7 Days to Die

There's a hint of a good game in 7 Days to Die's mix of zombie attack preparedness and crafting and cooperative stands against zombies, and it has valuable ideas to contribute to the genre. In fact, you can almost hear them screaming to escape from beneath terrible graphics, barely useable menu controls, and shoddy console optimization. This is an apocalypse amongst apocalypses.

7 Days to Die is a bad console port of an unfinished game.

My fear is that the situation won't improve fast enough, assuming it ever really does get better down the road. 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. 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. It clearly is not. 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.

7 Days to Die has a compelling premise, but it withers within minutes. The gameplay here is fundamentally not fun, and having to deal with technical issues every few seconds becomes extremely grating. The multiplayer injects a little entertainment, if only because you'll be observing the release's shoddiness with others. In all, this is a bit of a rotter.

7 Days to Die features a very interesting mix of role playing games and survival games mechanics, with customization possibilities and multiplayer features deepening the experience considerably. Sadly, everything is damaged by the horrible interface and menu system, a sub-par presentation, some serious technical issues and a general lack of focus. The "make as you go" type of experience offered by 7 Days to Die is definitely intriguing, but when you're fighting the menus more than the undead, something must have gone terribly wrong along the way.

7 Days to Die previously needed a lot of work. It is now in a playable and downright fun state, with a strong crafting and scavenging element that often makes sense and keeps immersion in the survival setting. Zombies become more dangerous as time goes on, but so does the player, as long as they balance their survival with scavenging for better equipment and learning new skills, and 7 Days to Die does a better job staving off the difficulty plateau many survival games eventually succumb to. Following updates, the gameplay is sturdy and solid, built off of an already fun foundation.

7 Days to Die is an incredibly unique title with a core gameplay loop that is unbelievably addicting. While there are certainly dated aspects of the game, 7 Days to Die is fun and worth giving a try, and should surely inspire a genre of its own.

A very poor game, not just something I dislike, but something I hate. If you must play a scavenging game with zombies and base building go for it, otherwise skip it.

For a game to release at retail (no matter the cost) looking like this, performing like this, um, everything like this, it just really feels to me like they needed to make a quick buck. I’m sure it’s working. I just wish it didn’t happen like this.

A frustrating and flawed experience that could have been great. It will be interesting to see how the game is updated and whether the developer's can capitalise on the potential that 7 Days To Die offers, but unfortunately doesn't deliver on.