Elevate 7 Days to Die to the Next Level with Unreal Engine 5.5

R

rafawq

Refugee
Dear Fun Pimps Team,

First, thank you for your incredible dedication to 7 Days to Die. The game's unique blend of survival horror, crafting, and tower defense has cultivated a fiercely loyal community. As we look toward the future, migrating to Unreal Engine 5.5 (UE5.5) represents a transformative opportunity to redefine the game’s potential. Here’s why:

1.​

UE5.5’s Nanite virtualized geometry would allow for staggeringly detailed environments—collapsed skyscrapers with realistic debris, dense forests with individual leaves, and ruined cities teeming with immersive clutter. Combined with Lumen dynamic global illumination, the game’s signature blood moons could cast terrifying, lifelike shadows, while flickering player-held lights would intensify the horror of night hordes.

2.​

Chaos Physics in UE5.5 could take structural integrity and destruction to unprecedented levels. Imagine:

  • Buildings collapsing in real-time with physics-driven debris.
  • Zombies bursting through walls with dynamically calculated damage.
  • Vehicles mangling realistically during collisions.
    This would deepen immersion and make every battle feel uniquely visceral.

3.​

UE5.5’s World Partition system enables truly open worlds without loading screens, while Niagara VFX could render hundreds of zombies with optimized performance. Epic’s Temporal Super Resolution (TSR) would ensure smooth frame rates even during 64-player horde nights, maintaining clarity across ultra-large maps.

4.​

  • MetaSounds: Create dynamic audio that reacts to materials (e.g., footsteps on gravel vs. metal).
  • AI Tools: Smarter zombie pathfinding and emergent behaviors.
  • Modding Enhancements: UE5’s robust tools would empower the modding community to create richer content.

5.​

A UE5.5 rebuild would attract new players and reinvigorate the community. Modern visuals and physics could position 7 Days as a flagship survival game for years to come, leveraging features like Nanite foliage for dense biomes and Lumen reflections in water-logged ruins.

Addressing the Challenges​

We understand migration is a monumental task. However, UE5.5’s backward compatibility and streamlined workflows could ease the transition. Prioritizing core systems (terrain, building, AI) first would allow iterative development. The payoff—a technically advanced, visually stunning, and deeply immersive 7 Days to Die—would be worth the effort.

Conclusion​

Unreal Engine 5.5 isn’t just an upgrade; it’s a quantum leap. It aligns perfectly with 7 Days to Die’s ambition: a vast, dynamic, and terrifying sandbox. By embracing UE5.5, you could transform the game from a cult classic into an industry benchmark. The community stands ready to support this evolution—let’s build the apocalypse we’ve always envisioned.

Respectfully,
A Passionate 7D2D Community Member
 
rafawq said:
Unreal Engine 5.5 isn’t just an upgrade; it’s a quantum leap.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't it essentially be saying, "we're abandoning 7D2D and restarting development on a different engine?" I mean, those engines aren't meeting some standard that allows an application to move from one to another, right?
 
Yeah, no thank you. As nice as it would be to have an upgrade, it would be a waste of the devs time. There will likely be a sequel and that would be the perfect opportunity for a more modern engine. While it has drawbacks, the current engine is perfectly fine for what we need 7DTD to be.
 
I don't think OP really thought this through.

7 days to die is programmed using c# which is supported by Unity. Unreal only supports c++. They would have to rewrite the game from ground up to move it from Unity to Unreal Engine. Something that is fine at the very beginning of development, but not a wise move to make when the game is getting close to the end of development (V3 / V4).

And backward compatibility means nothing in this case as it would only apply to previous Unreal Engine versions....not a completely different game engine.
 
As others have said, this won't happen. And the devs have already said it won't happen in the past. They will have a new game that uses Unreal, but this game is way too close to the end of development to even consider switching engines. You can't just swap them. You would need to add 3-5 years to development to switch the engine at this point. Not worth it. Wait until their next game if you want an Unreal game from them.
 
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