7 Days to Die

I've played for a lot of years, mostly with friends. I had a lot of fun, but the way they keep removing the great features that made the game fun. They attack content creators, that are literally the reason a lot of people come and buy/play this game. I always came back to this game because of seeing Jawoodle play this game! the stupid spitters and Brady's are even more frustrating, they spawn like 5 out of 6 zombies in that biome. They steal the hard work of modders, and call it an update. I'd rather give my money to people who mod this game than to the *** DLC's I really thought they were turning things back around, but they hate their player base apparently. #JusticeforJawoodle

I have nearly 5,000 hours in 7 Days to Die. I bought it when it was sold as a pure zombie survival sandbox. Over the years the developers steadily replaced player freedom with structured progression, standardized cosmetics behind DLC, left long-promised features (bandits, real story) undelivered across multiple “full” releases, and continued to claim the game wasn’t really multiplayer while shipping and monetizing multiplayer features. Over the years The Fun Pimps have repeatedly stripped out survival systems (or heavily simplified them), told players the old versions were broken/unbalanceable/immersion-breaking or just needed to go for technical reasons, then years later reintroduced similar (or the same) mechanics — sometimes framed as fresh new features or optional toggles after enough community pressure. Concrete examples that match what you’re talking about: Smell system — Present early on, made carrying certain foods actually matter. Removed around Alpha 16–17 (said to be temporarily broken / coming back soon). Stayed gone for years. Later updates (including the 2.5 “Survival Revival” era) brought a reworked version back. Jars / water collection — A long-running sore point. Removed or gutted, then after heavy backlash partially restored with crafting options and refund percentages in later patches. Temperature, wetness, clothing insulation, and related survival pressure — Tied into older clothing systems, simplified or removed for various reasons (including technical issues with meshes and weather), then elements of it started returning in reworked forms. Wellness / older health-stamina systems, Learn by Doing skill progression, various disease/infection threats, and other “harder” survival layers that got flattened, only for pieces of that design philosophy to reappear later under different names or with sandbox toggles. The result is a game that no longer lets me play the way I originally could — unique character looks, free biome choice, self-directed progression — and whose vanilla content is no longer enough to hold the interest of a large part of its own long-term audience. I would not buy it at full price today and I would not recommend it to a new player looking for the sandbox experience that was originally advertised.

Great game, horrible publisher.

A game that never seems to get the updates it needs and every roadmap gets thrown out of the window. Now even reyling on AI slop assets and art. Hey, at least we get cosmetic DLC that doesn't even fit the theme! Awesome stuff, what a way to go.

I've watched this game since 2012, I've played it since 2015 across many platforms (Consoles and PC). And raised eyebrows over the years with antics from the lead devs/co-founders in particular. Check the 7dtd forums, if they haven't scrubbed them... I'm tired of BS companies that don't hold up their end of things. I wash my hands of this game and anything connected to it. Which is sad, as 3.0 itself is well done, AFTER 10+ years in development to get trees and water perfect while ignoring Kickstarter promises...till post 1.0. The shoehorned animal husbandry, among other things. The jank zombie AI, the nerfing, removal, re-adding, re concepting mid release, the "yes we want learn by doing, no remove it, yes re-add it. Let's be Bethesda but better-er. Players are pissed, re-add glass jars because we don't understand our audience" energy of not knowing what they are doing with their product, in a death-spiral circle jerk for a decade... I digress. But the company, The Fun Pimps, leave a lot to be desired with how they treat customers, fans, Kickstarter backers, and content creators. For a decade... Cannot recommend in good conscience.

i bought this game ages ago and the undisclosed use of generative ai is just disappointing.

A once great game that has become about milking the community for every dollar. Removing content in favor of microtransactions? Punishing content creators just trying to cover your game? Watching a creative process get taken over by bean counters like this is laughably stereotypical.

Back in 2013 this game had promises. Today in 2026 it is a pile of ♥♥♥♥. The Dread Pimps have eliminated all fun mechanics from the game and have been adding slop after slop. The final nail in the coffin: the dread pimp's recent public relations is not where you want a game company to be. Ceasing immediate support for this game and all future projects that have the dread pimps involved. Let this ♥♥♥♥ burn.