Summary
Following a world-record 11 years in early access,7 Days To Diehas finally gone gold. Thiszombie survival gamehas excellent base building, and a fantastic tower defense mode, with the player being required to defend their base from multiple waves of zombies every Blood Moon.
The 1.0 release isn’t simply a finalization of the development process. The developer. The Fun Pimps, have taken advantage of the release to patch in some long-awaited changes and improvements. Some of these are quite minor, but others mean that experienced players will need to rethink the way they play thissurvival game.
8Less Loot
Slowing Down Crafting Progression
Before version 1.0, there was a profusion of loot everywhere in7 Days To Die. This meant that experienced players knew exactly where to farm loot to get ahead with the crafting system quicker.
In 1.0, there is much less loot lying around. Garbage piles and other common loot are only really found inside POI now, instead of dotted around everywhere on the map, including in the wilderness. Yes, this slows down progression, but it makes good sense, as it balances theearly gamemuch better.
7Trader Mission Limits
No More Getting Rich Quick
Before the 1.0 release, a player could complete as manytrader missionsas they wished, with no penalty. For some players who went with an intelligence build, mission reward, and trade-related skills at the outset, this meant that they could progress very quickly in the game.
This kind of scavenger build no longer works in7 Days To Die, as there is now a limit of 3 trader quests a day that will count towards the player’s trade progression. For players that relied on trader missions for early game boosts, they will now have to follow a more standard, slower progression route. However, there is a new setting in the game options to change this 3-quest limit.
6New Radial Menu
Great Quality Of Life Change
A simple change, but a very welcome one. Keeping the tab key depressed will now bring up a radial menu, so that players can navigate in-game screens and menus easier. This is a surprisingly useful addition, as the GUI was always a little less than clear.
It is nice to know that the Fun Pimps are listening to their players, and making changes that are intended to make the game easier to access for new players, by making the interface simpler to navigate and understand, especially considering the addition of new features such as the challenges system.
5New Challenges System
Acting Much Like A Tutorial
One of the major new additions in the gold release of7 Days To Die, is the challenges system. These are small tasks, such as chopping X wooden planks, that can be completed in any order. They make a good tutorial for the game, as the player can choose to track a specific challenge and get an on-screen prompt on how to complete it.
There are multiple levels of challenges, with the higher-level challenges rewarding more experience points when they are completed. Working through the easy challenges right at the start of the game is a great way to gain a couple of levels and the skill points they will grant.
4Improved Graphics
And Greater Variation
The graphics in7 Days To Diehave been improved in the 1.0 release. This includes the addition of many more variations of models, such as cars and zombies. Furthermore, there are completely new, high-definition player models as well.
Nobody can say that the game has cutting-edge graphics, simply because it spent over a decade in early access and now looks a little dated. However, these graphic updates do help to make the game look a lot more modern, and make it more appealing to new players.
3New Points Of Interest
Including New Mission POIs
Anyone who has spent a couple of hundred hours or more playing7 Days To Die, will likely know all of the original POI inside out. From the small Pass n Gas service stations, to the massive Shotgun Messiah factory, they will know every place that zombies will spawn, making clearing these POIs over and over a rather tedious proposition.
So these players will be very pleased to know that the version 1.0 release of7 Days To Dieincludes many new POIs, including new tier 5 mission POIs, which is something that was really needed. You could only clear the hospital, the factories, and the skyscrapers so many times before it becomes entirely boring before the 1.0 release.
2Trader Opening Time Changed
Open Much Earlier Now
In the early game, most7 Days To Dieplayers choose not to go outside at night. In the first couple of days, it is entirely normal to spend the hours between 10pm and 4am hiding in aplayer base, crouching down so that zombies do not detect the player.
At 4am, the sun comes up, the new day sound clip plays, and the player goes out and continues with the game. Unless they were working on trader missions that is, as the trader didn’t use to open until 6am. Now, the traders open with the sun coming up, at 4am. What a fantastic change this is!
1Outfits Replace Armor
Adding Flexibility
This change is the most contentious of all of the changes in version 1.0 of7 Days To Die.Armor and clothinghave been replaced with a new system; outfits. Previously, a player would decide on an armor type, unlock the relevant skills, and then craft the armor. Clothing would be matched to provide a good balance of cold and heat resistance for the biome the player was within.
Version 1.0 of7 Days To Diedoes away with this gameplay mechanic. Instead, armor and clothing have been combined into outfits. Each type of outfit has different bonuses, and set parts can be mixed and matched to create a unique outfit. The downside of this though, is that the player now has fewer armor/clothing mod slots to exploit.
