That publishing partner was Telltale, which as many know went bankrupt and restructured in 2017. While 7 Days to Die was originally self-published by The Fun Pimps on PC, the developer partnered with a publisher to bring the early access game to consoles including Xbox One. The Xbox version of 7 Days to Die technically hasn't been updated since 2017, leaving many questioning exactly what is coming to Xbox Game Pass later this month. That means it's still frequently being updated as developer The Fun Pimps expand and polish the experience. 7 Days to Die is a survival horror game that, technically, has remained in early access since its initial launch in 2013. It is in moments like this, where you find yourself surrounded on all fronts in a slowly degrading house, fending off the undead with up to three other players, in which 7 Days to Die feels most alive.Xbox recently revealed its plans for Xbox Game Pass releases in the back half of April and among those tiles was the surprise inclusion of 7 Days to Die. The walking dead will turn into the running dead come night time, and will even hunt you down in packs every few days, tearing your infrastructure apart in the process. Alternatively, you could find a dilapidated house to renovate into a more secure bunker, or you could locate a good spot and build a completely new fort from the ground up.Īnd security is the name of the game here, because 7 Days to Die doesn’t hold back on the promise of its title. You could set up a series of spike traps to defend yourself from the various enemies of the world (zombies, dogs, hornets etc), or you could work on your culinary skills and get cooking atop a fireplace to ensure you have enough food to stay alive (your character has various needs related to hunger, hydration, stamina and the like). There’s an impressive variety of items you can build, and the game (which places you in the open world from the very beginning) allows you the freedom to prioritize whichever you want, though there is a series of initial quests which act as tutorial for those who are unsure how to begin. 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. 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?
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