If you’re a fan of the gripping survival horizons in 7 Days to Die, an enticing collection of similar alternatives awaits your gaming appetite. Get ready to be immersed in diverse universes that offer similar thrills, chills, and heart-pounding challenges.
From the top-down zombie survival experience in Project Zomboid to the cannibal showdowns of Sons of the Forest, there is a title that is just right to satisfy your next adrenaline rush. Witness unique survival dynamics in games like Zed Zone, Meet Your Maker, Ark: Survival Evolved, and The Forest. You will find familiar base-building mechanics in Valheim and Raft.
Stranded Deep stands ready to test your survival skills in new interesting settings to round things off. Whether you are rummaging through ruins or building secure outposts, this game mirrors the essence of what made 7 Days to Die a success while introducing its own distinct surprises.
7 Days to Die
Brief introduction to 7 Days to Die
7 Days to Die is a survival-horror and base-building game that takes you into the heart of a post-apocalyptic world overrun by zombies. As a player, you navigate through the ravaged landscapes, scavenging for resources and crafting weapons while developing your base and defending it against relentless zombie attacks.
How 7 Days to Die achieved success
The success of 7 Days to Die lies mainly in its innovative amalgamation of different game genres like FPS, survival horror, tower defense, and role-playing. Beyond the zombies and the setting, the game offers a rich and detailed world filled with resources, diverse NPCs, and an in-depth crafting system. Unlike other games, it enables players to alter the environment, building fortifications and traps. The dynamic weather system, day-night cycle, and menacing zombie horde every seven days add another layer of difficulty and excitement to the gameplay.
1. Project Zomboid
Introduction to Project Zomboid
Project Zomboid is an engaging survival-horror game that tasks you with surviving in a vast, zombie-infested world. The isometric view provided makes gameplay unique, as it lets you view your surroundings from a top-down perspective.
Release date and available platforms
Releasing initially as a tech demo in 2011, Project Zomboid has since undergone continuous development by The Indie Stone. It is available on Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux platforms.
Gameplay genre and mechanics
The gameplay blends the survival and horror genres, forcing players to stay alive by scavenging for resources, crafting items, and combating hordes of zombies. Moreover, players must also manage their physical and mental health, ensuring they do not succumb to despair, illness, or starvation.
Similarities to 7 Days to Die
Although Project Zomboid provides a different perspective, its core mechanics closely resemble those found in 7 Days to Die. Resource management, crafting, base building, and survival against persistent zombies are common in both games, offering a familiar yet distinctively different gameplay experience.
2. Sons Of The Forest
Introduction to Sons Of The Forest
Sons Of The Forest could be seen as a sequel to the horror survival game, The Forest. As a passenger stranded in a plane crash, you find yourself in a mysterious forest filled with cannibalistic creatures and mutants instead of traditional walking undead.
Release date and available platforms
While a specific release date is yet to be confirmed, Sons Of The Forest is estimated to be available in 2021. Expected platforms are likely to include Microsoft Windows and possibly PlayStation consoles.
Gameplay genre and mechanics
Sons Of The Forest mixes elements of survival and horror. While combating eerie mutants, you must gather resources, build a shelter, and craft items vital for your survival and defense.
Similarities to 7 Days to Die
Much like 7 Days to Die, Sons Of The Forest emphasizes survival, crafting, and base building. The sheer thrill of defending your base against a relentless assault of nightly horrors draws significant parallels with 7 Days to Die. However, Sons of the Forest involves surviving twisted mutants instead of undead zombies, offering a unique take on the genre.
3. Zed Zone
Introduction to Zed Zone
Zed Zone throws you into a grim world where you must survive and adapt amidst a horrifying zombie apocalypse.
Release date and available platforms
The release date and platforms for Zed Zone haven’t been officially announced, but it is expected to launch soon, considering the steady buzz in the gaming community.
Gameplay genre and mechanics
Zed Zone blends base-building and survival genres, featuring crafting mechanisms and zombie combat that pose serious survival challenges. The existence of special infected zombies keeps up the intensity and difficulty.
Similarities to 7 Days to Die
Like 7 Days to Die, Zed Zone focuses on crafting, survival, and base-building in a zombie world. The presence of special zombified creatures adds an extra layer of threat, thus injecting a sense of unpredictability reminiscent of 7 Days to Die’s infamous Hordenight.
4. Meet Your Maker
Introduction to Meet Your Maker
In Meet Your Maker, you play an architect who must build outposts and fend off rivals in a challenging and competitive world.
Release date and available platforms
The release date and platforms for Meet Your Maker have not been declared officially. However, early-access gameplay and beta trials are expected soon.
Gameplay genre and mechanics
Meet Your Maker is a strategic game that blends elements of building and raiding. Survival entails a delicate balance of constructing formidable outposts while simultaneously preventing rivals from ruining your hard work.
Similarities to 7 Days to Die
While primarily a game involving raiding and building, Meet Your Maker, much like 7 Days to Die, requires strategic planning for both offense and defense. The careful construction of outposts in Meet Your Maker echoes the base-building aspects of 7 Days to Die, though the settings and threats differ significantly.
5. Ark: Survival Evolved
Introduction to Ark: Survival Evolved
Ark: Survival Evolved is an action-adventure survival game that throws players onto an island filled with primeval creatures.
Release date and available platforms
Ark: Survival Evolved was unveiled in 2015 by Studio Wildcard and is now accessible on several platforms such as Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
Gameplay genre and mechanics
Ark’s gameplay orbits around taming and breeding dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals. Survival requires sufficient supplies, crafting of items and tools, base building, and taming creatures to aid you.
Similarities to 7 Days to Die
Ark: Survival Evolved shares features with 7 Days to Die regarding survival, crafting, and base-building. However, the underlying thrill of taming ancient creatures sets Ark apart, making it a thrilling alternative to surviving zombie hordes.
6. The Forest
Introduction to The Forest
The Forest is a survival-horror game that begins with your plane crashing onto a mysterious peninsula. Unbeknownst to you, the forest is filled with terrifying mutants and dangerous animals.
Release date and available platforms
Released on Microsoft Windows in 2014 and PlayStation 4 in 2018, The Forest was developed and published by Endnight Games.
Gameplay genre and mechanics
In The Forest, you must fend off creepy mutants while gathering food and resources to construct safe shelters, craft weapons, and prepare traps for defense.
Similarities to 7 Days to Die
The Forest shares much in common with 7 Days to Die, mainly focusing on survival, gathering, crafting, and base-building in an open-world setting. However, instead of a zombie apocalypse, The Forest brings a ghastly forest filled with mutants for an equally daunting survival experience.
7. Valheim
Introduction to Valheim
Valheim is a brutal exploration and survival game set in the Viking era where you brave the elements, build grand structures, and beat mythical beasts to earn your place in Valhalla.
Release date and available platforms
Valheim, developed by Iron Gate Studio, was released in 2021 as an early access game on Steam, targeting Microsoft Windows and Linux platforms.
Gameplay genre and mechanics
Inside the procedurally generated world of Valheim, you survive hostile creatures and weather conditions and build structures, craft weapons, and sail fascinating seas to conquer new lands.
Similarities to 7 Days to Die
Valheim and 7 Days to Die share base-building and survival elements, although the environments and adversaries you face are very different. Valheim is a riveting take on survival and exploration if you appreciate Norse culture and mythology.
8. Raft
Introduction to Raft
Raft thrusts you into an epic oceanic adventure where your sole starting possession is a tiny raft. With the dangers of the ocean around every corner, survival itself becomes an adventure.
Release date and available platforms
Raft launched in 2018 through early access and was developed by Redbeet Interactive. It’s available on Microsoft Windows.
Gameplay genre and mechanics
In Raft, you continually expand your raft from a meager size to an imposing floating fortress while navigating the vast ocean, weathering storms, and fending off underwater threats.
Similarities to 7 Days to Die
Though the setting vastly differs, Raft shares the same survival and base-building dynamics found in 7 Days to Die. You start from scratch, gathering resources, expanding your base, and avoiding persistent threats, whether it be zombies or the dangers from the deep.
9. Stranded Deep
Introduction to Stranded Deep
Stranded Deep is a survival game where you become a plane crash survivor stuck deep in the Pacific Ocean. Encounters with strange creatures and harsh environments are a staple of the game.
Release date and available platforms
Stranded Deep arrived in 2015 on Windows, macOS, and Linux in early access, with PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions following in 2020. It is developed by Beam Team Games.
Gameplay genre and mechanics
Stranded Deep is all about living off the land. Harvesting resources, crafting tools, constructing shelters, and learning to survive against imposing creatures form the crux of the gameplay mechanics.
Similarities to 7 Days to Die
Stranded Deep offers a survival experience akin to 7 Days to Die, with both focusing on starting from scratch, gathering resources, and crafting for survival. However, instead of an apocalyptic scenario filled with the undead, Stranded Deep lets you deal with the threats of untamed nature.
In conclusion, all the games discussed offer unique takes on survival and base-building mechanics, making them excellent alternatives for fans of 7 Days to Die – each offering a distinct environment, theme, and set of challenges to keep you engaged while still feeling somewhat familiar.
