You forgot the house flipping mode, where you take a POI, and just fix up and decorate the house instead of fighting zombies. Everyone focuses on survival aspect of it, but the creative building in this game is really good.
I turned Jon's Ham Radio into a stunning 3 story base with a mezanine catwalk over the foyer as a second defence if zombies got inside. Ground floor was foyer with a safe room in the lift well area - accessible from the mezannine; catwalk led to stairs to the first floor where I converted the lift well into a storage room and had all my workbenches, forges, and concrete mixers; 2nd floor was a bedroom just because I could and 3rd floor was the roof with solar panels and a garden. From the outside, the building was completely intact. Boundary wall was rebuilt and the building looked like it had never been wrecked. Loved that base!!! Only played a couple of hours in the new version so don't know if the POI still exists... if not, will do something similar with one of the others.
My daughter bought it for me as a Christmas present approx 2 years ish go (tail end of Alpha 19 was when I started playing I think). It was on sale for something like £6 and now 2800 + hours later I can safely say it has been great fun overall, and at that price, a total bargain. We have duo'ed through many a random world (and Navazgane) together and I would absolutely recommend it to fans of the genre.
(actually, I used to measure video games as entertainment by comparing them to movie costs & entertainment time. By that measure, 'most' games are quite a bargain. And some are an enormous bargain. I'm only 1500 hours in 7D2D in more like 4 years myself. But I played much more ARK before I played 7D. I'd rather not say how many hours hehe.)
@@kathrynck tf you talking about. 2800 hours supposing he's only playing 7d2d means he plays 4 hours a day, which is totally fine for someone who works 8 hours shifts and then goes home to play with their daughter.
One thing that I always loved is how the POIs have a path that you take to clear it, it is not just break down all the doors and look around. Only bug I have seen a lot more in 21 is zombies going through the floor.
I've seen way too much zombies crawling and simply hitting me through walls, I find that so infuriating... I hate when they just start to doggy run at lightspeed. Also somehow ferals have phasing capabilities now, they can walk through most doors
1200hrs and I'm loving it!! the mods has def helped it but its also the fact you can change so many settings in the base game to play it in different ways... just the fact you can turn horde night off totally is awesome when you just want to explore and figure things out... I like to up difficulty and turn horde nights off and just enjoy everything you can do in the game without worrying about if you're ready for horde night ( usually have more wondering hordes to make it more exciting) can't wait to see what the updated mods is gonna be like!!
I’m amazed that it takes more than 10 years of time and 15million purchases to still not be finished and supplied. Some of these customers will have died before receiving their actual product.???
I have to say Tem, your hard work in all these 7D2D videos is incredible. Your enthusiasm and love of the game is amazing, and your honesty about it's flaws are refreshing and not just toxic complaining. You have very quickly become one of the best 7D2D youtubers, and a huge asset for the whole community.
Doode (just recently deduced his name is Tem xD) is a wizard at video production and polish. He should even work for other YTers in a video production/editing capacity. Genuinely some of the most polished YT videos I've ever seen. Well done good sir!
bro after 11 years u cant call it quick to criticize. its just rightfully criticized. most people actually give them way to much of a break on this game. in 11 years the team still has not proved they can make and release a game. its still fun though
Fair review honestly. Glad it touched on both sides of things and did point out the forum/staff issues. Overall if folks like creative building and able to make their own goals in games (instead of needing a railroad story line) then you are probably going to love playing it. Only other thing of note is that big patches have Experimental rollout, which often means frequent resets of game worlds.
I disagree with the part about Devs not listening to community. I made a few suggestions on the forums that got implemented in the game, so I was pretty impressed. Also don't get why people are upset with it being in alpha all the time, that just means they're willing to keep expanding the game. If it's playable in terms of performance/glitches then no downsides
As someone with over 1000 hours maybe even 2000 I agree this is one of the best games I've played the mods are amazing and I have so many good memories.
I agree with you completely but the fun pimps are making dumb changes and instead of adding new content by new I mean like new zombies or new guns or weapons new items and work on the story and stuff like that but they just remove stuff or make the game even harder then it needs to be but but overall I love the game still I just hope they stop ruining thing
Same. You can buy it for like £4 on cd keys. I never ever stay on games, I get bored of every game but this game is one of maybe 3 that I’ve put like 300+ hours into
Blood moon was fun previously, when zombies came at you from all sides and chewed through walls. Ever since they made the change to super smart zombies that seek out the path of least resistance, horde night is boring and predictable, forcing players to use stupidly designed bases that make no real sense. I play with blood moon off and increased wandering hordes, and it is WAY more fun. If they ever give an AI switch option, I'd consider playing with blood moon back on.
@@RedekerKane I miss when zombies just came at you every night and were fast in the dark but slow in the light. I spent many nights in half destroyed towers in the wasteland with torches everywhere slowing the mob.
I've been playing this game consistently since it was first released... years. I've never found more value in a game. It's fantastic across the board. Love it
As an avid player of over 2k hours, I still don't recommend anyone to buy this game at full price. It's been in alpha for a decade now, most updates/experimentals have been polishes already made in free community mods (which honestly are better than the vanilla game, even the current alpha). It's just not worth it. Spend your hard earned money on something that's worth it. If you wanna play, wait til the steam deal, 2 for 1 cheap (unless they upped that, wouldn't be surprised, they've been milking it, supposedly had started working on another game a few years ago iirc, don't think that's panned out, haven't heard anything, unless someone else has???). It's loads of fun, don't get me wrong, just not worth the money, you may get the time play in, but the game itself is bojankity, and you're better off playing a mod as opposed to vanilla, at least that makes it more interesting. To each is to own, just my honest opinion.
@@pr6046It’s been out for 10 years, I got 1000 hours in Hunt: Showdown during one and a half year just by playing it after work most evenings. You don’t need much gaming time to get over 2k hours during 10 years lol I still have a life, I’ve renovated our home and made my gf pregnant, now you find out how you can actually play games and still have a life.
If you are planning to get this game on Steam, I recommend waiting for a sale, especially if you can get it at that $6 price point. I purchased it for $8 USD during the 2022 Halloween sale. I don't play it often, but it has been well worth that price.
I bought Ark, Conan, and 7 Days at the same time. 7 Days was on sale for $8. I bought them after watching a bunch of Neebs videos. I was more into Conan at the start because I love Conan stuff. I then played Ark because dinos are awesome, and riding them is awesomer. I held off on 7 Days because of the graphics... I got bored with Conan and Ark because it was the same maps, nothing new. I finally dived into 7 Days in alpha20. I became an addict! I've put in over 4k hours on 7 Days since I bought it. Different difficulties, different builds, SOOO many mods, overhauls, random maps and map sizes (wish bridges were a thing on random maps...), even played old alphas. The game is worth the money, especially when on sale! Being able to terraform anything is a huge difference in many survival games. Being able to play the older versions is another plus! Don't like the latest update? No problem! Just play the old one. Not many games let you do that. In this day and age where AAA games charge you over $100 for crap content, worse service, abysmal content... 7 Days is a treat that just keeps giving. Conan was good, but they let us down with the battle pass crap. We needed new maps, not a stupid ice bridge. We needed an in game way to get new gear, not a bunch of dlc using real money just to get skins. 7 Days gives you everything you want, without trying to scrape your wallet clean, and let's you have fun with the game. My current playthrough is on Insane diff, 12k map, loot 50%, maxed zombies, lots of mods. I truly love this game.
I started playing 7d when there was no smooth terrain. It looked like a Minecraft back then. 😄 10 years later (and a lot of updates since) and I still love this game with all my heart! Thanks MadMole and team! ❤
Tem, I'd love to see a video on the progression of weapons, tools and vehicles since the beginning with your opinion of how it impacted the quality of play... sprinkled with a little future prospects of weapons you wished they'd incorporate (like mortars and remote claymores!) 😎👍
imma be honest bro, them not taking note on the community feedback and what the OVERALL community would want and even just a few niche things a few players would like and the masses wouldnt mind or enjoy is a MUST have for a game today especially one from a INDIE DEV. AN INDIE DEV not wanting to talk or hear about the issues and problems their product faces from their consumers then shame on them and i wish they would just understand game development is a two way road, it takes the Devs working on the product and fixing issues and introducing new ideas the community never heard of before, and its the COMMUNITIES JOB to give devs ideas via mods, and modlet features and see which most players enjoy and which are the main QoL or big features that need to be added to the game. They need to shape things up and the game would actually be decent, alpha 22 looks like its finally have some form of graphical overhaul which btw IS NEEDED IN 2023-2024 to be a BIG BIG long lasting good looking game, even PZ is doing slight graphical updates (that game has a perticular art style that doesnt need major change, 7DTDs graphics are legit from 2013 and it shows in every way shape or form. Im happy they finally added somes ettings to make the game look more up to date but i think it needs WAY MORE before the game should even be in BETA STAGE. I mean hell, Escape from Tarkov is a insanely complex and high quality graphically game and they were in Early Access for almost 6 years, yet finally recently went into Beta and now its seeming things are working a lot faster, maybe they realize hey.... we gotta launch this shit sometime right? So why havnt 7DTD remembered that? I think A22 an onward is a big step however this taking ages to release dev blogs and updates to the game is A JOKE FOR 2023-2024 GAME DEVELOPMENT im sorry but either hire more staff and trust more people and expand as a company, or just tell the players hey were not going to be releasing this till 2030.
What made me quit the game years ago was how a horde clawed their way through an underground concrete bunker and managed to find me crouched like a mole underground. I revisit from time to time, but only ever shallow play, as I always get pulled out when a horde somehow rips through brick buildings like paper. If they implement human npcs like bandits to substitue for zombie difficulty and stop the constant difficulty balancing and work on core features, I think it has potential to be a household name.
960 hours into the game, coming up on the big 1000. As far as self-imposed game modes go, I'm working on Leap Frog Trader. You start off normally enough, do the opening quest lines, find your first trader, build a horde base or reinforce a POI, etc. But you stick with that trader until you've done at least 5 tier Five quests. Only then do you do the Open New Trade Routes quest to find a new trader. When you do that, you abandoned your base and move out to the next trader AND you can only take whatever items, weapons, food, medicine, ammo, and materials that you can carry on your tool belt and backpack. And then you start the new trader's quest lines from 1 to 5, and then repeat. And you can't remove accessories like anvils or crucibles from the forge or beakers and grills from the campfire and take them when you move. It really becomes a game of "Okay, what do I absolutely need to take with me to start a new base" all the while the game stage and difficulty are increasing every time you move.
The only way I’ll get this game is if they create an option to disable the 7 day horde. I love zombie games. I love survival games. But feeling like I’m on a time crunch to defend my base the whole time makes it feel like I can’t take my time to explore the world. If they did make an option to disable the horde or even double the time between each I’d definitely give it another go
Great video and summary of the game. I put off buying for over a year, but when I finally did get it I fell into it head first. In fact, it went on sale a week and half after I bought it. Instead of trying to get some of my money back from Steam, I bought a sale copy for a friend. It's just that good! The developers deserve every penny, imho. And now with almost 3k hrs on Steam and prob another 1k hrs playing through the ModLauncher, I have zero regret. Also want to point out that when there is a new alpha release and you do lose your old world; it's not a bad thing as most of us play for 50-100 days and want to reset it anyway. Either to try a new/different overhaul or just to start from scratch as the early game is some of the most fun. Once you have a strong base and a stockpile of all the "things" it can start to get repetitive.
Your videos are always phenomenal in their execution, and this one is no exception. This is one of the most in-depth reviews of 7D2D in my recent memory - videos like these I always appreciate seeing as it is always fantastic to see new members join the ever growing playerbase to give this gem of a title a college try. I have well over 6,000 hours in this game and barring some uncommon periods of burnout I've enjoyed every minute of it. I just wanted to give my personal thanks and support for the amazing content you continue to produce. Of course your editing skills and entertainment value are exceptional, and cannot be praised enough, but I also respect your honest takes and personality. You have well earned that 100k subscriber mark and your success will undoubtedly continue to skyrocket. May this video reach as many intrigued and perhaps future 7D2D players as possible.
I just upgraded to Alpha21. I love the new water system (even though I died from dehydration my first playthrough) as it adds a challenge to the game that was missing. I also like the reading to level up aspect they have put into the game. It feels like a new game. The only beef I have with it, as you have mentioned, is from the occaisional performance issue. Other than that, I like how it is growing.
"I love the new system that creates obnoxious arbitrary difficulty for an issue that didn't exist and literally nobody cared about by being so game-breakingly unrealistic that it destroys any immersion or fun, even though I actually died from said obnoxious, unrealistic mechanic!" Wow that sounds like great fun dude! I'm glad NPC's like you exist to support these incompetent devs. I genuinely wonder how anyone in their right mind would like such an idiotic design decision, but here we are.
People need to stop complaining about the bugs and all of the crap that's in the game and will be in the game for the next probably foreseeable future however I found a way to enjoy yourself playing 7 Days to Die step one remove 7 days to die from your console or PC Step 2 if you haven't done already install Skyrim Fallout and Minecraft step 3 Play 2 hours of Skyrim 2 hours of Fallout 2 hours of Minecraft grab a sandwich and enjoy yourself
Even having nearly 500 hours in the game, it was a pleasure watching this video. From editing to narration and inviting other content creators, your video and work is awesome. If I needed to describe your style, I would probably say: informative, creative, humble, friendly, fun. And I'm sure missing some good traits. This comment will probably be buried here, but I felt the need to give some good feedback. Usually I only lurk silently. So, thanks for your content! Hope for the best for you! I had not played A21 yet, but watched your video about it.
I was 100% against the learn by looting/reading, but after 3-4 in-game days, I'm now extremely happy with the new system, and I am glad they when this direction. It adds a slight change to difficulty with changing the meta of having to be strength based. Not to mention making spears usable.
I think this triggers the skinner box reactions in people. All these random magazines that will give you a little thrill as you unlock something new/better than you had before. It doesnt even matter that you are going sledge/shotguns and dont care about explosives, when you see you unlocked grenades you get a little thrill from that. And hey, did I just see I unlocked fish tacos after reading that cooking mag? I dont even make those but neat! :p
With learn by looting, I have not noticed a sizable change in the way I play. As I've been collecting the magazines I've been thinking to myself, "wait... how long has it been since I've crafted all these different things? I stopped crafting when I could no longer craft tier 6 items..." so I've dumped points into intellect and have been getting my workstation and vehicle magazines and everything is cruising along at this point.
No one is mentioning the absolute BEST new feature of Alpha 21. Being able to shoot and attack through damaged doors. Seriously this needed to be done years ago. It is an absolute game changer.
I was really lucky on the forums. I had issues with the lightning (photisensitive person here) and wanted to know if it could be turned off. WITHIN THE HOUR somone had made me a custom mod to turn off lightning entirely! I came to 7DTD after being burnt out from supporting Blizzard. The game may not be AAA, but my god the game, devs, and community beat the hell out of theirs!
This is not slow development. You can release it as is. right now. BUT, in this game you do NOT want them to release it. Every alpha it improves massively
One thing I would like to see in the future to increase immersion would be a wider variety of regular zombies. I.e. getting crowded by pack of zombies that look literally identical kinda takes you out of it IMHO. And honestly, you wouldn't even really need new models, just different versions of clothing would probably be enough to fool your brain into thinking there was an actual population that are now walking corpses or something to that effect. Been playing since A16 IIRC and 7D2D is a game in my library that never gets uninstalled for space. I would rather see a finely polished end product with however many alphas than whatever some of these AAA publishers have been pushing onto the market.
I am still on the fence with the magazine progression system. It forces you to play a certain way, the first few days you find a big city and run round searching every mailbox you can find. I have over 9000 hours in the game (yes, I have no life, lol) and one of the play styles I used to enjoy was staying in the wilderness, away from zombie infested cities. It was a relaxed way of playing, gathering resources and building a base with the occasional wandering horde to deal with. No towns and no traders. Now I cannot do that. You have to go to a trader for the dew collector part and the only way to progress is via the magazines so you have to loot. You cannot play that sort of style when you cannot get out of the stone age
7 Days to Die is basically like a more mature version of Minecraft. But, all the foes are mostly zombie themed, there are a few animals, and rumors of other people (aside from traders) being planned down the road. This game is on sale all the time, get it. It is fun, a lot of challenge settings to tailor your experience. It is a lot of fun multi-player cooperative.
Loving Alpha 21 so far. However, it seems to me that it is harder for solo playing. It feels like TFP are moving more towards a focus on multi playing more IMO. Love your videos and have been following since Undead Legacy (love that mod!). Keep up the amazing work!
I mean its possible, but also I find the game is much easier solo if you have a distinct plan for the first 7 days getting setup. I started a new playthrough after the first update came out for A21 experimental yesterday, and I’m already nearly back to where I was at day 13 on day 5, because of the warmup and plan in mind.
A21 definitely changed the early game. On standalone I think it's best to choose a armor and a melee with your first 4 points. Because of the skill books from the RNG table change. Just looting and doing missions you'll be able to make decent early game gear.
The fact that it’s getting re released for console is kinda sad IMO. I’ve owned 7 days for a little over a year now on console. I keep hearing that fun pimps gained their rights back and was so excited for console version to hopefully get an update. Not an entirely new game. I feel robbed for buying the first one. It was okay but nothing compared to what a PC experience would give you
Thanks GNS. As someone who's been around since like A14...I love how you summarize what I'd have such a hard time doing. You really make it comprehensive for new-comers and returning veterans. Keep up the good work, king.
I purchased the game last year (2023) and the sale price…. I am having a blast playing it and would recommend 7 days to die!! Great video/review of the game.
There are also two things that you can add to your list : - the prefab editor : it's not used by a lot of players but it's still a good way to use your creativity to create things for you or the community - the mods are SUPER easy to create and you can change A LOT of things if you spend a little bit of time looking at the vanilla files. XML modding is just insane and a lot of people don't understand the true power of it. And this is server side ! No downloads ! You talked about Overhauls but there are A LOT of server side Mods which are insane ! Halmod, Snufkin Vehicles, new zombies, new blocks ... And you can do so much with it ! + 1 Thumps up ! :P
Having originally come from playing on PS4, I can comfortably say my purchases were well worth it. Even if you take out the naked value of "hours enjoyed/dollars spent," every other game in the same genre that might do 1 or 2 things better than 7 Days has dozens of things it sorely does not that keep me coming back. But it isn't like an "abusive relationship;" the feeling of starting over after time away is genuine comfort food.
*ATMOSPHERE!* This game may be rough around the edges but what it does have is that undefinable something, the atmosphere is amazing and it makes it really stand out among all the AAA titles CO OP is outstanding, it really feels like a 'create your own adventure' game where you create missions and stories as you go. Its on GAMEPASS by the way :)
I enjoyed the video but am honestly disappointed that you never touched on the fact that TFP are on record as making changes that are done for no reason other than to frustrate the players and force them to play the way THEY want instead of the way the game is listed - as a sandbox which allows you to play how you want. (GPS zombies? Digging zombies? Structural Engineer Zombies?) Overall a good review, but a little too much like a cheerleading session, for my taste. It certainly explains why some were given the privilege of being part of the streaming weekend while others were excluded outright because they "wouldn't represent the company or game appropriately" - read as "they won't give a totally positive review and talk about how great we are."
I bought the game when A19 came out, when the graphics took a big jump up. Like going from PS2 to PS3. I did catch it on one of their sales weeks for about $7 (USD). I probably have about 3000 hours and my second top Steam game has less than 300 hours. My son and I call 7 Days "Minecraft for adults". I did also buy the console version a couple years back, I think I played it for five or ten minutes and went straight back to my PC. And a quick shoutout to Kage848 for getting me to buy this game, he called it "the best survival game he had ever played". One of the things that gives this game some long lasting legs are all the great MODs, once you think you have mastered the base game, go grab an overhaul MOD (my favorite one right now is Rebirth) and a whole new learning curve starts.
I got in 900 hours of gameplay before the final version finally came out. I am almost burned out on the game but I will give it one more college try! I mean I loved this game and it will always have a very special place in my heart. The fun times I had with friends and family playing this game. 🍻Cheers to all of you who are just starting out on your journey! 🍻 Remember it is not about the destination but rather about the fun you had getting there and the friends you made along the way!🍺
@@lezbefrenz Have a blast Fren! You are about to embark on a wonderful journey wrought with the dead clawing their way to eat your entire soul! They are coming for you! They are in the walls! They are inside the base! OMG they are eating me alive! 🧟🧟🧟🧟♂🧟♀🧟♀🧟🧟🧟🩸🩸 ⚔🔪🗡🛡 👌💪
My only gripe about 7Days is that there is no "freeze time" option while building a base. In a game where you have a limited amount of time between each horde night I wish I could freeze time while going into a "build mode," work on my base, test out different ideas, change things up, then resume and continue off where I paused the countdown towards the next horde night. Maybe that's part of the thrill for some people, the rush to get everything done but honestly if I want a rush I'll just make a save with horde nights happening more frequently. I want to be able to work on my base design without feeling like I'm wasting time when I could be farming more resources and making more ammo/better crafting stations, etc.
I disagree i think one of my favorite things about 7d2d is how i have to manage my time and having to decide what my priority's are EG: do i build up my base, gather more raw resources or try and do a few quests for better gear and tokens. full respect to your opinion and all but i think that it would take a lot away from the immersion of the game
5:24 I LOVED this game back when it became free for a time on the PS4 in like 2016 - 2018 or so. I didnt know we could divert water!!!! trhats insane!!!
People don't know what a small indy company is anymore. The Fun Pimps were like, 8 people for most of the games development and have only increased to about 30 people in the last couple of years. 10 years is actually reasonable if an indy company wants to release a good game as ambitious as 7DtD. CD Projekt Red developed Cyberpunk 2077 for 5 years (7 years if you count the two years they took to make concept art) with a team of over 400 people, and look how that turned out.
A note regarding the in game music, A21 has received an upgrade to the in game music and you can change the frequency it plays at. It feels noire/mystery, kind of spooky but in a fun way.
I'd say overall A21 is a W. There are somethings that are side grades like the Dew Collectors and the removal of glass jars. And one isn't necessarily better than the other. But I'd say the three biggest things this causes is, 1: You wont have a fire running 24/7 for boiling water, which will reduce the amount of screamers attacking. 2: Bottles will not take up inventory space. 3: water is harder to come by early, but is completely automated mid to late game, which is a side grade, but it is the preferable system. The magazine system is fine, makes looting a bit more instantly rewarding. The specialized traders are just more interesting overall compared to A20 traders. I would say there is no change i disliked(the side grades), some i feel indifferent about, and there were positive changes as well. The graphical upgrade was welcome. And I'm sure they hear player feed back about features, but I do not think it is an issue that they ultimately decide internally what will and won't make it to the game.
When this game first came out I still remember how totally janky and rough this game looked but its gameplay had me hooked, even when I stepped away from pc gaming when alpha 8 dropped i had barely 300 hrs got a new rig n jumped in when a14 hit the scene and those hours have racked up ever since. Something about this game no matter how many times its been reworked or tweaked it still manages to keep my interest. The replayability of this game and how much you can customize your way of play to suit whatever kind of vibe ya want is an absolute sell for me.
In terms of bugs, the Xbox version crashes randomly and will delete half of your building (if not all) I can’t wait for the new version I hate playing just to have all my chests evaporate on day 80 for absolutely no reason
The game 7 days has immense potential, but its community needs to be united to fully unlock its possibilities. To achieve this, the game should be updated with cross-platform play, allowing players from all platforms to interact seamlessly. Additionally, all versions of the game should be aligned, ensuring parity across platforms. Transforming it into a live service with in-game events for holidays would further enhance the experience. For example, introducing "Summer Scream Nights" where zombies wear summer clothing and other seasonal elements. Special limited-time bosses could be added for each event, such as a Zombie Santa for the Christmas event. Players could shoot him down and engage in a boss fight, accompanied by tiny zombie elves that can be defeated. These events could offer rewards like gifts, Christmas-themed skins, and unique weapons. The potential for this game is immense, but the developers need to focus their efforts and bring these ideas to life, instead of simply tinkering around without meaningful progress like this game has been in development for years now since i was a child playing it with my cousin on xbox 360 and its still not finished! when will it ever be???? it sucks there isn't any good crossplay zombies games that are live service i think the closest was back for blood but even the developer team for that games all over the place. i want a game that's like 7 days, state of decay, dead rising, dying light, and left for dead all in one big open world that progresses over time and give you a reason to keep coming back with in game events and stuff and that's crossplay so you can play with anyone regardless of platform and so the servers aren't dead and empty.
I'm 'new' to 7DtD, I jumped on the hype train thanks to you and G9s vids popping up on my feed (I assume because I watched/played a lot of DayZ?) when A20 came out. For me, the current 'shell' that 7DtD is, is some how one of the best games I've ever played. I don't even think we need the game to ever actually come out because the MODS for this game is... Well, y'all know whats up. Big gaps between big updates means we have more time for the Mod'ers to take this shell and make it into a DOZEN different 'versions' of a 7 Days game, many of which have a level of polish and gameplay that the shell it's self may NEVER see. Great video, and looking forward to more Bedrock!
Hehe, it's actually far more than 21 revisions, just 21 major revisions. I am not one of the people complaining about it being early access for so long. In fact, because of this it has kept me playing since Alpha 3. Few games have been able to keep my attention that long, just a tad over 2k hrs. Every major revision is like getting a new game for free, being spaced far enough apart I have already played out every feature in the previous. Hint, use Developer Mode if you want to god mode, fly, fast travel, time skip, give yourself XP, and Creative Mode if you want to give yourself supplies/equipment or building materials.
So many ways to play, so many things to build, so many zombies to kill, so many mods and a great community. It's the perfect game for people that want to play their own way. When Neebs Gaming first picked this up, I thought it looked kind of crappy and the character actions were clunky. But after the second episode I fell in love with the gameplay. Even today it's a pretty unique game. When it's all said and done, this is just a fun game to play.
You did a great job offering very balanced, holistic and thorough commentary on the game! Had a really great time playing this game back in 2019; 749 hours. There were some things that I really liked about the game at that time--and I honestly cannot recall now exactly what they were--which the developers basically removed from the game/changed. That combined with just, burning out and moving on to other games is why I haven't had it installed since summer 2023. The other thing that soured my experience was the attitude of the developers on this topic, i.e., making major changes involving removal/change of longstanding game features/mechanics. I do not respect, nor appreciate their "We know the 'right' way to play this game, and we do everything in our power to prevent players form playing it in other ways . . ." attitude. One of the things that I really loved about the game, and miss as it not something that is easy to find in other games, was the way in which a "properly-modded" version of the game, being run on someone's private server could provide a fantastic sand-box for a group of 4 or 5 people to play collaboratively. The way in which the character progression system, base-building and tower-defense mechanics function really bring a dynamic that few games seem to offer. Me and a half dozen friends had some great fun collaboratively conceiving and building massive complex horde defense bases and then fighting the horde in them together. I intend to reinstall and play 7Days at some point and probably double or even triple my play hours. The features/mechanics that they removed/changed probably won't be missed now that I've basically forgotten what they were in the first place, and with mods much of that is probably "fixable" anyway. As far as their attitude, well it is their application so I guess I'll just wait and see how their final vision actually manifests and judge at that time.
I wish more reviews were as constructive as this one. Critical thinking 10/10 Respect to the audience 10/10 Keeping the main point in focus 10/10 Montage 8/10
As someone who has played this for 628.1 hours (feels like I've played more tbh), this game is absolutely worth it. The vanilla material is great and if you want to, after getting bored with normal play, put in challenges like "No guns", "one hit challenge", "daily horde nights". turn all the aggro setting up and do nightmare mode, etc. It's even more worth it because of the mod community for this game adds SO MUCH to the game. It's even better with friends for late night/weekend sessions. However, if you expect to jump in for 30 minutes and make tons of progress because that's all the availability you have... it might not be the best pick. You definitely shouldn't log out during horde nights... Overall, it is a game that isn't competitive. It's one of those games that it isn't perfect so you don't take it seriously and just have a good time with it. My friends and I call it an awful game (half sarcastically) but we keep coming back to it every so often and play for long multi-hour sessions where we try to get as far as we can before our base is irrecoverable and just have fun with it. If you expect to play a AAA title game, don't play this. If you can simply enjoy the jankiness this game will show you at times and just play along for an entertaining, albeit frustrating time, this is worth it. If you enjoy base building, you'll like this. If you enjoy exploration and looting, you'll enjoy this. If you enjoy non-difficult zombie killing games, you'll enjoy this (until horde nights, which get hard later in the game). If you're trying to play on a lower end rig, you might want to upgrade before you buy. It definitely has a learning curve as to how things work. So, give it time to get used to. You won't be really good right away. You may need to google things you don't understand and that's okay. It's part of learning a new game. I google stuff about games all the time when I pick up a new game and I'm stuck on something. Bugs aren't as gamebreaking in this one. I've played some AAA titles that require you to turn down the max frame rate just to get the game to work properly (looking at you Spyro) and recently Fortnite's update that makes the game lag, stutter or even unable to be launched with this recent update! There's nothing quite *that* ridiculous here. Every game, indie or AAA, has bugs present. It's just part of making a complex game; things can get sticky in development. I don't hold these developers to a standard I couldn't reach myself. Shit happens. Things are hard to iron out and they want it meet their idea of the game. If it takes 15 years, it takes 15 years.... I've been waiting on the last 3 alphas to come out with baited breath because they've changed the most about the game than all the prior alphas combined. The updates are more and more transformative recently, even if the wait between them is longer. As for how long it has been in "alpha", keep in mind that Rust is really popular and also is still in an alpha/beta state too and I think it's been out about as long as 7 Days to Die. Steam says Rust was released in 2018 (for beta version, I think with their overhaul of graphics and procedural release) but, a Google Search shows 2013 was when Alpha version came out. So, it has similarly been about 10 years since it was released and it STILL is getting updated and added to. I don't care how long a game takes. I'd prefer the devs have better working conditions and feedback from the community during the transformative section of a game as that means we have control of the game's direction more than with AAA titles. I will always support indie devs over AAA's far more.
Great review GNS! I agree pretty much bang on with every point. Bought this game on Alpha 14 for like $20 CAD and have logged over 3K hours. Worth every cent easily in spite of the long development, performance issues and minor bugs. TBH, I've never expected the game to be fully optimized and/or bug free. I went in eyes wide open knowing I was buying a unique voxel-based game in Early Access by an indie dev team. IMHO, the game consistently improves with each alpha release. Yea, the releases can be and have been over a year between releases, but overhaul mods easily fill the time between after I've played out vanilla. I also love how the devs keep available previous alphas back to A9 last I checked. Makes for some good nostalgic fun sometimes and very much demonstrates just how far the game has come. My only regret is not having noticed this in crowd-funding back in the day and missed the opportunity to throw my hat in the ring as a day 1 supporter. Personally, I have never really had trouble getting the game to run well enough for enjoyable play, but I'm also an avid PC builder and always have a modern rig to run it on. I've also hosted servers many times for myself and friends and consider setting up and running a server relatively easy for a reasonably skilled PC enthusiast. The game just nails many game points for me as I love survival and open world, plus it's the only such game I'm aware of that, to such a degree, is fully destructible and salvageable with so many options in play-style and building variation; both player built and in-game POI. I can get totally immersed and the hours just happily fly by. Hard to deny that it has a similar development cycle to another of Steam's staple games Rust. Yes Rust is v1.0 now, but until about a year or so ago was also still EA yet both are one of Steam's 15 most played games, right up there with triple A legends like DOTA, CS:GO, Apex and PUBG. That says a lot! So stop humming and hawing already, just drop a few quid and enjoy the ride! For me, it boils down to about $0.006 per hour of gameplay and just keeps getting more worth the money spent every hour played. Thank you Fun Pimps!
Excellent video, very balanced and informative review. I have just over 8,500 hours in the game so far, so definitely agree with the replay value aspect.
I basically agree with you. To me the biggest decision on buying a game is replayability. Everything else goes towards this measuring stick but in the end, what it comes down to is, will i still be playing this in a month? 3 months? A year? The answer is, yes. While I would like it if the basic vanilla game had more in terms of progression, like the darkness falls mod, there is enough, as you said, to last you through tens of hours per playthrough, 40ish on average lets say. And there are enough options built into vanilla to justify playing it many many times before you can say you have experienced it all. From the simple things like changing difficulty settings, to choosing different builds, to self imposed challenges like no trader or whatever. That alone is likely a couple thousand hours of play before you run out of new stuff to do which more than justifies its price tag to me. And the modding community then stepped in and basically reset the replay clock with at least a solid dozen or so strong game overhaul mods like darkness falls, rebirth, war of the walkers, etc. All of which have very unique alterations to how the game works to reignite interest in players. I will admit that I dont play anymore. Mostly its because I dont have the time or inclination to sit down and game, but im still a fan of the video community. But I have been playing since I think alpha 18 or so and in no way feel like I regret my purchase. I might come back some day as time allows but even if I dont, this was well worth the purchase. Yes there are things I wish could be changed or added to the game, but you will find that with any game, even the greatest powerhouses out there, and to me the good far outweighs the bad.
Excellent review. Between the computer and console versions, I probably have 700+ hrs in 7D2D. The early game (20-60hrs) is terrifying and captivating. The mid game (40-120hrs) is satisfying as you consolidate your resources, base(s), and overall strength, and begin to branch out in quests and POIs. The end game (60-300hrs) starts to feel a bit pointless and meaningless, as you're essentially unstoppable baring a particularly nasty hoard night or POI. Just booted up a new playthrough and loving it. What a great game.
I love this game so much that it was my first game I downloaded on my new pc in 2019 coming from console. I love trying new things in creative then trying to build them in a play through that has no cheats to see if it was a good idea or not. Always love watching others play it to see how they fair but I’d say playing with others is so much better. Mega bases r cool too and I’d say I make cheesy like horde bases but that is so I do less repairs and more adventures outside the base. I started on A15 on console and made it to A21 now and it has some things that r weird like the glass jars but what they did with the perks feels right with like master chef where it lowers time and how much ingredients that r used that is nice rather than just getting more food to craft. I love farming in the game but hate the seed thing after harvest, love that most mods kept it the old way. This game is too fun tbh always great to sit down and chill on it
I was already subscribed when I picked up my copy of the game. I've been playing/modding FO4 since '17, and for me it's coming down to modding that's the decider. If you have the engine to build on, the worlds and stories don't have any necessary end other than our own. More, if we can adapt generative AI to building full statics/pre-combines (w/collision, etc), we have an infinite alphabet and an infinite canvas. Generative AI has already shown an affinity for detecting mechanics from "observation", so that's a potentially dramatic expansion of game mechanics possible. The engine, and its performance, is the key.
I bought the game a year or so ago during a psn sale on ps4, while it was kinda a let down I'd probably get the game again if i could get it for $5 again.
Being familiar with the game, we overlook one of the the biggest issue. The lack of tutorial. There is the "!" tab in menu but new players don't know it exists, where or what that is. Compound that with A21s increased difficulty. I have had several friends purchase the game then abandon it in frustration after repeated deaths with no progress. Adding a simple menu navigation to the punching grass tutorial would help retain new players.
7:20 this is awesome!.... having to shoot a zombie 5 times in the face with a shotgun to kill them! makes total sense! My favorite part of this "no issue-game"!.... i mean is there any facet of this game thats actually enjoyable? even the gunplay is bottom of the barrel/not playable.
The problem for me is that I really don't like the magazines mechanic. Some magazines are soooo rare. I tried put the looting on max, XP on max, I'm level 40 and still no motorcycle. The progression is so much slower. When I started playing was the perfect game, a survival game with some RPG mechanics, but now its becoming more of a RPG game with survival mechanics, which I prefer the first one.
Been playing this game for, what, 9 years now? Mods help keep this game alive. Cool of the devs to not get in the way of that. I don't mind the long alpha, I like that the game keeps changing. Eternal alpha xD But for real, its a game that my wife and I always come back to every alpha. It NEEDS a better combat and moment system (gunplay variety, melee animation variety and blocking, add minor parkour elements). If those things were ever expanded upon, this game would never get old.
I've seen a lot of people complain that 7D2D is still in "early access", sometimes as a reason not to get it. But frankly, the way it is handled by the devs, the fact that it has been in early access for so long has given the players immensely more content to play through. They could have called it "launched" years ago. But they like to update and tweak the game a lot, so they leave it in EA to make that easy to do. That's a pro, not a con. Admittedly, it's rarely a pro, but TFP are a good example of how EA can be handled in a very positive way.
Regarding performance (single player): I run 7dtd with integrated graphics (HD4600 or Radeon9 apu). It runs on LOW at about 20-30fps. I have noticed it runs better with dual channel RAM and 16GB or more. It CAN run with 8gb or RAM, but I would not recommend it for a positive experience (there will be issues). One issue with this game being in 'early access' for so long is that when it finally does go gold, there may not be a huge surge of new purchases as anyone interested may have already purchased it before then. TFP may find themselves going gold and having flat sales.
Always refreshing to hear you talk about this game. The people who dislike it are definitely the minority, but they're also the loudest. The only thing I don't fully agree with you on is the mods. With over 4k hours in the game, I've never once felt the need to use any kind of mod. I don't even like watching people play with mods.
I’ve owned the game since December of 2016, and like many games I play it’s been in bursts of fancy that I boot it up, solo or with friends. The core ideas of the game have always been the same, and are why I’ve loved playing, but the way those ideas translate into mechanics and systems within the game always seem to either be in a stage of tweaks, rebalances or total overhauls. I used to joke that each major “alpha” release was basically a whole new indie game due to how different the systems had been made, but now I find myself longing for this supposed “golden state”, the El dorado that is an actual game release, a 1.0 official. Namely because the last couple years, as you heard I the video, the devs keep saying ‘x issues and y features will be added AFTER we release the game’, whilst also refusing to stick to core game mechanics, actively willing to throw whole functional systems out only to replace them with new system that now needs the same amount of work put into it as the matured system they just tossed. I’m aware at least some of my thoughts here are a little ‘change bad!’ In their soundings, but the fact that the release cycle for alpha updates has grown sparser as the years roll on, with the same issues I see personally of tfp’s seeming want to not sticking to anything they’ve worked on in order to polish the game to it’s eventual release (right next to ES6 from Bethesda and anything to do with a 3 from valve) really has left a somewhat sour taste in my mouth as a fan of the game. Hell, I account for at least 8 purchases of the game from me convincing my friends to grab it or getting it for them as a gift! I’m setting up to play alpha 21 soon with several of those friends, because we still like playing! But I am not someone to put rose tinted glasses on and sugar coat my views. It is by far one of the best takes, if not THE best, of the sandbox survival zombie games I’ve ever played, regardless of the iterations I played during. I just wish they’d commit to any of their perfectly functional character building and levelling systems and iterate/balance from there rather than switch it up every other alpha release. After that, optimisations, maybe a UI update, and a couple new tracks of music, and I’d be in love all over again! 7.5/10 as a long time fan, though I’ll need to play 21 to see if I’ll be playing modded for the next year or two xD
I don't get why some people hate the game. It's not perfect but it has a lot more to offer than any other survival game. Building, free roam in an open world where every building is accessible and a leveling system that is larger than most rpg's, a whole lot of armor and weapons, hordes of different zombies to kill and soon it may get bandits and a story. It also has something else other games will never have. Something that beats every other game's element... Trader Jen!
Been playing since A14. It has, hands down, far exceeded its initial value. Every alpha feels like a new experience that draws me in and I always max my character, naturally, and sink another several hundred hours into the game. At over 4000+ hours, it is the most played game in my library. I'm actually going to be sad when it goes gold...I love the alphas ;D
My least favorite bug is getting stuck inside of trader Joels door as I close it, then having to wait until close to get out. I have habits from DayZ of closing a door as I run through it and this doesn't work in 7 days to die
3k hours here, I stopped playing vanilla before A19 and roll strickly overhaul mods. It has been primarily Undead Legacy with over 800 hours in that one, but I am a fan of many of the overhauls. If Bad Player was hosting a darkness falls GNS server I would have to show up (hint hint). All in all this game has something for most ppl, the casual player can do the simple vanilla playthrough til they feel they are sustainably surviving. The nut job max min completionist can slap an overhaul mod on it and be unkillable by any natural game mechanic (this does not include the moderator that says "challenge accepted" and drops 25 zombie bears on you while mining). love the game and love the GNS community, I tolerate Temriki, lol Love your work Tem!
I have 3000+ hours in game and probably about 1000+ spent modding it. I paid £7.50 for it when it was alpha 12 and have had a great time playing co op with my wife. That said I do get annoyed with the "you get what we give you attitude" and the sheer length of time between recent alphas is crazy along with pretty poor communication. For those reasons I hadn't touched this game in about 8 months. Am I now playing alpha 21? Hell yes, it's awesome :-)
I was very skeptical about this game when I first heard about it with A19. I saw other streamers play it and it just did not seem like the type of game I would enjoy. I'd never really played survival crafting games before and the concept seemed a little tedious to me. I eventually found it on sale one day for 5 bucks and decided to go ahead and buy it. What would a few lost dollars be if I hated it? Let me just say I can't remember being so surprised and hooked by a game as quickly as 7DTD. Despite its flaws, of which there are plenty, this game has given me more satisfaction and entertainment than any other game I've played in the past. The amount of re-playability, the freedom that mods can give you, and the creative nature of the building system all just scratch the right itches for me. It also kills me that some people complain about how they feel like they need mods to "fix" certain aspects of the game. The fact that the devs have made this game so mod-friendly is just a testament to how much they value the players' experience. They've given us a base game that is incredibly fun on its own, but there are practically limitless ways you can tweak the game for even more variety in playstyle and experience. I'm almost sad I only bought this game for $5. It's worth every penny at full price and honestly, they could charge more.
I can say one thing i like what Fun Pimps did: POI'glitches. Remember when you wanna enter a house and there was Bugged Blocks, breaking the POI or Confusing? Its gone and thats for me a HUGE MIlestone. All i need to wait for are Alpha 21 Mods :D My Rate of this Game is Overall a 9/10
Top notch breakdown! I already own the game, and have played several hundred hours, but it was nice to still see a full history and where we are currently! Thanks for the work on this!
VERY good Point you mentioned in the first few minutes but NEVER again talked about in the whole Video is... WHY the Devs litterly DESTROY Base Defense on EVERY Patch? Players find a way to Survive and it's FUN -> Next Patch the FUN is gone, because it is "patched out"?! Very good idea would be to rename from "The Fun Pimps" to "The Fun Patchers"!
I've been playing this game on and off for years with a little over 2,300 hours in this game, mostly in single player. 7 Days to Die is still a game that I come back to again and again. One of my top 5 favorite games of all time.
Performance is the trickiest of details. The game is heavy on the cpu, but I now have a Ryzen 7700X and it handles collapses like a champ. Haven't collapsed a skyscraper so not sure at what point collapses will cause issues on my system. Now, my rig is limited by my gpu. I'm still using my old 1080TI. It's powerful, but to get my 144 fps I have to turn things way down. Edit: I wouldn't say your assessment of people who are disgruntled with the way the game has evolved is fair. They are not necessarily stuck in their ways. Believing that one mechanic is better than another isn't so much being stuck in their ways but simply an opinion. Your assessment is an oversimplification that is almost disingenuous. The moderators on the forums love that argument as it makes the person who made legitimate arguments look bad. The Fun Pimps have favored overhauls to the tedium of balancing. That is simply a fact. That's not the same as being stuck in their ways.
I just started playing this game about 4 days ago and I would fully recommend it. It's tough, but fair. You're always doing something. There is downtime at night if you're a whimp (like myself) and don't want to frolic during a time where they run so you lock yourself in your base lol. This game will get your blood pumping.
I played this a lot on release. I never could like the fact zombies can destroy any block. This game just caught my attention again, and I have found a way to make zombie only kill doors. Can't wait to get back into it.
Pretty much agree. I've played it many hours and it's always been fun to come back to after a break if you've played it enough it's getting stale. Haven't tried A21 yet but don't really see any game play changes there that are worrying. It's mainly small tweaks to existing mechanics. I wouldn't mind seeing some more thought put into new quest types or a wider variety of play styles and such. You can only do so many buried treasure and clearing POI quests before it turns into a slog. The game needs a larger goal. But I enjoy it and recommend it.
You forgot the house flipping mode, where you take a POI, and just fix up and decorate the house instead of fighting zombies. Everyone focuses on survival aspect of it, but the creative building in this game is really good.
wtf do you mean the houses look like dogshit and the building is clunky
Yeah the community builds done in that mode are insane, I really wish this aspect would expand (not me tho I can't build pretty)
I like Glock 9’s series
I turned Jon's Ham Radio into a stunning 3 story base with a mezanine catwalk over the foyer as a second defence if zombies got inside. Ground floor was foyer with a safe room in the lift well area - accessible from the mezannine; catwalk led to stairs to the first floor where I converted the lift well into a storage room and had all my workbenches, forges, and concrete mixers; 2nd floor was a bedroom just because I could and 3rd floor was the roof with solar panels and a garden. From the outside, the building was completely intact. Boundary wall was rebuilt and the building looked like it had never been wrecked.
Loved that base!!! Only played a couple of hours in the new version so don't know if the POI still exists... if not, will do something similar with one of the others.
"if you are too broke to flip your own house, purchase 7d2d and live your fantasy in the voxel world"
~most humans
My daughter bought it for me as a Christmas present approx 2 years ish go (tail end of Alpha 19 was when I started playing I think). It was on sale for something like £6 and now 2800 + hours later I can safely say it has been great fun overall, and at that price, a total bargain. We have duo'ed through many a random world (and Navazgane) together and I would absolutely recommend it to fans of the genre.
(actually, I used to measure video games as entertainment by comparing them to movie costs & entertainment time. By that measure, 'most' games are quite a bargain. And some are an enormous bargain. I'm only 1500 hours in 7D2D in more like 4 years myself. But I played much more ARK before I played 7D. I'd rather not say how many hours hehe.)
@@kathrynck He's definietly lying, can't even type the name of the map correctly after 2000 hours lmfao. Get some help dude
Yeah no one gonna listen to you, negative ass.@@Emily-jd2sh
@@kathrynck tf you talking about. 2800 hours supposing he's only playing 7d2d means he plays 4 hours a day, which is totally fine for someone who works 8 hours shifts and then goes home to play with their daughter.
@@darioidk2508 I think my humor flew right past you guys.
One thing that I always loved is how the POIs have a path that you take to clear it, it is not just break down all the doors and look around. Only bug I have seen a lot more in 21 is zombies going through the floor.
Yea ive experienced it too
gonna be honest ive put 500 hours into the game and only recently learned that theres a set path XD i usually just beat down the front door
I had a few that disappeared after I killed them, maybe they just sunk into the floor.
I've seen way too much zombies crawling and simply hitting me through walls, I find that so infuriating... I hate when they just start to doggy run at lightspeed.
Also somehow ferals have phasing capabilities now, they can walk through most doors
set path is what i dislike because then all the building become the same
I bought it back in 15 and it is one of my most played games. Every time there is a major update, its like you get a new game. Worth the buy.
Yeah, a worse one than you were previously playing lol.
@@midguard7917 your derogatory
Gt fo
@@midguard7917If that were true there wouldn't be so many people still playing.
@@midguard7917"LoL"
@@1x4thing is its true. the updates somehow bring more people even though it has shit updates and removes features
1200hrs and I'm loving it!! the mods has def helped it but its also the fact you can change so many settings in the base game to play it in different ways... just the fact you can turn horde night off totally is awesome when you just want to explore and figure things out... I like to up difficulty and turn horde nights off and just enjoy everything you can do in the game without worrying about if you're ready for horde night ( usually have more wondering hordes to make it more exciting) can't wait to see what the updated mods is gonna be like!!
I’m amazed that it takes more than 10 years of time and 15million purchases to still not be finished and supplied. Some of these customers will have died before receiving their actual product.???
I have to say Tem, your hard work in all these 7D2D videos is incredible. Your enthusiasm and love of the game is amazing, and your honesty about it's flaws are refreshing and not just toxic complaining. You have very quickly become one of the best 7D2D youtubers, and a huge asset for the whole community.
Doode (just recently deduced his name is Tem xD) is a wizard at video production and polish. He should even work for other YTers in a video production/editing capacity. Genuinely some of the most polished YT videos I've ever seen. Well done good sir!
bro after 11 years u cant call it quick to criticize. its just rightfully criticized. most people actually give them way to much of a break on this game. in 11 years the team still has not proved they can make and release a game. its still fun though
Why does it have to be finished? You can play older versions. Updates make it fun to come back to.
@@1x4because it had a damn kick starter over a decade ago and less than 40% of those promises were met.
Fair review honestly. Glad it touched on both sides of things and did point out the forum/staff issues. Overall if folks like creative building and able to make their own goals in games (instead of needing a railroad story line) then you are probably going to love playing it. Only other thing of note is that big patches have Experimental rollout, which often means frequent resets of game worlds.
I disagree with the part about Devs not listening to community. I made a few suggestions on the forums that got implemented in the game, so I was pretty impressed. Also don't get why people are upset with it being in alpha all the time, that just means they're willing to keep expanding the game. If it's playable in terms of performance/glitches then no downsides
As someone with over 1000 hours maybe even 2000 I agree this is one of the best games I've played the mods are amazing and I have so many good memories.
Same here. Best 7euro I ever spent.
I agree with you completely but the fun pimps are making dumb changes and instead of adding new content by new I mean like new zombies or new guns or weapons new items and work on the story and stuff like that but they just remove stuff or make the game even harder then it needs to be but but overall I love the game still I just hope they stop ruining thing
Same. You can buy it for like £4 on cd keys. I never ever stay on games, I get bored of every game but this game is one of maybe 3 that I’ve put like 300+ hours into
The blood moon is the essence of this game. I hope they build the lore around it somehow.
Blood moon was fun previously, when zombies came at you from all sides and chewed through walls. Ever since they made the change to super smart zombies that seek out the path of least resistance, horde night is boring and predictable, forcing players to use stupidly designed bases that make no real sense. I play with blood moon off and increased wandering hordes, and it is WAY more fun. If they ever give an AI switch option, I'd consider playing with blood moon back on.
@@RedekerKane how can I activate this "wandering hordes"?
@@ogami7661Yeah it's a shame they ruined it
@@RedekerKane I miss when zombies just came at you every night and were fast in the dark but slow in the light. I spent many nights in half destroyed towers in the wasteland with torches everywhere slowing the mob.
@@ryanespinoza7297 You can enable this in the settings (feral zombies: night/day/all the time)
This game need a storyline, lore, and most important, a final quest.. or final objective or final end game mission.
The Overall Mod Darknessfalls offers all of that
The game has environmental storytelling.
@@mtt3000 ...sarcastic , uh ?
Haha no it doesn’t
@@alexpowell1184 "haha" yes it does. Have you not played and explored the Navezgane map?
I've been playing this game consistently since it was first released... years. I've never found more value in a game. It's fantastic across the board. Love it
As an avid player of over 2k hours, I still don't recommend anyone to buy this game at full price. It's been in alpha for a decade now, most updates/experimentals have been polishes already made in free community mods (which honestly are better than the vanilla game, even the current alpha). It's just not worth it. Spend your hard earned money on something that's worth it. If you wanna play, wait til the steam deal, 2 for 1 cheap (unless they upped that, wouldn't be surprised, they've been milking it, supposedly had started working on another game a few years ago iirc, don't think that's panned out, haven't heard anything, unless someone else has???). It's loads of fun, don't get me wrong, just not worth the money, you may get the time play in, but the game itself is bojankity, and you're better off playing a mod as opposed to vanilla, at least that makes it more interesting. To each is to own, just my honest opinion.
2000 hours ? Dude get a life
@pr6046 I got 3700 hours and I have no life 😂
@@perky42069 lfggggg! lol, to each is to own, right?
@@pr6046It’s been out for 10 years, I got 1000 hours in Hunt: Showdown during one and a half year just by playing it after work most evenings. You don’t need much gaming time to get over 2k hours during 10 years lol I still have a life, I’ve renovated our home and made my gf pregnant, now you find out how you can actually play games and still have a life.
Great video! Next time someone asks me what I’m playing, instead of trying to explain, I’ll just send them to this!
If you are planning to get this game on Steam, I recommend waiting for a sale, especially if you can get it at that $6 price point. I purchased it for $8 USD during the 2022 Halloween sale. I don't play it often, but it has been well worth that price.
I bought Ark, Conan, and 7 Days at the same time. 7 Days was on sale for $8. I bought them after watching a bunch of Neebs videos. I was more into Conan at the start because I love Conan stuff. I then played Ark because dinos are awesome, and riding them is awesomer. I held off on 7 Days because of the graphics... I got bored with Conan and Ark because it was the same maps, nothing new.
I finally dived into 7 Days in alpha20. I became an addict! I've put in over 4k hours on 7 Days since I bought it. Different difficulties, different builds, SOOO many mods, overhauls, random maps and map sizes (wish bridges were a thing on random maps...), even played old alphas. The game is worth the money, especially when on sale! Being able to terraform anything is a huge difference in many survival games. Being able to play the older versions is another plus! Don't like the latest update? No problem! Just play the old one. Not many games let you do that.
In this day and age where AAA games charge you over $100 for crap content, worse service, abysmal content... 7 Days is a treat that just keeps giving. Conan was good, but they let us down with the battle pass crap. We needed new maps, not a stupid ice bridge. We needed an in game way to get new gear, not a bunch of dlc using real money just to get skins. 7 Days gives you everything you want, without trying to scrape your wallet clean, and let's you have fun with the game.
My current playthrough is on Insane diff, 12k map, loot 50%, maxed zombies, lots of mods. I truly love this game.
I started playing 7d when there was no smooth terrain. It looked like a Minecraft back then. 😄
10 years later (and a lot of updates since) and I still love this game with all my heart!
Thanks MadMole and team! ❤
Tem, I'd love to see a video on the progression of weapons, tools and vehicles since the beginning with your opinion of how it impacted the quality of play... sprinkled with a little future prospects of weapons you wished they'd incorporate (like mortars and remote claymores!) 😎👍
imma be honest bro, them not taking note on the community feedback and what the OVERALL community would want and even just a few niche things a few players would like and the masses wouldnt mind or enjoy is a MUST have for a game today especially one from a INDIE DEV. AN INDIE DEV not wanting to talk or hear about the issues and problems their product faces from their consumers then shame on them and i wish they would just understand game development is a two way road, it takes the Devs working on the product and fixing issues and introducing new ideas the community never heard of before, and its the COMMUNITIES JOB to give devs ideas via mods, and modlet features and see which most players enjoy and which are the main QoL or big features that need to be added to the game.
They need to shape things up and the game would actually be decent, alpha 22 looks like its finally have some form of graphical overhaul which btw IS NEEDED IN 2023-2024 to be a BIG BIG long lasting good looking game, even PZ is doing slight graphical updates (that game has a perticular art style that doesnt need major change, 7DTDs graphics are legit from 2013 and it shows in every way shape or form. Im happy they finally added somes ettings to make the game look more up to date but i think it needs WAY MORE before the game should even be in BETA STAGE.
I mean hell, Escape from Tarkov is a insanely complex and high quality graphically game and they were in Early Access for almost 6 years, yet finally recently went into Beta and now its seeming things are working a lot faster, maybe they realize hey.... we gotta launch this shit sometime right? So why havnt 7DTD remembered that? I think A22 an onward is a big step however this taking ages to release dev blogs and updates to the game is A JOKE FOR 2023-2024 GAME DEVELOPMENT im sorry but either hire more staff and trust more people and expand as a company, or just tell the players hey were not going to be releasing this till 2030.
What made me quit the game years ago was how a horde clawed their way through an underground concrete bunker and managed to find me crouched like a mole underground. I revisit from time to time, but only ever shallow play, as I always get pulled out when a horde somehow rips through brick buildings like paper.
If they implement human npcs like bandits to substitue for zombie difficulty and stop the constant difficulty balancing and work on core features, I think it has potential to be a household name.
960 hours into the game, coming up on the big 1000.
As far as self-imposed game modes go, I'm working on Leap Frog Trader.
You start off normally enough, do the opening quest lines, find your first trader, build a horde base or reinforce a POI, etc.
But you stick with that trader until you've done at least 5 tier Five quests.
Only then do you do the Open New Trade Routes quest to find a new trader.
When you do that, you abandoned your base and move out to the next trader AND you can only take whatever items, weapons, food, medicine, ammo, and materials that you can carry on your tool belt and backpack.
And then you start the new trader's quest lines from 1 to 5, and then repeat.
And you can't remove accessories like anvils or crucibles from the forge or beakers and grills from the campfire and take them when you move.
It really becomes a game of "Okay, what do I absolutely need to take with me to start a new base" all the while the game stage and difficulty are increasing every time you move.
The only way I’ll get this game is if they create an option to disable the 7 day horde.
I love zombie games. I love survival games. But feeling like I’m on a time crunch to defend my base the whole time makes it feel like I can’t take my time to explore the world.
If they did make an option to disable the horde or even double the time between each I’d definitely give it another go
11:21 *leonardio dicaprio pointing at the screen gif here*
Great video and summary of the game. I put off buying for over a year, but when I finally did get it I fell into it head first. In fact, it went on sale a week and half after I bought it. Instead of trying to get some of my money back from Steam, I bought a sale copy for a friend. It's just that good! The developers deserve every penny, imho. And now with almost 3k hrs on Steam and prob another 1k hrs playing through the ModLauncher, I have zero regret.
Also want to point out that when there is a new alpha release and you do lose your old world; it's not a bad thing as most of us play for 50-100 days and want to reset it anyway. Either to try a new/different overhaul or just to start from scratch as the early game is some of the most fun. Once you have a strong base and a stockpile of all the "things" it can start to get repetitive.
Your videos are always phenomenal in their execution, and this one is no exception. This is one of the most in-depth reviews of 7D2D in my recent memory - videos like these I always appreciate seeing as it is always fantastic to see new members join the ever growing playerbase to give this gem of a title a college try. I have well over 6,000 hours in this game and barring some uncommon periods of burnout I've enjoyed every minute of it.
I just wanted to give my personal thanks and support for the amazing content you continue to produce. Of course your editing skills and entertainment value are exceptional, and cannot be praised enough, but I also respect your honest takes and personality. You have well earned that 100k subscriber mark and your success will undoubtedly continue to skyrocket. May this video reach as many intrigued and perhaps future 7D2D players as possible.
I just upgraded to Alpha21. I love the new water system (even though I died from dehydration my first playthrough) as it adds a challenge to the game that was missing. I also like the reading to level up aspect they have put into the game. It feels like a new game. The only beef I have with it, as you have mentioned, is from the occaisional performance issue. Other than that, I like how it is growing.
"I love the new system that creates obnoxious arbitrary difficulty for an issue that didn't exist and literally nobody cared about by being so game-breakingly unrealistic that it destroys any immersion or fun, even though I actually died from said obnoxious, unrealistic mechanic!" Wow that sounds like great fun dude! I'm glad NPC's like you exist to support these incompetent devs. I genuinely wonder how anyone in their right mind would like such an idiotic design decision, but here we are.
Great info! 7 Days to Die is definitely worth a buy, there is so much replay value that you never have to play the same game twice.
People need to stop complaining about the bugs and all of the crap that's in the game and will be in the game for the next probably foreseeable future however I found a way to enjoy yourself playing 7 Days to Die step one remove 7 days to die from your console or PC Step 2 if you haven't done already install Skyrim Fallout and Minecraft step 3 Play 2 hours of Skyrim 2 hours of Fallout 2 hours of Minecraft grab a sandwich and enjoy yourself
Even having nearly 500 hours in the game, it was a pleasure watching this video.
From editing to narration and inviting other content creators, your video and work is awesome.
If I needed to describe your style, I would probably say: informative, creative, humble, friendly, fun. And I'm sure missing some good traits.
This comment will probably be buried here, but I felt the need to give some good feedback. Usually I only lurk silently. So, thanks for your content! Hope for the best for you!
I had not played A21 yet, but watched your video about it.
I was 100% against the learn by looting/reading, but after 3-4 in-game days, I'm now extremely happy with the new system, and I am glad they when this direction. It adds a slight change to difficulty with changing the meta of having to be strength based. Not to mention making spears usable.
I think this triggers the skinner box reactions in people. All these random magazines that will give you a little thrill as you unlock something new/better than you had before. It doesnt even matter that you are going sledge/shotguns and dont care about explosives, when you see you unlocked grenades you get a little thrill from that. And hey, did I just see I unlocked fish tacos after reading that cooking mag? I dont even make those but neat! :p
With learn by looting, I have not noticed a sizable change in the way I play. As I've been collecting the magazines I've been thinking to myself, "wait... how long has it been since I've crafted all these different things? I stopped crafting when I could no longer craft tier 6 items..." so I've dumped points into intellect and have been getting my workstation and vehicle magazines and everything is cruising along at this point.
No one is mentioning the absolute BEST new feature of Alpha 21. Being able to shoot and attack through damaged doors. Seriously this needed to be done years ago. It is an absolute game changer.
For real man! Makes falling back in a house so much more viable now. don't need to carry around a stack of wooden hatches
I was really lucky on the forums. I had issues with the lightning (photisensitive person here) and wanted to know if it could be turned off. WITHIN THE HOUR somone had made me a custom mod to turn off lightning entirely! I came to 7DTD after being burnt out from supporting Blizzard. The game may not be AAA, but my god the game, devs, and community beat the hell out of theirs!
This is not slow development. You can release it as is. right now. BUT, in this game you do NOT want them to release it. Every alpha it improves massively
One thing I would like to see in the future to increase immersion would be a wider variety of regular zombies. I.e. getting crowded by pack of zombies that look literally identical kinda takes you out of it IMHO. And honestly, you wouldn't even really need new models, just different versions of clothing would probably be enough to fool your brain into thinking there was an actual population that are now walking corpses or something to that effect. Been playing since A16 IIRC and 7D2D is a game in my library that never gets uninstalled for space. I would rather see a finely polished end product with however many alphas than whatever some of these AAA publishers have been pushing onto the market.
I am still on the fence with the magazine progression system. It forces you to play a certain way, the first few days you find a big city and run round searching every mailbox you can find. I have over 9000 hours in the game (yes, I have no life, lol) and one of the play styles I used to enjoy was staying in the wilderness, away from zombie infested cities. It was a relaxed way of playing, gathering resources and building a base with the occasional wandering horde to deal with. No towns and no traders. Now I cannot do that. You have to go to a trader for the dew collector part and the only way to progress is via the magazines so you have to loot. You cannot play that sort of style when you cannot get out of the stone age
7 Days to Die is basically like a more mature version of Minecraft. But, all the foes are mostly zombie themed, there are a few animals, and rumors of other people (aside from traders) being planned down the road.
This game is on sale all the time, get it. It is fun, a lot of challenge settings to tailor your experience. It is a lot of fun multi-player cooperative.
Loving Alpha 21 so far. However, it seems to me that it is harder for solo playing. It feels like TFP are moving more towards a focus on multi playing more IMO. Love your videos and have been following since Undead Legacy (love that mod!). Keep up the amazing work!
I mean its possible, but also I find the game is much easier solo if you have a distinct plan for the first 7 days getting setup. I started a new playthrough after the first update came out for A21 experimental yesterday, and I’m already nearly back to where I was at day 13 on day 5, because of the warmup and plan in mind.
A21 definitely changed the early game. On standalone I think it's best to choose a armor and a melee with your first 4 points.
Because of the skill books from the RNG table change. Just looting and doing missions you'll be able to make decent early game gear.
Just drop down to survivalist difficulty in settings and don't go out at night if you haven't maxed agility. All should be fine.
I love how the zombie dogs have a sleeping animation! it's friggen adorable!!
Until the bork bork goes in nom nom mode. lol
its sound stupid since zombies dont sleep
@@eclipse369. "IT SOUNDS stupid since zombies don't sleep."
Fixed your lame opinion.
The fact that it’s getting re released for console is kinda sad IMO. I’ve owned 7 days for a little over a year now on console. I keep hearing that fun pimps gained their rights back and was so excited for console version to hopefully get an update. Not an entirely new game. I feel robbed for buying the first one. It was okay but nothing compared to what a PC experience would give you
Thanks GNS. As someone who's been around since like A14...I love how you summarize what I'd have such a hard time doing. You really make it comprehensive for new-comers and returning veterans. Keep up the good work, king.
I purchased the game last year (2023) and the sale price…. I am having a blast playing it and would recommend 7 days to die!! Great video/review of the game.
There are also two things that you can add to your list :
- the prefab editor : it's not used by a lot of players but it's still a good way to use your creativity to create things for you or the community
- the mods are SUPER easy to create and you can change A LOT of things if you spend a little bit of time looking at the vanilla files. XML modding is just insane and a lot of people don't understand the true power of it. And this is server side ! No downloads ! You talked about Overhauls but there are A LOT of server side Mods which are insane ! Halmod, Snufkin Vehicles, new zombies, new blocks ... And you can do so much with it !
+ 1 Thumps up ! :P
Having originally come from playing on PS4, I can comfortably say my purchases were well worth it. Even if you take out the naked value of "hours enjoyed/dollars spent," every other game in the same genre that might do 1 or 2 things better than 7 Days has dozens of things it sorely does not that keep me coming back. But it isn't like an "abusive relationship;" the feeling of starting over after time away is genuine comfort food.
*ATMOSPHERE!*
This game may be rough around the edges but what it does have is that undefinable something, the atmosphere is amazing and it makes it really stand out among all the AAA titles
CO OP is outstanding, it really feels like a 'create your own adventure' game where you create missions and stories as you go. Its on GAMEPASS by the way :)
I enjoyed the video but am honestly disappointed that you never touched on the fact that TFP are on record as making changes that are done for no reason other than to frustrate the players and force them to play the way THEY want instead of the way the game is listed - as a sandbox which allows you to play how you want. (GPS zombies? Digging zombies? Structural Engineer Zombies?) Overall a good review, but a little too much like a cheerleading session, for my taste. It certainly explains why some were given the privilege of being part of the streaming weekend while others were excluded outright because they "wouldn't represent the company or game appropriately" - read as "they won't give a totally positive review and talk about how great we are."
I bought the game when A19 came out, when the graphics took a big jump up. Like going from PS2 to PS3. I did catch it on one of their sales weeks for about $7 (USD). I probably have about 3000 hours and my second top Steam game has less than 300 hours. My son and I call 7 Days "Minecraft for adults". I did also buy the console version a couple years back, I think I played it for five or ten minutes and went straight back to my PC. And a quick shoutout to Kage848 for getting me to buy this game, he called it "the best survival game he had ever played". One of the things that gives this game some long lasting legs are all the great MODs, once you think you have mastered the base game, go grab an overhaul MOD (my favorite one right now is Rebirth) and a whole new learning curve starts.
I got in 900 hours of gameplay before the final version finally came out.
I am almost burned out on the game but I will give it one more college try!
I mean I loved this game and it will always have a very special place in my heart. The fun times I had with friends and family playing this game.
🍻Cheers to all of you who are just starting out on your journey! 🍻
Remember it is not about the destination but rather about the fun you had getting there and the friends you made along the way!🍺
🍻
@@lezbefrenz Have a blast Fren!
You are about to embark on a wonderful journey wrought with the dead clawing their way to eat your entire soul!
They are coming for you!
They are in the walls!
They are inside the base!
OMG they are eating me alive!
🧟🧟🧟🧟♂🧟♀🧟♀🧟🧟🧟🩸🩸
⚔🔪🗡🛡
👌💪
My only gripe about 7Days is that there is no "freeze time" option while building a base. In a game where you have a limited amount of time between each horde night I wish I could freeze time while going into a "build mode," work on my base, test out different ideas, change things up, then resume and continue off where I paused the countdown towards the next horde night. Maybe that's part of the thrill for some people, the rush to get everything done but honestly if I want a rush I'll just make a save with horde nights happening more frequently. I want to be able to work on my base design without feeling like I'm wasting time when I could be farming more resources and making more ammo/better crafting stations, etc.
I disagree i think one of my favorite things about 7d2d is how i have to manage my time and having to decide what my priority's are EG: do i build up my base, gather more raw resources or try and do a few quests for better gear and tokens.
full respect to your opinion and all but i think that it would take a lot away from the immersion of the game
5:24 I LOVED this game back when it became free for a time on the PS4 in like 2016 - 2018 or so. I didnt know we could divert water!!!! trhats insane!!!
People don't know what a small indy company is anymore. The Fun Pimps were like, 8 people for most of the games development and have only increased to about 30 people in the last couple of years. 10 years is actually reasonable if an indy company wants to release a good game as ambitious as 7DtD. CD Projekt Red developed Cyberpunk 2077 for 5 years (7 years if you count the two years they took to make concept art) with a team of over 400 people, and look how that turned out.
A note regarding the in game music, A21 has received an upgrade to the in game music and you can change the frequency it plays at. It feels noire/mystery, kind of spooky but in a fun way.
I'd say overall A21 is a W. There are somethings that are side grades like the Dew Collectors and the removal of glass jars. And one isn't necessarily better than the other. But I'd say the three biggest things this causes is, 1: You wont have a fire running 24/7 for boiling water, which will reduce the amount of screamers attacking. 2: Bottles will not take up inventory space. 3: water is harder to come by early, but is completely automated mid to late game, which is a side grade, but it is the preferable system. The magazine system is fine, makes looting a bit more instantly rewarding. The specialized traders are just more interesting overall compared to A20 traders. I would say there is no change i disliked(the side grades), some i feel indifferent about, and there were positive changes as well. The graphical upgrade was welcome. And I'm sure they hear player feed back about features, but I do not think it is an issue that they ultimately decide internally what will and won't make it to the game.
Just saw the worthabuy reference. Happy to see the small crossover haha
When this game first came out I still remember how totally janky and rough this game looked but its gameplay had me hooked, even when I stepped away from pc gaming when alpha 8 dropped i had barely 300 hrs got a new rig n jumped in when a14 hit the scene and those hours have racked up ever since. Something about this game no matter how many times its been reworked or tweaked it still manages to keep my interest. The replayability of this game and how much you can customize your way of play to suit whatever kind of vibe ya want is an absolute sell for me.
In terms of bugs, the Xbox version crashes randomly and will delete half of your building (if not all) I can’t wait for the new version I hate playing just to have all my chests evaporate on day 80 for absolutely no reason
The game 7 days has immense potential, but its community needs to be united to fully unlock its possibilities. To achieve this, the game should be updated with cross-platform play, allowing players from all platforms to interact seamlessly. Additionally, all versions of the game should be aligned, ensuring parity across platforms. Transforming it into a live service with in-game events for holidays would further enhance the experience. For example, introducing "Summer Scream Nights" where zombies wear summer clothing and other seasonal elements. Special limited-time bosses could be added for each event, such as a Zombie Santa for the Christmas event. Players could shoot him down and engage in a boss fight, accompanied by tiny zombie elves that can be defeated. These events could offer rewards like gifts, Christmas-themed skins, and unique weapons. The potential for this game is immense, but the developers need to focus their efforts and bring these ideas to life, instead of simply tinkering around without meaningful progress like this game has been in development for years now since i was a child playing it with my cousin on xbox 360 and its still not finished! when will it ever be???? it sucks there isn't any good crossplay zombies games that are live service i think the closest was back for blood but even the developer team for that games all over the place. i want a game that's like 7 days, state of decay, dead rising, dying light, and left for dead all in one big open world that progresses over time and give you a reason to keep coming back with in game events and stuff and that's crossplay so you can play with anyone regardless of platform and so the servers aren't dead and empty.
Turn it into a live service with seasonal gimmicky events? Aw hell no!
I'm 'new' to 7DtD, I jumped on the hype train thanks to you and G9s vids popping up on my feed (I assume because I watched/played a lot of DayZ?) when A20 came out.
For me, the current 'shell' that 7DtD is, is some how one of the best games I've ever played. I don't even think we need the game to ever actually come out because the MODS for this game is... Well, y'all know whats up. Big gaps between big updates means we have more time for the Mod'ers to take this shell and make it into a DOZEN different 'versions' of a 7 Days game, many of which have a level of polish and gameplay that the shell it's self may NEVER see.
Great video, and looking forward to more Bedrock!
Hehe, it's actually far more than 21 revisions, just 21 major revisions. I am not one of the people complaining about it being early access for so long. In fact, because of this it has kept me playing since Alpha 3. Few games have been able to keep my attention that long, just a tad over 2k hrs. Every major revision is like getting a new game for free, being spaced far enough apart I have already played out every feature in the previous.
Hint, use Developer Mode if you want to god mode, fly, fast travel, time skip, give yourself XP, and Creative Mode if you want to give yourself supplies/equipment or building materials.
So many ways to play, so many things to build, so many zombies to kill, so many mods and a great community.
It's the perfect game for people that want to play their own way.
When Neebs Gaming first picked this up, I thought it looked kind of crappy and the character actions were clunky.
But after the second episode I fell in love with the gameplay. Even today it's a pretty unique game.
When it's all said and done, this is just a fun game to play.
You did a great job offering very balanced, holistic and thorough commentary on the game!
Had a really great time playing this game back in 2019; 749 hours. There were some things that I really liked about the game at that time--and I honestly cannot recall now exactly what they were--which the developers basically removed from the game/changed. That combined with just, burning out and moving on to other games is why I haven't had it installed since summer 2023. The other thing that soured my experience was the attitude of the developers on this topic, i.e., making major changes involving removal/change of longstanding game features/mechanics. I do not respect, nor appreciate their "We know the 'right' way to play this game, and we do everything in our power to prevent players form playing it in other ways . . ." attitude.
One of the things that I really loved about the game, and miss as it not something that is easy to find in other games, was the way in which a "properly-modded" version of the game, being run on someone's private server could provide a fantastic sand-box for a group of 4 or 5 people to play collaboratively. The way in which the character progression system, base-building and tower-defense mechanics function really bring a dynamic that few games seem to offer. Me and a half dozen friends had some great fun collaboratively conceiving and building massive complex horde defense bases and then fighting the horde in them together.
I intend to reinstall and play 7Days at some point and probably double or even triple my play hours. The features/mechanics that they removed/changed probably won't be missed now that I've basically forgotten what they were in the first place, and with mods much of that is probably "fixable" anyway. As far as their attitude, well it is their application so I guess I'll just wait and see how their final vision actually manifests and judge at that time.
I wish more reviews were as constructive as this one.
Critical thinking 10/10
Respect to the audience 10/10
Keeping the main point in focus 10/10
Montage 8/10
As someone who has played this for 628.1 hours (feels like I've played more tbh), this game is absolutely worth it. The vanilla material is great and if you want to, after getting bored with normal play, put in challenges like "No guns", "one hit challenge", "daily horde nights". turn all the aggro setting up and do nightmare mode, etc. It's even more worth it because of the mod community for this game adds SO MUCH to the game. It's even better with friends for late night/weekend sessions. However, if you expect to jump in for 30 minutes and make tons of progress because that's all the availability you have... it might not be the best pick. You definitely shouldn't log out during horde nights...
Overall, it is a game that isn't competitive. It's one of those games that it isn't perfect so you don't take it seriously and just have a good time with it. My friends and I call it an awful game (half sarcastically) but we keep coming back to it every so often and play for long multi-hour sessions where we try to get as far as we can before our base is irrecoverable and just have fun with it. If you expect to play a AAA title game, don't play this. If you can simply enjoy the jankiness this game will show you at times and just play along for an entertaining, albeit frustrating time, this is worth it. If you enjoy base building, you'll like this. If you enjoy exploration and looting, you'll enjoy this. If you enjoy non-difficult zombie killing games, you'll enjoy this (until horde nights, which get hard later in the game). If you're trying to play on a lower end rig, you might want to upgrade before you buy.
It definitely has a learning curve as to how things work. So, give it time to get used to. You won't be really good right away. You may need to google things you don't understand and that's okay. It's part of learning a new game. I google stuff about games all the time when I pick up a new game and I'm stuck on something. Bugs aren't as gamebreaking in this one. I've played some AAA titles that require you to turn down the max frame rate just to get the game to work properly (looking at you Spyro) and recently Fortnite's update that makes the game lag, stutter or even unable to be launched with this recent update! There's nothing quite *that* ridiculous here. Every game, indie or AAA, has bugs present. It's just part of making a complex game; things can get sticky in development. I don't hold these developers to a standard I couldn't reach myself. Shit happens. Things are hard to iron out and they want it meet their idea of the game. If it takes 15 years, it takes 15 years.... I've been waiting on the last 3 alphas to come out with baited breath because they've changed the most about the game than all the prior alphas combined. The updates are more and more transformative recently, even if the wait between them is longer.
As for how long it has been in "alpha", keep in mind that Rust is really popular and also is still in an alpha/beta state too and I think it's been out about as long as 7 Days to Die. Steam says Rust was released in 2018 (for beta version, I think with their overhaul of graphics and procedural release) but, a Google Search shows 2013 was when Alpha version came out. So, it has similarly been about 10 years since it was released and it STILL is getting updated and added to. I don't care how long a game takes. I'd prefer the devs have better working conditions and feedback from the community during the transformative section of a game as that means we have control of the game's direction more than with AAA titles. I will always support indie devs over AAA's far more.
Great review GNS! I agree pretty much bang on with every point.
Bought this game on Alpha 14 for like $20 CAD and have logged over 3K hours. Worth every cent easily in spite of the long development, performance issues and minor bugs. TBH, I've never expected the game to be fully optimized and/or bug free. I went in eyes wide open knowing I was buying a unique voxel-based game in Early Access by an indie dev team. IMHO, the game consistently improves with each alpha release. Yea, the releases can be and have been over a year between releases, but overhaul mods easily fill the time between after I've played out vanilla. I also love how the devs keep available previous alphas back to A9 last I checked. Makes for some good nostalgic fun sometimes and very much demonstrates just how far the game has come. My only regret is not having noticed this in crowd-funding back in the day and missed the opportunity to throw my hat in the ring as a day 1 supporter.
Personally, I have never really had trouble getting the game to run well enough for enjoyable play, but I'm also an avid PC builder and always have a modern rig to run it on. I've also hosted servers many times for myself and friends and consider setting up and running a server relatively easy for a reasonably skilled PC enthusiast.
The game just nails many game points for me as I love survival and open world, plus it's the only such game I'm aware of that, to such a degree, is fully destructible and salvageable with so many options in play-style and building variation; both player built and in-game POI. I can get totally immersed and the hours just happily fly by.
Hard to deny that it has a similar development cycle to another of Steam's staple games Rust. Yes Rust is v1.0 now, but until about a year or so ago was also still EA yet both are one of Steam's 15 most played games, right up there with triple A legends like DOTA, CS:GO, Apex and PUBG. That says a lot!
So stop humming and hawing already, just drop a few quid and enjoy the ride! For me, it boils down to about $0.006 per hour of gameplay and just keeps getting more worth the money spent every hour played. Thank you Fun Pimps!
Excellent video, very balanced and informative review. I have just over 8,500 hours in the game so far, so definitely agree with the replay value aspect.
I basically agree with you. To me the biggest decision on buying a game is replayability. Everything else goes towards this measuring stick but in the end, what it comes down to is, will i still be playing this in a month? 3 months? A year? The answer is, yes. While I would like it if the basic vanilla game had more in terms of progression, like the darkness falls mod, there is enough, as you said, to last you through tens of hours per playthrough, 40ish on average lets say. And there are enough options built into vanilla to justify playing it many many times before you can say you have experienced it all. From the simple things like changing difficulty settings, to choosing different builds, to self imposed challenges like no trader or whatever. That alone is likely a couple thousand hours of play before you run out of new stuff to do which more than justifies its price tag to me. And the modding community then stepped in and basically reset the replay clock with at least a solid dozen or so strong game overhaul mods like darkness falls, rebirth, war of the walkers, etc. All of which have very unique alterations to how the game works to reignite interest in players.
I will admit that I dont play anymore. Mostly its because I dont have the time or inclination to sit down and game, but im still a fan of the video community. But I have been playing since I think alpha 18 or so and in no way feel like I regret my purchase. I might come back some day as time allows but even if I dont, this was well worth the purchase. Yes there are things I wish could be changed or added to the game, but you will find that with any game, even the greatest powerhouses out there, and to me the good far outweighs the bad.
Excellent review. Between the computer and console versions, I probably have 700+ hrs in 7D2D.
The early game (20-60hrs) is terrifying and captivating. The mid game (40-120hrs) is satisfying as you consolidate your resources, base(s), and overall strength, and begin to branch out in quests and POIs. The end game (60-300hrs) starts to feel a bit pointless and meaningless, as you're essentially unstoppable baring a particularly nasty hoard night or POI.
Just booted up a new playthrough and loving it. What a great game.
Can't wait for the actual story quests to be released!!!
wait, is there will be a story quest?
Meanwhile, 10 more years later ... :)
@@parb6053 Yeah, sometime in the next 10 years or when they feel like it, since they have your money and don't care if you play or not, really.
@@TheDoctor1225 at least it’s a decent game and not at a ridiculous $60 price wall.
@@TheDoctor1225 hater go cry somewhere else
I love this game so much that it was my first game I downloaded on my new pc in 2019 coming from console. I love trying new things in creative then trying to build them in a play through that has no cheats to see if it was a good idea or not. Always love watching others play it to see how they fair but I’d say playing with others is so much better. Mega bases r cool too and I’d say I make cheesy like horde bases but that is so I do less repairs and more adventures outside the base. I started on A15 on console and made it to A21 now and it has some things that r weird like the glass jars but what they did with the perks feels right with like master chef where it lowers time and how much ingredients that r used that is nice rather than just getting more food to craft. I love farming in the game but hate the seed thing after harvest, love that most mods kept it the old way. This game is too fun tbh always great to sit down and chill on it
I was already subscribed when I picked up my copy of the game.
I've been playing/modding FO4 since '17, and for me it's coming down to modding that's the decider. If you have the engine to build on, the worlds and stories don't have any necessary end other than our own.
More, if we can adapt generative AI to building full statics/pre-combines (w/collision, etc), we have an infinite alphabet and an infinite canvas. Generative AI has already shown an affinity for detecting mechanics from "observation", so that's a potentially dramatic expansion of game mechanics possible.
The engine, and its performance, is the key.
I bought the game a year or so ago during a psn sale on ps4, while it was kinda a let down I'd probably get the game again if i could get it for $5 again.
Being familiar with the game, we overlook one of the the biggest issue. The lack of tutorial. There is the "!" tab in menu but new players don't know it exists, where or what that is. Compound that with A21s increased difficulty. I have had several friends purchase the game then abandon it in frustration after repeated deaths with no progress. Adding a simple menu navigation to the punching grass tutorial would help retain new players.
Technically, the beginning quest chain is meant to be a tutorial, but it does a piss poor job of explaining anything.
7:20 this is awesome!.... having to shoot a zombie 5 times in the face with a shotgun to kill them! makes total sense! My favorite part of this "no issue-game"!.... i mean is there any facet of this game thats actually enjoyable? even the gunplay is bottom of the barrel/not playable.
I'm doing a brawler build this run and while early brawl is hard, it's super satisfying caving in heads this time. I love the little things.
This game is a prime example of why crunch is justified. The dev team is lazy and indecisive.
The problem for me is that I really don't like the magazines mechanic. Some magazines are soooo rare. I tried put the looting on max, XP on max, I'm level 40 and still no motorcycle. The progression is so much slower. When I started playing was the perfect game, a survival game with some RPG mechanics, but now its becoming more of a RPG game with survival mechanics, which I prefer the first one.
Been playing this game for, what, 9 years now? Mods help keep this game alive. Cool of the devs to not get in the way of that. I don't mind the long alpha, I like that the game keeps changing. Eternal alpha xD But for real, its a game that my wife and I always come back to every alpha. It NEEDS a better combat and moment system (gunplay variety, melee animation variety and blocking, add minor parkour elements). If those things were ever expanded upon, this game would never get old.
I've seen a lot of people complain that 7D2D is still in "early access", sometimes as a reason not to get it.
But frankly, the way it is handled by the devs, the fact that it has been in early access for so long has given the players immensely more content to play through. They could have called it "launched" years ago. But they like to update and tweak the game a lot, so they leave it in EA to make that easy to do. That's a pro, not a con. Admittedly, it's rarely a pro, but TFP are a good example of how EA can be handled in a very positive way.
Regarding performance (single player): I run 7dtd with integrated graphics (HD4600 or Radeon9 apu). It runs on LOW at about 20-30fps. I have noticed it runs better with dual channel RAM and 16GB or more. It CAN run with 8gb or RAM, but I would not recommend it for a positive experience (there will be issues).
One issue with this game being in 'early access' for so long is that when it finally does go gold, there may not be a huge surge of new purchases as anyone interested may have already purchased it before then. TFP may find themselves going gold and having flat sales.
Always refreshing to hear you talk about this game. The people who dislike it are definitely the minority, but they're also the loudest.
The only thing I don't fully agree with you on is the mods. With over 4k hours in the game, I've never once felt the need to use any kind of mod. I don't even like watching people play with mods.
I’ve owned the game since December of 2016, and like many games I play it’s been in bursts of fancy that I boot it up, solo or with friends.
The core ideas of the game have always been the same, and are why I’ve loved playing, but the way those ideas translate into mechanics and systems within the game always seem to either be in a stage of tweaks, rebalances or total overhauls. I used to joke that each major “alpha” release was basically a whole new indie game due to how different the systems had been made, but now I find myself longing for this supposed “golden state”, the El dorado that is an actual game release, a 1.0 official. Namely because the last couple years, as you heard I the video, the devs keep saying ‘x issues and y features will be added AFTER we release the game’, whilst also refusing to stick to core game mechanics, actively willing to throw whole functional systems out only to replace them with new system that now needs the same amount of work put into it as the matured system they just tossed.
I’m aware at least some of my thoughts here are a little ‘change bad!’ In their soundings, but the fact that the release cycle for alpha updates has grown sparser as the years roll on, with the same issues I see personally of tfp’s seeming want to not sticking to anything they’ve worked on in order to polish the game to it’s eventual release (right next to ES6 from Bethesda and anything to do with a 3 from valve) really has left a somewhat sour taste in my mouth as a fan of the game. Hell, I account for at least 8 purchases of the game from me convincing my friends to grab it or getting it for them as a gift! I’m setting up to play alpha 21 soon with several of those friends, because we still like playing! But I am not someone to put rose tinted glasses on and sugar coat my views.
It is by far one of the best takes, if not THE best, of the sandbox survival zombie games I’ve ever played, regardless of the iterations I played during. I just wish they’d commit to any of their perfectly functional character building and levelling systems and iterate/balance from there rather than switch it up every other alpha release. After that, optimisations, maybe a UI update, and a couple new tracks of music, and I’d be in love all over again!
7.5/10 as a long time fan, though I’ll need to play 21 to see if I’ll be playing modded for the next year or two xD
Humans infected with an AI mind virus gone wild could be an interesting / plausible / relevant back story.
It's not complete.... But I love it me and my best friend have sunk a 100 hours into it in the last three weeks.
I don't get why some people hate the game. It's not perfect but it has a lot more to offer than any other survival game. Building, free roam in an open world where every building is accessible and a leveling system that is larger than most rpg's, a whole lot of armor and weapons, hordes of different zombies to kill and soon it may get bandits and a story. It also has something else other games will never have. Something that beats every other game's element... Trader Jen!
Been playing since A14. It has, hands down, far exceeded its initial value. Every alpha feels like a new experience that draws me in and I always max my character, naturally, and sink another several hundred hours into the game. At over 4000+ hours, it is the most played game in my library. I'm actually going to be sad when it goes gold...I love the alphas ;D
My least favorite bug is getting stuck inside of trader Joels door as I close it, then having to wait until close to get out. I have habits from DayZ of closing a door as I run through it and this doesn't work in 7 days to die
3k hours here, I stopped playing vanilla before A19 and roll strickly overhaul mods. It has been primarily Undead Legacy with over 800 hours in that one, but I am a fan of many of the overhauls. If Bad Player was hosting a darkness falls GNS server I would have to show up (hint hint). All in all this game has something for most ppl, the casual player can do the simple vanilla playthrough til they feel they are sustainably surviving. The nut job max min completionist can slap an overhaul mod on it and be unkillable by any natural game mechanic (this does not include the moderator that says "challenge accepted" and drops 25 zombie bears on you while mining). love the game and love the GNS community, I tolerate Temriki, lol Love your work Tem!
I have 3000+ hours in game and probably about 1000+ spent modding it. I paid £7.50 for it when it was alpha 12 and have had a great time playing co op with my wife. That said I do get annoyed with the "you get what we give you attitude" and the sheer length of time between recent alphas is crazy along with pretty poor communication. For those reasons I hadn't touched this game in about 8 months. Am I now playing alpha 21? Hell yes, it's awesome :-)
I was very skeptical about this game when I first heard about it with A19. I saw other streamers play it and it just did not seem like the type of game I would enjoy. I'd never really played survival crafting games before and the concept seemed a little tedious to me. I eventually found it on sale one day for 5 bucks and decided to go ahead and buy it. What would a few lost dollars be if I hated it?
Let me just say I can't remember being so surprised and hooked by a game as quickly as 7DTD. Despite its flaws, of which there are plenty, this game has given me more satisfaction and entertainment than any other game I've played in the past. The amount of re-playability, the freedom that mods can give you, and the creative nature of the building system all just scratch the right itches for me.
It also kills me that some people complain about how they feel like they need mods to "fix" certain aspects of the game. The fact that the devs have made this game so mod-friendly is just a testament to how much they value the players' experience. They've given us a base game that is incredibly fun on its own, but there are practically limitless ways you can tweak the game for even more variety in playstyle and experience.
I'm almost sad I only bought this game for $5. It's worth every penny at full price and honestly, they could charge more.
I can say one thing i like what Fun Pimps did: POI'glitches. Remember when you wanna enter a house and there was Bugged Blocks, breaking the POI or Confusing? Its gone and thats for me a HUGE MIlestone. All i need to wait for are Alpha 21 Mods :D My Rate of this Game is Overall a 9/10
Top notch breakdown! I already own the game, and have played several hundred hours, but it was nice to still see a full history and where we are currently! Thanks for the work on this!
VERY good Point you mentioned in the first few minutes but NEVER again talked about in the whole Video is...
WHY the Devs litterly DESTROY Base Defense on EVERY Patch?
Players find a way to Survive and it's FUN -> Next Patch the FUN is gone, because it is "patched out"?!
Very good idea would be to rename from "The Fun Pimps" to "The Fun Patchers"!
Your videos are always top notch! Keep up the great work.
I've been playing this game on and off for years with a little over 2,300 hours in this game, mostly in single player. 7 Days to Die is still a game that I come back to again and again. One of my top 5 favorite games of all time.
Performance is the trickiest of details. The game is heavy on the cpu, but I now have a Ryzen 7700X and it handles collapses like a champ. Haven't collapsed a skyscraper so not sure at what point collapses will cause issues on my system. Now, my rig is limited by my gpu. I'm still using my old 1080TI. It's powerful, but to get my 144 fps I have to turn things way down.
Edit: I wouldn't say your assessment of people who are disgruntled with the way the game has evolved is fair. They are not necessarily stuck in their ways. Believing that one mechanic is better than another isn't so much being stuck in their ways but simply an opinion. Your assessment is an oversimplification that is almost disingenuous. The moderators on the forums love that argument as it makes the person who made legitimate arguments look bad. The Fun Pimps have favored overhauls to the tedium of balancing. That is simply a fact. That's not the same as being stuck in their ways.
I just started playing this game about 4 days ago and I would fully recommend it. It's tough, but fair. You're always doing something. There is downtime at night if you're a whimp (like myself) and don't want to frolic during a time where they run so you lock yourself in your base lol. This game will get your blood pumping.
Of course you'd love the company, working on one game for 10 years straight and yet to finish it... Almost as if you don't want to finish it, eh?)
I played this a lot on release.
I never could like the fact zombies can destroy any block.
This game just caught my attention again, and I have found a way to make zombie only kill doors.
Can't wait to get back into it.
Pretty much agree. I've played it many hours and it's always been fun to come back to after a break if you've played it enough it's getting stale. Haven't tried A21 yet but don't really see any game play changes there that are worrying. It's mainly small tweaks to existing mechanics. I wouldn't mind seeing some more thought put into new quest types or a wider variety of play styles and such. You can only do so many buried treasure and clearing POI quests before it turns into a slog. The game needs a larger goal. But I enjoy it and recommend it.
How do you build the new doors, wood spike fences like the one from the trader, chain link fences?