Lisa_Lina
Refugee
1. More Questions, Fewer Answers
Hi everyone.
Lately I've been thinking about how much of this game actually makes sense, and the more I think about it, the fewer answers I find. I know it's an RPG and games don't always have to be realistic, but the RPG side of 7 Days to Die seems to be getting stronger with every update.
Let's start with something simple.
Regular zombies? Sure. That's easy enough to explain. Some kind of virus wiped out humanity and turned people into zombies. Fine. Let's ignore the fact that, for some reason, the average zombie is now physically stronger than the average human.
Then we have ferals. Alright, let's say they're simply tougher, stronger zombies that evolved somehow. Maybe... starvation? Although I'd expect starvation to make them weaker, not stronger. Let's just assume something happened. It's a game, after all.
Now let's look at the green zombies. Radioactive, I guess? Fine. Maybe instead of falling apart from radiation, they somehow mutated and gained superhuman abilities. Sure, I can live with that.
Then things start getting... interesting.
The yellow/orange zombies. What happened to them? Ate too many oranges? Got a really nice tan? Ripened like fruit? Why are these things basically walking titans?
And the blue ones? They can shock people with electricity now. Were they plugged into a power outlet for years until they learned how to store electricity and discharge it at will? That's... certainly one way to explain it.
At this point it almost feels like some demonic virus escaped into the real world and started giving dead bodies random superpowers.
Doesn't that sound more like Darkness Falls mod?
Let's not even get into exploding zombies that somehow contain enough force to rival military explosives, zombies that spit bees, or ones that casually throw boulders the size of a person.
2. World Settings
This is supposed to be a survival game. Version 3.0 will finally let us tweak zombie behavior a little, but something still feels off.
Take Project Zomboid as an example. It has two very important world settings: zombie population and zombie respawn. 7 Days to Die has neither.
There's no actual population setting, and there's no way to disable zombie respawns without effectively removing every zombie from the world permanently.
So we're dealing with what are basically cybernetic meatheads whose skulls are apparently stronger than reinforced concrete, and they also respawn forever. Funny.
I know the usual explanation is optimization. The game can't keep tens of thousands of zombies loaded at once without hurting performance.
But from a player's perspective, it makes everything I do feel meaningless.
I don't want to place hundreds of land claim blocks just to stop zombies from spawning around my base.
I want to clear out an entire town and surround it with walls. Or at the very least, secure my home and the surrounding area without the game constantly pretending new zombies are materializing out of thin air.
3. The Blood Moon / Seventh Night
Now let's talk about the Blood Moon. That's an entirely different discussion.
To survive the seventh night, people build dedicated "horde bases" right on the edge of high loot-stage biomes. They create these bizarre stick-like microstructures that exploit zombie pathfinding, with entire buildings suspended in midair or balanced on what might as well be chicken legs.
I get it. Nobody wants their main base destroyed, and everyone wants to maximize their loot. That's a matter of personal preference, and that's not really my point.
Personally, though, it looks completely absurd. But let's put personal taste aside and get to the real question.
Every seventh night, there's a massive zombie assault. Sounds cool. But... why? What's the actual reason behind it? Is it just a gameplay mechanic? The moon turns red, and suddenly every zombie becomes something else entirely? Then why doesn't sunlight have a similar effect?
Did the virus come from space? Are aliens somehow influencing the infected through moonlight? Why does this happen exactly the way it does? I'm not even asking for deep lore here. I'm asking for a believable cause-and-effect relationship.
4. Survival vs. RPG/MMORPG
When you really think about it, there isn't actually that much "survival" left in this survival game.
We eat. We drink. We cure a zombie virus with honey. We take pills that magically improve our loot drops or reduce fall damage. We collect trader badges (or whatever they're supposed to be) so we're allowed to enter the next biome.
At some point, it starts feeling less like a survival game and more like an RPG—or even an MMORPG with survival mechanics layered on top.
5. Melee Weapons
And that's before we even get to the fact that the game is almost entirely centered around fighting.
So what do we fight with? Baseball bats. Knuckle wraps. Knuckle weapons. Sledgehammers. Spears. Sure, there's a decent selection. But... is that really what ordinary people keep lying around their homes? Or carry around in their pockets? Maybe criminals or gang members would. Most people wouldn't. So where are the pitchforks? Or the countless other tools that could easily double as weapons?
Why can't we grab a chair and smash it over a zombie's head? Oh, right. We pick up chairs because they turn into a hundred pieces of wood. Let's just add that one to the list, too.
6. Ranged Weapons
Now let's talk about ranged weapons. The weapon variety itself is perfectly fine. Pistols, revolvers, rifles, shotguns, assault rifles... Honestly, I have no complaints there. I'm not even going to get into the hitbox issues.
But here's what I don't understand. Why do I need to dump an entire shotgun magazine into a zombie's face just to kill it?
You'll probably say:
"Your weapon is low tier." "Your perks aren't high enough." "Your aim isn't great."
Maybe. But I'm still not shooting a water pistol. One shotgun blast to the head is more than enough to shatter a human skull. Sure, you could tell me: "Just lower the zombie health in the world settings." And yes, I could. But that's not what I'm talking about. This isn't about personal preference. It's about internal logic.
Why does every basic zombie feel like a Terminator at the start of the game when, in real life, someone could fracture a skull with a single swing of a chair? What's the reasoning behind that? Because it's an RPG?
7. So... Is 7 Days to Die an MMORPG?
Alright. Let's accept that. Let's say it's an RPG, and that explains everything I've mentioned so far. Then why stop where we are? Why don't we have zombies carrying assault rifles? Or magic wands? Where are the invisible zombies with glowing eyes? Ghosts? Demons? Necromancers? Why not?
That's what RPGs usually do. They're full of creatures with unique abilities. Half-dragons breathing fire. Ice golems. Dark mages. Liches. Twenty-meter-tall warriors wearing plate armor and carrying swords bigger than they are. Where are the orcs? The goblins? Cat people? Skyrim is an RPG too. And, in many ways, it's also a survival game - open world, food, drinks, cold weather mechanics, countless buffs and status effects.
So if we're embracing RPG mechanics anyway... why stop halfway?
8. My Opinion (and the Opinion of the People Around Me)
If we're making an RPG... Then give me magic. I want protective spells. Fire cloaks. Mana. Spellcasting. Alchemy. Enchantments. Socketing gems into gear. Custom item effects like simple "+2 Armor" or "A small lightning storm strikes nearby enemies whenever you're hit."
Come on. It's an RPG, isn't it? Let's go all the way.
Honestly, I'm looking forward to the day I can fight zombies during a Blood Moon by raining meteors from the sky and impaling hordes with giant ice spikes...
...while they're shooting back with rifles, throwing fireballs at me, and healing themselves whenever I look away. Wouldn't that be amazing?
Just imagine it. A magical zombie apocalypse where magic and technology coexist, where every strange mechanic actually has an in-universe explanation. At least then the game would feel consistent.
And it would certainly make me want to come back every single day.
9. One Simple Fact
Please. Just think about the direction you're taking. I'm genuinely asking. Don't lose sight of what this game is supposed to be. You have to choose. Either commit to survival. Or fully embrace RPG mechanics. Trying to be both at once just leaves the game caught somewhere in the middle.
10. Final Thoughts
And just to be clear... I'm actually completely serious about the magic. This isn't sarcasm. It's not a joke.
My friends and I genuinely think the game would be far more interesting if it fully embraced that direction.
Just imagine it. A fully destructible world filled with zombies and magic, where every battle turns into complete chaos against minibosses and massive bosses. I'd play that every single day.
But if that's not the direction you want to take... Then maybe it's time to pay a little more attention to realism instead?
Hi everyone.
Lately I've been thinking about how much of this game actually makes sense, and the more I think about it, the fewer answers I find. I know it's an RPG and games don't always have to be realistic, but the RPG side of 7 Days to Die seems to be getting stronger with every update.
Let's start with something simple.
Regular zombies? Sure. That's easy enough to explain. Some kind of virus wiped out humanity and turned people into zombies. Fine. Let's ignore the fact that, for some reason, the average zombie is now physically stronger than the average human.
Then we have ferals. Alright, let's say they're simply tougher, stronger zombies that evolved somehow. Maybe... starvation? Although I'd expect starvation to make them weaker, not stronger. Let's just assume something happened. It's a game, after all.
Now let's look at the green zombies. Radioactive, I guess? Fine. Maybe instead of falling apart from radiation, they somehow mutated and gained superhuman abilities. Sure, I can live with that.
Then things start getting... interesting.
The yellow/orange zombies. What happened to them? Ate too many oranges? Got a really nice tan? Ripened like fruit? Why are these things basically walking titans?
And the blue ones? They can shock people with electricity now. Were they plugged into a power outlet for years until they learned how to store electricity and discharge it at will? That's... certainly one way to explain it.
At this point it almost feels like some demonic virus escaped into the real world and started giving dead bodies random superpowers.
Doesn't that sound more like Darkness Falls mod?
Let's not even get into exploding zombies that somehow contain enough force to rival military explosives, zombies that spit bees, or ones that casually throw boulders the size of a person.
2. World Settings
This is supposed to be a survival game. Version 3.0 will finally let us tweak zombie behavior a little, but something still feels off.
Take Project Zomboid as an example. It has two very important world settings: zombie population and zombie respawn. 7 Days to Die has neither.
There's no actual population setting, and there's no way to disable zombie respawns without effectively removing every zombie from the world permanently.
So we're dealing with what are basically cybernetic meatheads whose skulls are apparently stronger than reinforced concrete, and they also respawn forever. Funny.
I know the usual explanation is optimization. The game can't keep tens of thousands of zombies loaded at once without hurting performance.
But from a player's perspective, it makes everything I do feel meaningless.
I don't want to place hundreds of land claim blocks just to stop zombies from spawning around my base.
I want to clear out an entire town and surround it with walls. Or at the very least, secure my home and the surrounding area without the game constantly pretending new zombies are materializing out of thin air.
3. The Blood Moon / Seventh Night
Now let's talk about the Blood Moon. That's an entirely different discussion.
To survive the seventh night, people build dedicated "horde bases" right on the edge of high loot-stage biomes. They create these bizarre stick-like microstructures that exploit zombie pathfinding, with entire buildings suspended in midair or balanced on what might as well be chicken legs.
I get it. Nobody wants their main base destroyed, and everyone wants to maximize their loot. That's a matter of personal preference, and that's not really my point.
Personally, though, it looks completely absurd. But let's put personal taste aside and get to the real question.
Every seventh night, there's a massive zombie assault. Sounds cool. But... why? What's the actual reason behind it? Is it just a gameplay mechanic? The moon turns red, and suddenly every zombie becomes something else entirely? Then why doesn't sunlight have a similar effect?
Did the virus come from space? Are aliens somehow influencing the infected through moonlight? Why does this happen exactly the way it does? I'm not even asking for deep lore here. I'm asking for a believable cause-and-effect relationship.
4. Survival vs. RPG/MMORPG
When you really think about it, there isn't actually that much "survival" left in this survival game.
We eat. We drink. We cure a zombie virus with honey. We take pills that magically improve our loot drops or reduce fall damage. We collect trader badges (or whatever they're supposed to be) so we're allowed to enter the next biome.
At some point, it starts feeling less like a survival game and more like an RPG—or even an MMORPG with survival mechanics layered on top.
5. Melee Weapons
And that's before we even get to the fact that the game is almost entirely centered around fighting.
So what do we fight with? Baseball bats. Knuckle wraps. Knuckle weapons. Sledgehammers. Spears. Sure, there's a decent selection. But... is that really what ordinary people keep lying around their homes? Or carry around in their pockets? Maybe criminals or gang members would. Most people wouldn't. So where are the pitchforks? Or the countless other tools that could easily double as weapons?
Why can't we grab a chair and smash it over a zombie's head? Oh, right. We pick up chairs because they turn into a hundred pieces of wood. Let's just add that one to the list, too.
6. Ranged Weapons
Now let's talk about ranged weapons. The weapon variety itself is perfectly fine. Pistols, revolvers, rifles, shotguns, assault rifles... Honestly, I have no complaints there. I'm not even going to get into the hitbox issues.
But here's what I don't understand. Why do I need to dump an entire shotgun magazine into a zombie's face just to kill it?
You'll probably say:
"Your weapon is low tier." "Your perks aren't high enough." "Your aim isn't great."
Maybe. But I'm still not shooting a water pistol. One shotgun blast to the head is more than enough to shatter a human skull. Sure, you could tell me: "Just lower the zombie health in the world settings." And yes, I could. But that's not what I'm talking about. This isn't about personal preference. It's about internal logic.
Why does every basic zombie feel like a Terminator at the start of the game when, in real life, someone could fracture a skull with a single swing of a chair? What's the reasoning behind that? Because it's an RPG?
7. So... Is 7 Days to Die an MMORPG?
Alright. Let's accept that. Let's say it's an RPG, and that explains everything I've mentioned so far. Then why stop where we are? Why don't we have zombies carrying assault rifles? Or magic wands? Where are the invisible zombies with glowing eyes? Ghosts? Demons? Necromancers? Why not?
That's what RPGs usually do. They're full of creatures with unique abilities. Half-dragons breathing fire. Ice golems. Dark mages. Liches. Twenty-meter-tall warriors wearing plate armor and carrying swords bigger than they are. Where are the orcs? The goblins? Cat people? Skyrim is an RPG too. And, in many ways, it's also a survival game - open world, food, drinks, cold weather mechanics, countless buffs and status effects.
So if we're embracing RPG mechanics anyway... why stop halfway?
8. My Opinion (and the Opinion of the People Around Me)
If we're making an RPG... Then give me magic. I want protective spells. Fire cloaks. Mana. Spellcasting. Alchemy. Enchantments. Socketing gems into gear. Custom item effects like simple "+2 Armor" or "A small lightning storm strikes nearby enemies whenever you're hit."
Come on. It's an RPG, isn't it? Let's go all the way.
Honestly, I'm looking forward to the day I can fight zombies during a Blood Moon by raining meteors from the sky and impaling hordes with giant ice spikes...
...while they're shooting back with rifles, throwing fireballs at me, and healing themselves whenever I look away. Wouldn't that be amazing?
Just imagine it. A magical zombie apocalypse where magic and technology coexist, where every strange mechanic actually has an in-universe explanation. At least then the game would feel consistent.
And it would certainly make me want to come back every single day.
9. One Simple Fact
Please. Just think about the direction you're taking. I'm genuinely asking. Don't lose sight of what this game is supposed to be. You have to choose. Either commit to survival. Or fully embrace RPG mechanics. Trying to be both at once just leaves the game caught somewhere in the middle.
10. Final Thoughts
And just to be clear... I'm actually completely serious about the magic. This isn't sarcasm. It's not a joke.
My friends and I genuinely think the game would be far more interesting if it fully embraced that direction.
Just imagine it. A fully destructible world filled with zombies and magic, where every battle turns into complete chaos against minibosses and massive bosses. I'd play that every single day.
But if that's not the direction you want to take... Then maybe it's time to pay a little more attention to realism instead?
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