collector, but even in recent playthroughs i haven't bothered to even build one. The only viable sense of progression is that of traders and quests. Its a fine game, really. But its not what i signed up for, not what i paid for. I'm very disappointed the game headed this way.

If you are approaching this game with the expectation that it will be the open world survival focused experience that it used to be, then turn back now.

The devs decided that it would be a good idea to abandon the survival roots of the game, and jury rig it into a halfassed pseudo RPG game. They have tried their absolute hardest to force people to take part in the assinine questing system that was haphazardly added to the game by making traders act as quest givers, and every. single. building. act as a dungeon with an EPIC LOOT CHEST at the end of it. To disincentivize the old survival mechanics of the game, they, out of all things, removed glass jars. Yes, you can no longer find empty glass jars in the world, and when you drink a bottle of water, the glass jar mysteriously vaporizes. Now, the only consistent source of water is, of course, the traders, or the newly established dungeons or quests.

Not only that, but the 1.0 release is just an excuse to give the game a price bump for being in a """finished state.""" The gunplay is still as terrible as before. The performace is poor on midline machines, so I imagine it's unworkable on the lower end of hardware. The game also looks subpar given how poor the optimization is.

Project Zomboid has their new build coming out. Knowing this, 7 Days To Die is no longer a game that should have attention payed to it. For survival, get PZ. For an RPG, get any other game out there with the tag. For an open world survival craft RPG... just mod Minecraft a bit. Even heavily modded Minecraft has more consistent stability than this """finished state""" of 7 Days. Good riddance!

Bought this game years ago in early access, didn't play it much, found it clunky and difficult. Now, I've picked it up again and I can't put it down. Really scratches the survival-crafting itch in way that nothing else quite does.

It has a long progression arc with skills dependent on exploration, which is always interesting because of all the hand-made locations integrated into the procedurally generated worlds. Building is satisfying because when the horde attacks you really get to find out how well you've prepared. You're always in danger even when you think you're doing well, but death isn't too punishing.

Haven't played multiplayer, but I imagine it would be a blast with friends.

Can't run the older, superior versions of the game anymore because the downloads lack the executable. Also love the new $45 price tag when zero content has been added to the game, just worse and worse mechanics and gameplay. And no I am not going to play on the latest branch, it's objectively worse than previous alphas.

Genuinely don't understand how this has such positive ratings, every aspect of this game is terrible and is an insult to other indie games and our wallets.

This game is 2010 unity asset flip jank for 45 dollars.

Garbage tutorial that adds up to "do this" messages on the top left of the screen that won't go away. Craft a land claim block! what do you mean why? just do it!

Combat is just as bad as it was in 2013, wack zombie, zombie get up, wack again, the animations are flat, the sound is flat, minecraft has more interesting combat, at least the game gives you a gun within the first 5 minutes of the game so you can avoid the endless stick beating for a zombie or two.

World is entirely desolate lifeless and abandoned, except of course for the survivor camp with one guy that gives you quests, who is this dude? where did all these structures come from? who knows, buy something on the vending machine and shut up, we close at night and if you stay inside you get teleported out like this is a minecraft server or something.

Quests are all "go here, kill or find thing, come back" it's like a generic skyrim radiant quest but with 0 level design and dogshit boring combat, I don't even understand how this fits into the game it feel insanely out of place, at least the trader isn't the previous asset flip of a nurse with massive jugs for some reason.

Traversing the world is insanely boring, your arms don't even move when you walk you just float through the scenery, you get hungry and thirsty every 5 minutes and will have to eat 10+ porkchops a day to stay well fed, it's a pain in the ass of a system that does not provide anything of value to the game.

Looting and scavenging is boring, tons garbage doesn't make the game realistic it makes it tedious, I've been thirsty for half an hour I wanna kill some zombies not spend all this time looking for water endlessly because my guy can't sprint for more than 5 seconds if he has gone 5 minutes without it, if you want to make these resources scarce then sure, at least give us some leeway on the metabolism side then.

Skill system is okay, but it ultimately boils down to "do this faster/better" for 300 different things rather than providing interesting mechanics.

There is a fundamental lack of an exciting and engaging gameplay loop, quests aren't rewarding, base building isn't either, the combat is garbage, looting is boring, just existing in this world is a pain in the ass thanks to the survival mechanics.

You can tell which assets are store bought flips based on how they look, so many assets don't fit the artstyle and seem so out of place, this whole game looks and feels like it's held together by tape and paperclips, open a unity project, toss in a ton of assets, and copy and paste some chatgpt code and you could make a better built product than this, 10 years, this game was in early access for 10 years, there is not 10 years of work here, there is <1 year of work spread across 10, and then they call it "released" and charge 45 dollars for this piece of crap. If you doubt these claims take a look at the patch notes over the years yourself, or better yet, get your hands on an early build form 2014, and compare it to what the game is today and see if you think the difference is equivalent to 10 years of blood sweat and tears.

If you really want an open world survival craft game I urge you to play/look into the following instead: Valheim, Raft, Project Zomboid, The Long Dark, Minecraft, Palworld, Unturned (yes seriously), Terraria, The forest, Subnautica, Abiotic Factor, Ark, Core Keeper, State of decay 1 and 2, among many others.

I used to play this game with my friends quite frequently- as it used to have a lot of potential. Even in an unfinished state the core gameplay was enough to keep us distracted for hours at a time.

However since the 'official release' things took a turn for the worst. Many of us were surprised at this news because it still feels like the game is incredibly unfinished and totally lacking in basic functionality at the best of times. It feels like Fun Pimps just threw in the towel after twelve or so years of extremely erratic on-and-off again updates.

So what does that leave us, the community with? Well after 10+ years of development they finally crawled out of 'Early Access' with;

• An insane price hike from the initial $25 all the way up to $45.
• Overly complex and totally unnecessary changes to existing mechanics and UI that were easier to manage years ago.
• A complete lack of an overhaul on many of the game mechanics that ACTUALLY desperately needed optimization.
• Slightly better zombie models over the course of about 8 of the development years. (depending on who you ask)
• New buildings with pitfall traps that make solo exploration a total nuisance on higher difficulty levels.
• A massive nerf to XP gains when performing actions which makes grinding even more tedious.
• Scrapped features they planned for 1.0 including the highly anticipated NPC Bandits and 'better' Character Customization.
• The removal of entire biomes from random gen maps including; The Burned Forest and The Plains.
• The removal of existing features such as Leg Armor, Empty Jars, the Siren, and many reinforced blocks and spikes.

This game is a perfect example of scope creep and what happens when a team like The Fun Pimps can not get a clear picture of what they WANT to put into a game versus what they CAN ACTUALLY put into a game without wasting years of development time. Even if they continued to update 7 Days to Die, it would probably just be more of the same sporadic updates that offer little to no value to an already gutted game.

It's truly a shame to see a game with a lot of potential become stagnant after so long- but there are thousands of other games on Steam that put a lot more foresight into their projects and manage their time significantly better.

I can not recommend this game to anyone- ESPECIALLY at the current price.
If it goes on sale for around $10 or below, maybe pick it up if you have some friends to play with, otherwise steer clear and save your money for better purchases.

I really struggle with my feelings for this game. It's consistently the thing that I stare at the longest, when it comes to being bored...and gazing at my Steam library for something to do. The game is fun...but that tends to only last for an hour before I find that I'm tired of having played the same thing for a decade. I just...want this to be something more than a tower defense game. Or a base defense game. The developers have just...hard coded this thing into a really specific experience...and it bothers me. Especially in a time, where some of the most successful and revisited games on Steam...are the ones that have had ~tons~ of mod options. Are there mods for this game? Yes. Do they alter the experience? Dear god, no.

Want to work through a destroyed city and rebuild the thing, to look somewhat modern or hardened? Well why would you do that, when zombies will just destroy any block you set down. Any interest in playing through a Metro like scenario, where you primarily live underground...and only come to the surface for the most necessary materials or items? Too bad, zombies can sense you under the ground...even if you turn horde nights off. And don't even get me started on the biomes. The fact that you can't go in as a mod-maker to set different options and difficulty bits for those things...is beyond annoying.

Additionally, there seems to be...no concern or interest in refining the PvP experience, or setting options for that sort of thing. What if I want to play with my community, and designate certain zones on the map that you can't build in? Maybe there's a 10 v 10 dynamic that I'd like to set, but I want to edit how land claim blocks behave to fine tune against griefing? Sucks to be you I guess.

Anyways, reviews are just a means for venting when you have more than x hours, since people automatically write you off for simply being jaded or upset about change. Have a good day.

This game is so fucking overpriced dont buy it unless its 20 bucks or less

Cops. And if, say, the power goes out during the game or some other random glitch occurs, all your progress goes down the drain. If everything is so broken and after 10 years of development you still haven't implemented a backup system, at least once a game day or in any form at all,
THEN WRITE ON THE TITLE SCREEN THAT OUR SAVES BREAK. SO PEOPLE CAN SAVE THEIR FILES THEMSELVES,
NOT FIND OUT HOW TO DO IT FROM YOUTUBE WHEN 50 HOURS OF GAME PROGRESS HAS GONE TO WASTE.
The game was interesting, but because of this crap, I will never play it again. It's a pity that a refund can no longer be made. In 2024, you can't save to the cloud? Are you serious? I do not recommend this game to anyone who wants to play fairly. It will just waste your time and then break down.

[h3]The development studio, consisting of several people, made a not bad game with wide possibilities.

The game is just so disappointing now. Early on this game was a mix of exploration, crafting and improving your skills. It was jank, sure, but the gameplay loop was solid. Using skills improved them naturally over time. Level ups were gained both by killing zombies and using skills, and said levels could be used for some nice buffs, and to unlock techs. And quests existed as a side option for even better loot.

Then the developers decided exploration was MANDATORY. Now the game is 100% about exploration, "dungeon exploring" and quests. Skills no longer improve by using them; instead you have to find books. At certain book intervals you get access to new tech. Baseline tech was HEAVILY nerfed, so you basically can't make anything until you find a certain number of books. Leveling up via skills is no longer viable, so you have to kill zombies and do quests to do so. Thing is, leveling up barely matters anyway, because they only provide minor buffs to specific things and my god do you level up so slow that it barely feels like it matters.

Which means if you want to be able to craft, you know, the premise of the game, you have to explore and use the quest system to get enough books to do so. Thing is, the quest system is so boring. Fetch quests, dig up a certain location quests, kill all zombies at a location. Oh boy isn't it great that they decided to shove this dull nonsense down our throat?

Every pre-fab building is considered a "dungeon" and when you get close enough zombies just spawn right on top of you. Dungeon exploring CAN be okay, but it feels less like exploring an actual zombie apocalypse and more like going through some 8 year old's attempt at a labyrinth. Yes, Timmy, zombies breaking through the wall and falling down from the ceiling IS cool, but it's just annoying when LITERALLY EVERY HOUSE does this. I don't feel like I'm clearing a building when I enter somewhere now, I fell like I'm wadding through a scripted encounter, just hoping the next GOTCHA moment doesn't actually catch me off guard.

And aside from disliking the change in direction, combat is just... its just so bad. Stealth archer route can be fine (be prepared to yell "how did that miss?" a lot though), but in what world should zombies LURCH FORWARD when you bash them in the skull with a bat? Knockback seeming works in reverse in this game. Combat was never great, but when its highlighted by being thrown at you so often due to the structure of the game, it gets on your nerves far more.

Maybe this is just the downside of getting involved with a game during its Alpha. The game that it has become, and the game that I started playing it as, are just too different now for me to enjoy it anymore.

45 hours playing and then the game crashes while i'm paused and deletes my character. Did a search for "deleted character" and there's 40 pages... loaded with people with the similar problem.

So after years and years of development, nobody at the studio decided to make a automatic backups of the character or address the issue in any way other than a splash screen that says " this is pre-release..., might crash" months after release.

The game is alright, but I understand all the negative reviews. Leaving a negative review for wasting my time and false advertising. The releases are not stable and it still feels like an early access game. The lack of QOL and buggy BS is Ark Ascended level.

If you're going to play single player, make sure you do manual backups of your character. I lernt this too late.

After all this time that i have played and enjoyed these, YEARS, of being in early access. I can not give my thumbs up to this game for the many smaller reasons that just keep stacking up against this beautiful creation. The first, devs don't seem to want to listen to the fans that have already spent the money and are offering input. Second, the decision to disable the players ability to modify scripts and have fun with game play and experimentation.

Awesome survival/crafting game. Even better with friends, it’s definitely come a long way

Good game, good stuff, promising, genuinely enjoying my time. Impossible to pitch a 45$ game to my friends that STILL clearly is unfinished. This is still an early access title, no matter what the devs may say, there is still quite a lot that needs to be worked on, this whole "out of early access" meme to justify a massive price hike is getting old, and tons of games are doing it. Please either drop the price down to 30$ or at least put it on sale for something reasonable. alpha 21 to v1.0 was not worth that price increase my dudes.

Before I dive in, I want to make it clear that this is just my opinion. If you disagree, that's totally fine. Now, onto the review.

The Game
The game itself is decent, but for how old it is, it’s shockingly unoptimized. The graphics look like they were made by a 3-year-old, and the performance is terrible at times. I have an RX 7800 XT and a Ryzen 7 7600X—not exactly low-end hardware. My PC can run most modern games on medium to high settings without a problem. Yet, in this game, I sometimes drop below 60 FPS in big cities, even on max settings.

For a €44 game, this level of optimization is unacceptable. I can’t even imagine how people with lower-end PCs manage to play. It’s frustrating because the gameplay and core concept aren’t bad at all. If the developers prioritized better optimization and more frequent, substantial updates, this game could be great.

What’s even funnier is how the modding community has done a better job than the actual developers. Mods like Darkness Falls completely outshine the base game. The amount of effort and creativity modders bring to the table makes it clear how much potential the game has.

The Developers (TFP)
The Fun Pimps (TFP) deserve some criticism. First off, they’ve made a lot of promises they never delivered on, like bosses and raiders. On top of that, they seem to limit how players can enjoy the game. For example, they nerfed the ability to fly through horde nights with a gyrocopter by adding flying enemies. I get that it might seem too "cheesy," but why take away creative options?

Even worse, they’ve reportedly said they dislike horde bases—the very thing that makes the game fun for a lot of people. Building and defending a fort during hordes is the best part of the game! Running around aimlessly during a horde just isn’t fun, and if I had to do that, I’d probably stop playing altogether.

The Verdict
If you enjoy survival games with hordes and plan to play mods, get this game—but only on sale or through a cheaper site like G2A. At its current price of €44, it’s a joke. Honestly, the modding community has created a better game experience than the developers. At this point, TFP should just hand over development to the fans who actually know how to make the game enjoyable.

Avoid buying at full price. Wait for a discount.

I've known of 7 days for many years and I've always loved much of the survival aspects and the game play loop of it.

I always enjoyed watching the game slowly evolve and I was excited for what was to come next.
But over time TFP kept changing already fine mechanics and game play, and to put it bluntly, smashing them into a million pieces, restricting creativity forcing players down a singular path, or just removing it outright with no clear reason.

I can't bring myself to play it anymore!
The constant uprooting of mechanics paired with a complete change in game direction mid development from a open world survival craft Zombie game, to some generic looter shooter RPG with a painful dependency on trader quests that give you the true meaning of monotony!

I could list a million different things I don't like but I don't have the brain power or care to do so!

I love this game and wished it turned out differently. :(

Also, WHY IS THIS GAME NEARLY 60 SMACKAROONS-

Am I missing something?

I bought this game in 2015 and played it on and off until about 2019 or so. Now that 1.0 has been out for a while I was like "Let's see what happened" and... It somehow runs worse than ever, combat feels terrible and it looks like the graphics havent improved one bit. Do I need to activate the newest version somehow? How is this 44 Euros now?! How is this a fully released game? Idk man, surely there is some box I need to tick to get the 1.0 version, right? Cuz what I just played just has a few more weapons, a few less frames and no visual improvements...
Maybe I'll try getting Alpha 20 to run haha that one was pretty good

The devs have made several attempts to fix the game. Good! But their approachs are usually unwise, much like using regular tape to fix a leaking pipe. The whole game is basically duct taped together now to think about it. Everything they tweaked become a pain in the ass to deal with. And yes, they do not listen to their fanbase. 2/10 playable but no fun, no fun at all.

This is by far one of my favorite games. There are lots of different play styles you can do. I mainly play on the base game, so no mods. There are a ton though that I have seen used that seem like they can add even more styles of game play. This will forever be one of my go to games. I play it at least once a week. It's fun by yourself or with a group of friends. There are also a bunch of changes coming to the game to make it cross platform. Which is going to be so exciting!