7 Days to Die is a sandbox survival RPG where players must use their wits and hands to stay alive in the midst of a large, post-apocalyptic zombie-filled world. The game features an in-depth crafting system that lets players craft a large variety of tools and weapons, and build their own fortresses to help them survive.

Hone your skills and survive in a brutal post-apocalyptic world in 7 Days To Die. Find ways to survive off the land and quench basic human needs of hunger and thirst. Gather resources from your environment to craft tools, weapons, armor, and even vehicles. Travel through various biomes with unique weather implications and effects, from frozen forests to scorching desert landscapes. Scavenge for loot and fend off zombie attacks while braving the dynamic weather and buff/ailment system. Build your own heavily-defended fortresses or commandeer existing structures to prepare you for the night when the undead become faster and more aggressive. Work together with friends to take on the zombie horde in multiplayer servers or brave the unforgiving zombie-infested world on your own in single player mode.

Full Review

7 Days to Die Review

by, Marc Marasigan



7 Days to Die is a buy-to-play 3D sandbox survival RPG set in a post-apocalyptic zombie-infested world ravaged by the events of World War III. Players must survive the unforgiving world by scavenging for supplies and crafting a large variety of tools to help them, ranging from primitive stone axes to speedy mini-bikes. The game also requires players to build their own shelters or commandeer existing ones to protect them from hungry flesh-eaters that grow faster and more aggressive at night.

For a game released in 2016 though, 7 Days to Die’s graphics look a bit dated (think ARMA II DayZ mod dated) especially when compared to other B2P sandbox survival MMO’s like H1Z1, ARK, and Dying Light. The animations also look a bit off. Zombies and character models in particular seem like they’re gliding through the terrain rather than shuffling, or walking through it. The soundtrack, however, is pretty good and can get your heart racing in just the right moments and can even be unnerving especially with a feral horde knocking on, or should I say, knocking down your door.

Choose A Survivor

One of the first things you might want to do when first logging in to the game is to create a player profile. Player profiles can be customized through the Options menu and features a number of pre-made avatars as well as the option to create your own using a variety of sliders. While the sliders might give players some measure of control over their avatar’s body type and build, avatar’s still end up looking the same because of the limited number of hair and face styles players can choose from. I usually like to spend a lot of time creating my avatars but with the limited options available in 7 Days to Die, I opted to go with the quick and easy route and went with one of the pre-made avatars instead.

The Basics of Survival

The post-apocalyptic world is a brutal and unforgiving place where surviving is no easy feat, especially when you’re dropped in the middle of God-knows-where in your skivvies, armed with nothing but your fists, a can of chili, a bottle of water, a torch, and a few bandages. Fortunately, the game gives players a run-down of the basics through a beginner quest system triggered the first time they set foot in the game world. Unfortunately, the tutorial quests focus more on crafting and forget to mention important details, like where to get the resources required to craft in the first place. Luckily, I’ve played enough MineCraft and ARK to learn a very important life lesson: that punching stuff was an easy way to get what you want. Also, aside from crafting and upgrading a wooden frame, the tutorial fails to explain the basics of building a proper shelter. A very important skill if you want to survive past the first night. For that, I only have YouTube to thank.

Eat, Drink, and be Wary

7 Days to Die features a number of systems that were put in place to try and recreate a real-world post-apocalyptic survival scenario, not the least of which is the game’s hunger/thirst system. Players need to continually have a supply of food and drinks at hand or risk dying of thirst or starvation. This can be achieved through constant scavenging or, in the later parts of the game, by farming and creating their own water supply. The game also features an illness and temperature system which may cause players to get sick from drinking dirty water and eating contaminated food, or get heat stroke when travelling or working under the sun in extreme temperatures among other things.

Seven Days

You’re probably wondering why the game is called 7 Days to Die. Why not 6, 13, or heck, even 100 Days to Die? The 7 pertains to the feral horde that will be hunting you down every 7th night you spend in the game. By default, zombies in 7 Days to Die are sluggish during the day and gain the ability to run during the night. During most nights hiding inside an enclosed space at night should be enough to keep you safe from the undead. Every 7 days, however, they become feral and not only actively hunt survivors but also gain the ability to sense them through walls. Which is why building a shelter, or commandeering and fortifying an existing structure, is one of a player’s top priorities, preferably a heavy defended one before the first weekly feral horde comes knocking.

Keep Calm and Read a Book

So you’ve survived your first seven days in the game, now what? Zombies grow progressively stronger as the game progresses which means that players have to build tougher defenses, craft better tools, and gain access to better weapons, most of which are locked behind a recipe wall. Since YouTube and the internet didn’t survive World War III recipes and schematics can only be found in books which can be found in bookcases all across the game world, more notably in Born and Noble bookstores. Pistol books, for example, once read unlock the ability to assemble scavenged pistol parts into a working pistol.

Single Player Vs Multiplayer

Both single and multiplayer modes basically follow the same gameplay mechanics explained above. Multiplayer servers, however, can be overly difficult for newbies. Imagine spawning on day 1967 at night with absolutely no clue on where to go and what to do. Newbies are advised to try out a few games in single player first to get the hang of things since single player mode gives them the ability to edit game settings such as overall difficulty, zombie spawn rate, and block durability, a privilege only given to admins in multiplayer servers. They can also safely explore the game world without fear of being attacked or their base being looted by another player along with being able to quit at any time and pick up the game where they left off.

Aside from the differences stated above, players in multiplayer also gain the ability to claim plots of land for their own use using a Land Claim Blocks, commonly known as keystones. Claiming a chunk of land as your own gives a durability multiplier to all blocks within a 7x7 area and prevents other players from placing any objects blocks inside the protected zone. This protection, however, decays the longer a player stays offline. One thing that I absolutely hate about multiplayer servers is that you can be banned for a day simply by having a high ping, regardless of whether it was just a lag spike.

Final Verdict - Great

Outdated graphics and clunky animations aside, I found 7 Days to Die to be quite addicting. The game feels like a more brutal version of MineCraft and Creativerse minus the voxel-based graphics albeit with hordes of flesh-eating zombies. The crafting system is well-done but seems overly difficult compared to the previous Alpha versions of the game. The game’s hunger, illness, and temperature system also does a great job of creating an immersive survival atmosphere. Trust me, your survival instincts really do kick in when you’re dehydrated, overheating, and being chased by a pack of zombie dogs. Overall, a great game that I’d recommend to fans of sandbox survival and building games. But if spending hours or even days building a zombie-proof fortress isn’t your cup of tea, then you’d probably be better off with Left 4 Dead 2 or other more “action-packed” games.