You can break down or collect anything and everything in the world for resources – trees, rocks, birds’ nests, cars, mailboxes, toilets – which are then used to craft tools and objects for survival. The Fun Pimps are unashamed in borrowing their inspiration from Minecraft, since 7 Days to Die takes the survival aspect of that game and uses it as the basis for their entire experience. That said, 7 Days to Die is almost the inverse experience of a game like Star Wars Battlefront, in that it is all substance, and no style. Still, the game’s technical problems are a serious shortcoming, especially when these issues directly inhibit the quality your playtime. Even the artistic aesthetic of the procedurally-generated worlds looks just drab, mediocre and uninspired, though some of the sound design works effectively to contrast the day and night cycles. To be honest, it’s almost like developer The Fun Pimps intentionally avoided even bothering with the visuals of 7 Days to Die, because they were too busy focusing on the survival aspect of the game. Combat also feels icky, whether you’re repeatedly bashing a zombie in with a club or figuring out how exactly those damn bow and arrows are meant to work. The already unaccommodating UI menus haven’t been translated with particular finesse to the consoles either, and navigating them with the analog sticks is a constantly frustrating experience that shouldn’t be as awkward as it currently is. On top of this, the framerate on the PlayStation 4 is questionable at best, and the game will straight up freeze for a few seconds every time it auto-saves (which is pretty often). Textures are blurry, object pop-ins are frequent and character models exhibit the animation range of a window store mannequin. Let’s first get this out of the way 7 Days to Die looks horrendous. Indeed, 7 Days to Die’s ugly visuals are pretty unacceptable for today’s standards on consoles, but behind the unattractive surface lies a deep and surprisingly compelling experience that reveals why Telltale decided to publish the game in the first place. Platforms: PC, PS4 (Version reviewed), Xbox OneĪt first glance, you might think 7 Days to Die was another cheaply made Minecraft rip-off shamelessly riding on the popularity of the survival-crafting genre that Notch’s indie hit originally created. After some substantial updates, I’d potentially want to give it another chance, but as is I wouldn’t want to spend another minute with it.By Alex Avard 6 years ago This PC sleeper hit has finally arrived on consoles thanks to Telltale Games, but is 7 Days to Die even worth your attention? With that in mind, it’s disappointing to see this sold on Xbox One and PS4 (with a retail release!) as if it is completed game. Despite its rough edges, the PC version has been successful for years now, and I have to imagine 7 Days to Die will also do well on consoles where competition among these types of sandbox survival experiences isn’t so fierce. My fear is that the situation won’t improve fast enough, assuming it ever really does get better down the road. There just isn’t enough here to stay engaged, and what is here is dated and unpolished. After earnestly going through the weekly cycle once alone and again in an online session (before being dropped because the host had left), I felt as if I had seen all I needed to. This is a sandbox game through and through, and while it does some basic zombie-survival-fantasy things right - hence the traction it has gained on Steam Early Access, and the interest from Telltale as a publisher - it is largely disappointing. Generally speaking, this is a game where you make your own fun the simulation isn’t deep enough and the story is too non-existent. There are also a range of world-state options to tinker with like day length, loot abundance, and enemy spawn rates, and there’s a “creative” mode with everything unlocked for screwing around. If it sounds like that’d get dull before long, you are correct, though playing with other people (online or in split-screen) does help to some extent. Other than that, it’s a self-motivated grind to stockpile materials so you can build a home from scratch or improve an existing one. You’ll find new crafting recipes for more advanced armor and weaponry, and there’s also some RPG progression with an unnecessarily large number of skills to pour points into or increase naturally by playing à la Skyrim. Most of the experience involves roaming for supply drops or scouting out abandoned buildings, and either killing the odd zombie along the way or running until your stamina gives out.
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