The game's events take place during a nuclear attack in the Third World War, which destroyed an extremely large part of the world, except for some areas such as the fictional county of Navezgane, Arizona. The player is a survivor of the war who must survive by finding shelter, food and water, as well as scavenging supplies to fend off the numerous zombies (hinted to be the consequence of nuclear fallout, a new strain of flu, or both) that populate Navezgane. As of December 2023, there is no further plotline that the player follows. The starting area and minor story elements presented in Navezgane largely serve as an introduction to the open world gameplay mechanics and the world setting.
Gameplay
The goal of 7 Days to Die is to survive for as long as possible while fending off the elements and zombies. The player can either spawn into a randomly generated world or the pre-set world of Navezgane, Arizona. As a survival game, the player character is in constant need of water and food for sustenance, as well as being vulnerable to injury and illness. The game is voxel-based (similar in some aspects to Minecraft, but with smooth terrain), allowing for simple building and destruction of objects in a physics-simulated environment (for example, building a structure with no support such as pillars and walls can lead to its collapse).[6][7] Objects in the world degrade through use, so the player has to search for or make new tools as the game progresses. The player can also gather and create materials—from nature and the remnants of human civilization—to construct these necessary items.[8][9]
While the game includes wildlife that can be hunted for food or will hunt the player, the main hazard is zombies, which are affected by the game's day/night cycle—during the day they are relatively slow-moving and easy targets that can only detect the player at relatively close ranges, but at night they become feral, which makes them move much faster and thus greatly increases their threat. As the in-game days progress, tougher and more aggressive variants begin to appear.[10] Stealth and distraction can be used to avoid unnecessary conflict. They are also drawn to areas of human (i.e. player) activity, and will relentlessly attack anything that impedes their movement until they are killed or the obstacle is destroyed, including player-built fortifications. Should they detect the player, zombies will apply the same single-minded pursuit until the player is either dead, or leaves the immediate area.
The game's title is a reference to an important Blood Moon event that occurs every seventh day of in-game time, whereby hordes of zombies and wild infected animals attack the player's current location en masse. Unless sufficient preparation has been made and defenses constructed, the player will quickly be overwhelmed.
The world of Navezgane is composed of multiple biomes, or geographic areas. These include dry deserts, temperate forests, snowy fields, as well as a burnt forest separating the southern and northern regions, and a brick and metal-strewn wasteland full of zombies. Each biome has unique resources that can be obtained, thus encouraging exploration across the map by players.
Multiplayer is available through player-hosted servers and enables multiple players to interact and communicate with each other on a single world. Interactions can be cooperative or hostile depending on the used server options. Players can run their own servers or use a hosting provider. Single player worlds have local area network support, allowing players to join worlds on locally interconnected computers without a server setup. Players are also able to provide Wide Area Network support via single player worlds. 7 Days to Die servers can run on consoles, Windows and Linux. There are two supported game modes for multiplayer: Survival (both randomly generated and standard) and Creative. The console version of the game supported split screen cooperative multiplayer. Although as mentioned before the PS4 version is not having updates.
Development
The Windows alpha version of the game was released on August 16, 2013, for people who pre-ordered the game on either Kickstarter or PayPal. As of August 11, 2013, development of the game is ongoing with a Kickstarter campaign ending on August 15.[11] The estimated release date was May 2014 for Microsoft Windows; Macintosh and Linux versions were planned for later in the year.[12]
The game was also greenlight on Steam[13] after 23 days getting over 75,000 yes votes, 8,340 followers, and 8,700 favorites. It was number one on Steam Greenlight, after only 16 days with over 56,000 votes.[14] The Mac version was released on September 13, 2013, at the same time as update Alpha 1.1.[15]
The game is still in its alpha state of the game,[16] its current version being Alpha 21. The game will leave early access and officially be released in June 2024, as the version being Alpha 22, or Now 1.0.[17]
On September 15, 2021, developers Fun Pimps announced a development stream hosted on Twitch offering a look at what's to come for Alpha 20 and exclusive insider news.[18]
PC
7 Days To Die was released to the public on Alpha 1.0. Only users who had backed the game via the Kickstarter Campaign or who bought it via PayPal had access to the Alpha until Alpha 5.0, which was released on Steam as an Early Access game on December 13, 2013.[19]
Since the Alpha release of 7 Days To Die, there have been multiple major updates containing features such as a new snow biome, forging systems, new weapons, general graphical changes and smoother terrains.
Alpha 7.8 was released on April 4, 2014, followed by Alpha 7.9 on April 8,[1] and Alpha 7.10 April 19. Alpha 8 was released on May 7, 2014, which updated the visuals for zombie animations and smoothed the terrain for a final time.[20] Alpha 9 was released on August 19, 2014, and added random generated worlds, new injuries, new light effects, and new graphics.[citation needed] Alpha Version 10 was released on November 22, 2014, and added a new character creation system with face/body morphing and visible clothing, a new zombie horde world heat map system and a new wellness system.[2]
Alpha Version 11 was released on April 2, 2015, where the developers updated to Unity 5, which includes many graphical improvements, a new quality range system for guns, weapons, tools and armor and a new Zombie called "Feral".[21] Alpha 12 was released on July 3, 2015, and added a new vehicle system with a Mini Bike, first weather system, new sound and physic systems, among other fixes and additions.[22] Alpha 13 was released on December 10, 2015, adding temperature survival elements, a skill system, and a redesigned crafting system.[23] The difficulty of the game has increased, but it continues to be popular.[24]
Alpha 14 was released on March 26, 2016, with further improvements and more features, a lot of bug fixes, as well as some performance and graphic optimizations.[25] Alpha 15 was then released on October 5, 2016, with major improvements to random generated maps, a trader system, a new difficulty scaling and several more features. The UMA-Zombies that were introduced in this Alpha would be removed in Alpha 16.[26]
On June 6, 2017, Alpha 16 was released.[27] This release added electricity to the game for the first time and introduced various traps including electric fences and spinning blades. On November 19, 2018, Alpha 17 was formally released[28] which added a quest system as well as new vehicles and numerous system overhauls. This build also featured new main menu music, marking the beginning of a large audio overhaul. The new music and sound design from Alpha 17 onwards would be produced by Native Darkness Productions.[29] On October 2, 2019, Alpha 18 was released, which optimized and balanced the changes from Alpha 17, and also added new things to the game (Improved Random World Gen, new infection system, weapons and schematics, locations and POIs, zombie enrage mode etc.). This build also introduced what would be called the Dynamic Music System (abbreviated as DMS). On June 27, 2020, Alpha 19 was released, which added a new loot system, new weapons and tools, candy, a new critical hit system, new POIs and new texture overhauls for the zombies.[30]
On December 1, 2021, Alpha 20 was released. The devs referred to this update as "by far the largest content drop" they had ever released for the game. Features included, but were not limited to: overhauling the random world generation feature, adding large numbers of new POIs, and giving items, objects, and enemies higher quality 3D models. The blunderbuss, which was the only firearm available to the player in prior versions, was replaced with a new lineup of makeshift pipe weapons.[31] Though the update added a lot of new content, there was some criticism levied against the developers for the game remaining in the Alpha stage almost a decade after its launch.[32]
February 1, 2022, saw the release of Alpha 20.1. With the previously mentioned release of Alpha 20 came new bugs, updates, and exploits. Alpha 20.1 saw many of these resolved. Most notably, there were fixes done to a number of POIs, a fix for several duplication glitches, and a fix for achievements. Additionally, there were a number of balance changes made based on player's feedback.
On June 29, 2023, Alpha 21 was released. November 20, 2023, saw the release of Alpha 21.2. There are many additions, bug fixes and changes in the patch notes for the latest version.[33]
The most recent update for the console versions, Patch 13, was released on December 13, 2017. This patch updates the PlayStation 4 version of the game to version 1.18, and the Xbox One version of the game to version 1.0.18.0.[34]
In late 2022, the Fun Pimps announced that the game will be re-released on consoles targeting PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.
Telltale's Closure
On September 21, 2018, Telltale Games abruptly laid off most of its staff due to financial problems,[35][36] and on October 11, 2018, began liquidating its assets through Sherwood Partners.[37][38] A statement by The Fun Pimps on November 13, 2018, via their official online forum stated "upon hearing the news, The Fun Pimps immediately terminated its license agreement with Telltale, which only allowed publishing rights on the console ports of the 7 Days to Die game." They went on to say that this "also severed Telltale's rights to any future updates or sequels of the 7 Days to Die franchise."[39]
The Fun Pimps released a statement on October 16, 2019, stating that the developer had re-acquired the publishing rights to the game. The future of the console ports, which has not been updated since 2017, is not entirely clear. For long period of time there was no active development happening.[4] On November 2, 2022, during an interview on a YouTube channel "Guns, Nerds, and Steel", The Fun Pimps, announced that they hired external developers to port the game to Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5.
Reception
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (September 2016)
The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of 7 Days to Die received "unfavorable" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[40][41]
7 Days to Die was one of the "Top 100 Selling games of 2017" on Steam.[49]
One reviewer criticised the length of time that the game had spent in an alpha state.[50]
Notes
↑ Originally released in early access on December 13, 2013 for macOS and Windows, and on November 22, 2014 for Linux
Related Research Articles
Telltale Incorporated was an American video game developer based in San Rafael, California. The company was founded in July 2004 by former LucasArts developers Kevin Bruner, Dan Connors and Troy Molander, following LucasArts' decision to leave the adventure game genre. Telltale established itself to focus on adventure games using a novel episodic release schedule over digital distribution, creating its own game engine, the Telltale Tool, to support this. It closed in October 2018 after filing for bankruptcy protection.
Elite Dangerous is an online space flight simulation game developed and published by Frontier Developments. The player commands a spaceship and explores a realistic 1:1 scale, open-world representation of the Milky Way galaxy, with the gameplay being open-ended. The game is the first in the series to attempt massively multiplayer gameplay, with players' actions affecting the narrative story of the game's persistent universe, while also retaining a single-player mode. Elite Dangerous is the fourth game in the Elite video game series. It is the sequel to Frontier: First Encounters, released in 1995, becoming the top selling Christmas game for that Year.
The Walking Dead is a 2012 episodic graphic adventure video game developed and published by Telltale Games. Set in the same universe as the comic book series of the same name by Robert Kirkman, it is the first installment in Telltale's The Walking Dead video game series. The game follows Lee Everett, a convicted criminal who becomes the guardian of a young girl named Clementine amidst the onset of a zombie apocalypse in Georgia. Player decisions, such as dialogue choices and actions, influence the story’s direction, with the consequences of these choices carrying over across the game’s episodes.
The Wolf Among Us is an episodic graphic mystery adventure game developed by Telltale Games, based on Bill Willingham's Fables comic book series, to which it serves as a prequel. The game consists of five episodes that were released throughout 2013 and 2014. Retail versions for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Xbox 360, and Xbox One consoles were made available in November 2014. In the game, the player controls Bigby Wolf, the sheriff of Fabletown – a clandestine community within 1980s New York City consisting of various fantastical characters from fairy tales and folklore – and must investigate a series of mysterious murders, the first ones to occur in Fabletown in a long time.
The Walking Dead: Season Two is a 2013 episodic graphic adventure video game developed by Telltale Games based on the comic book series of the same name. It is the sequel to The Walking Dead, with the episodes released between December 2013 and August 2014. A retail collector's disc edition was released after the conclusion of the season. The game employs the same narrative structure as the first season, where player choice in one episode will have a permanent impact on future story elements. The player choices recorded in save files from the first season and the additional episode 400 Days carry over into the second season. Clementine, who was the player's main companion during the first season, returns as the main protagonist of Season Two.
DayZ is a multiplayer only survival video game developed and published by Bohemia Interactive. It is the standalone game based on the mod of the same name for Arma 2. Following a five-year-long early access period for Windows, the game was officially released in December 2018, and was released for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 in 2019.
D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die is an episodic graphical adventure video game developed by Access Games and published by Microsoft Studios for the Xbox One. The title represents the phrase "Dark Dreams Don't Die" and the fourth dimension (time). The game is unrelated to D or D2. The initial release contains a prologue and two episodes that make up season one of the series. A PC version was released on 5 June 2015, published by Playism in partnership with Access Games. In October 2016, Hidetaka Suehiro announced that he had left Access Games and that there would be no more episodes of D4.
Trials Fusion is a platform racing video game developed by Ubisoft RedLynx in collaboration with Ubisoft Shanghai and Ubisoft Kyiv. A follow-up to Trials Evolution, it is the fifth game in the Trials series and is the first one to be released on a PlayStation platform. The game was released on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One in April 2014. A companion game, Trials Frontier, was released on iOS and Android devices and designed to accompany the console and PC title. Ubisoft released six paid DLC packs, as well as several free content updates. Online multiplayer was added in an update on January 24, 2015.
Early access, also known as alpha access, alpha founding, paid alpha, or game preview, is a funding model in the video game industry by which consumers can purchase and play a game in the various pre-release development cycles, such as pre-alpha, alpha, and/or beta, while the developer is able to use those funds to continue further development on the game. Those that pay to participate typically help to debug the game, provide feedback and suggestions, may have access to special materials in the game. The early-access approach is a common way to obtain funding for indie games, and may also be used along with other funding mechanisms, including crowdfunding. Many crowdfunding projects promise to offer access to alpha and/or beta versions of the game as development progresses; however, unlike some of these projects which solicit funds but do not yet have a playable game, all early access games offer an immediately playable version of the unfinished game to players.
Rust is a multiplayer survival video game developed by Facepunch Studios. It was first released in early access in December 2013 and received its full release in February 2018. Rust is available on Windows and macOS. Console versions for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One developed in conjunction with Double Eleven were released in May 2021. Rust was initially created as a clone of DayZ, a popular mod for ARMA 2, with crafting elements akin to those in Minecraft.
Goat Simulator is an action video game developed and published by Coffee Stain Studios. It was released for Windows in April 2014, and ports for Linux and OS X were released in June 2014. Mobile versions for Android and iOS were released in September 2014. Versions for the Xbox 360 and Xbox One were released in April 2015, and for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 in August 2015; these ports were developed by Double Eleven. A Nintendo Switch version containing the game and downloadable content was released in January 2019, and a remastered version for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S is scheduled to release in November 2024.
The Walking Dead: A New Frontier is a 2016 episodic graphic adventure video game based on the comic book series of the same name developed by Telltale Games. It is the sequel to The Walking Dead: Season Two, and the third game in The Walking Dead video game series. The first two episodes were released on December 20, 2016, while a retail season pass disc edition was released on February 7, 2017. The game employs the same narrative structure as the past seasons, where player choice in one episode will have a permanent impact on future story elements. The player choices recorded in save files from the first two seasons and the additional episode 400 Days carry over into the third season.
The Walking Dead is an episodic graphic adventure game series developed and published by Telltale Games and Skybound Games, based on the comic book series of the same name by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard. First released in April 2012, the series currently spans four main five-episode seasons, an additional episode as downloadable content, and a mini three-episode season, with the fourth and final season being released in 2018 and ended in 2019. The games have been released to personal computers, game consoles, and mobile devices and have had both digital and physical releases.
Toy Soldiers: War Chest is an action/strategy video game developed by Signal Studios and published by Ubisoft. The game was released in August 2015 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Verdun is a squad-based multiplayer first-person shooter video game set during World War I. It was released on 28 April 2015 on Steam, after more than a year in Steam Early Access. The console versions for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S were released between August 2016 and June 2021.
Tetris Ultimate is a puzzle video game developed by American studio SoMa Play and published by Ubisoft. Ubisoft partnered with The Tetris Company to develop the game to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Tetris franchise.
Planet Coaster is a construction and management simulation video game developed and published by Frontier Developments for Windows. It was released worldwide on 17 November 2016. Frontier had previously worked in the amusement park construction and management genre with RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, Thrillville, Thrillville: Off the Rails, and Zoo Tycoon. A version for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, known as Planet Coaster: Console Edition, was released worldwide on 10 November 2020. The PlayStation 5 version was released in North America and Australia on 12 November 2020 and in Europe on 19 November 2020. A macOS version, developed by Aspyr, was later released on 17 November 2020 on both Steam and Mac App Store.
Batman: The Telltale Series is a 2016 episodic point-and-click graphic adventure video game developed and published by Telltale Games and distributed by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment under its DC Entertainment label. The game is based on the DC Comics character Batman, created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger, though not tied to any previous adaptation of the work in film or other media. Upon release, it received a mixed reception, with praised given for its the atmosphere, action sequences, and faithfulness to the Batman mythos, but criticized it for technical issues and plot. A second season, titled Batman: The Enemy Within, was released in 2017, and was viewed as an improvement over the original.
Stranded Deep is a survival video game developed and published by Australian studio Beam Team Games for Microsoft Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and Linux.
The Walking Dead: The Final Season is a 2018 episodic graphic adventure video game developed by Telltale Games and later Skybound Games, and the fourth and final main game in The Walking Dead video game series, based on the comic book series of the same name. Taking place some years after The Walking Dead: A New Frontier, the game focuses on Clementine's efforts to raise young Alvin Jr. (AJ), in the post-apocalyptic world, coming to join with a group of troubled teenagers surviving out of their former boarding school. Their path leads them to encounter a hostile group of raiders led by a figure from Clementine's past.
↑ Taylor, Peter (July 19, 2016). "7 Days to Die Review (XOne)". The Digital Fix. Poisonous Monkey. Archived from the original on July 22, 2016. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
