7 Days to Die Review

My initial response to any zombie MMO open-world survival crafting game is a positive one, regardless of how cliché that particular genre always sounds to the avid RPG enthusiast. But I’m not going to dribble on about how it’s different or the idea of it as being ‘new’ or ‘innovative’, because at the end of the day it just isn’t. Judging by the feel of the game I don’t think the developers were really aiming for a whole new gaming experience, more just a very multifaceted design that would target audiences who enjoy games like DayZ, Minecraft and Rust.  In case you aren’t completely aware of the type of game this is or you aren’t one of the 1.5 million people who purchased it from Steam, 7 Days to Die is basically a game where you’re in what seems to be a post-apocalyptic wasteland where your only real objective in the vast area is to simply survive by catering to your character’s basic needs. There is of course the obvious need to eat and drink, but you’ll also have to craft weapons and armour, scavenge around cities and desolate buildings and even construct your own fortress. You’ll also need to fight off the undead, who can be an easy slow kill when there’s only a few plodding around your general vicinity, but extremely difficult to deal with when it’s pitch black and you can hear a hoard of much faster and stronger zombies smashing through your defences.

Apartments are great for finding food and resources, just watch for residents

Don’t feel bad for him, he’s a prick

While story details are intentionally vague, the game takes place after a nuclear war which has destroyed most of the world apart from some areas such as the fictitious county of Navezgane, Arizona, the area you spawn in. When you originally wake up the first time in the game you have limited tools for survival and the randomly generated map you spawn on is largely shrouded in the fog of war (much like an RTS game). You don’t really know what you’re doing or where you’re going, which I think adds an exciting bit of mystery into the game. It’s up to you to explore your surrounds, and you can’t just head to a large city where all that sweet loot is and pilfer to your little heart’s content, nor can you just google the whole map and follow it accordingly from there. In single player mode you do have the option to customise gameplay by having zombies spawn slower or faster or having the amount of loot you find in places being more or less plentiful, and you’re even able to toggle cheats on and off. This is important because not everyone wants to play a game in all its difficulty, and if this is the case the options available allow you to fly around and simply enjoy the scenery or just get hold of the biggest weapon the game has to offer and mow through zombie hoards with it. This is nice if that’s how you like to roll, but if you’re like me and want to play the game as challenging as possible but can’t control yourself from spawning in a helping hand when times get tough you can simply disable the console commands option when your game starts.

Multiple biomes are a good touch

They even look quite pretty if you set aside the mediocre graphics

Obviously in multiplayer this isn’t an option at all (unless you’re a server admin) and as with basically all MMORPG games you can’t pause either (but the game does automatically save in intervals throughout gameplay). My multiplayer experience was far different to single player because it’s not the shuffling, relatively docile, melee-limited, loud and annoying zombies you’re really worried about anymore, it’s that 14-year-old with nimble little fingers and a billion hours of gameplay that will smell you out and kill you as quick as you spawn. You need to be more conscious of your surroundings when walking around looking for gear or building bases because naturally if you build your massive fortress right outside city limits in plain sight you’re going to have $$ZoMbIeKiLlAh69$$ lick his lips as he’s destroying your defences while you try and swipe him off with a broken stone hatchet. Don’t say you weren’t warned, this WILL happen on a multiplayer server with four or more people in it, and as large as the map is, there’s nowhere you can really hide that other players can’t find you. Oh, and between us, if another unknown player says they’re friendly, they’re usually not… C0dezy18: looking at you pal. I suppose I could blame some of my failures on the annoying little bugs I encountered during my online experience if I want to be that type of person of course. For example I jumped off the roof of a small car and died from fall damage, I had multiple experiences where I was hunting an animal and the toggle “enter” screen didn’t appear and a few situations where my FPS dropped a significant amount, especially within larger cities. Now keep in mind I did encounter a few of these bugs in both multiplayer and single player modes, but the developers have been notified from the 7DTD community about these and are working on patches for them as we speak.

Many gamers who have seen the trailers or looked at a gameplay video will immediately be put off by the crudeness of the graphics, and to put it bluntly I can see why. It could very well be a deciding factor in whether or not you’re prepared to actually play the game and I agree with these critics. The graphics are sub-par for a game of any standard, and with many other games being so similar in this genre with a much better look to them, I can understand why some might pass this one over. As the game is to be released on console from June 28^th, I did a little research to see if developers plan to overhaul the graphics or do anything significantly different for the console, and although many people have asked the question it seems the subject matter is being danced around a little. They have however announced a more refined sense of total play and the introduction of a split-screen multiplayer mode for consoles, so you and your buddies can get a little couch action together… That didn’t come out right… Anyway, I was quite impressed by this because as much as the game has taken inspiration from many other popular games, it’s rare to have a split-screen option in a survival RPG and I think this would fare well with some of us who enjoy gaming with other people but don’t always have access to the Internet or share a single household console. This is a brilliant idea.

Howdy neighbour!

Final Thoughts

Would I buy this game for console play? Yes. The graphics aren’t amazing and without a solid storyline it could get a little tedious at times, but with an RRP of $29.99US and the promise of many upgrades and multiple DLCs in the future, you could justify spending a relatively small amount of coin for potentially endless gameplay.

Reviewed on PC