7 Days To Die (7D2D)

[max2go]

Although this is a(n) (Alpha status / Early Access) multiplayer game that's been around for over a year already (btw, it's a one-time purchase, $25 or less if on sale), it is starting to transform - from being a plain zombie shooter / build your own housing kinda game, to way more than that, with the recent (a13, December 2015) incorporation of survival (adding to the existing bleeding, infection, hunger / thirst system also freezing / overheating), a skill and perks system; plus a quest system (coming out in the coming weeks in a14) and a job / trait system and NPCs, all of which have been announced to be added in the coming version(s). (the only type of NPCs that exist are the zombies being the mobs, similar to your traditional MMOs, that spawn from time to time - as single units or even as groups, with a variety of different types).

I have played a lot of MMOs, but after a few hours I just get bored due to their repetitiveness and in the end I realize that they all follow the same recipe of do quests, level up with new abilities and slightly changed weapons / armor and their buffs - and then it's rinse-and-repeat.

7D2D allows to do all (or at least most of) that, but without the repetitiveness. It goes even so far that you find different weapon parts (for modern guns - bow / arrow and crossbows don't allow being taken apart - yet), each one with their own level, and use of those weapons wear them down (you can repair them with weapon repair kits) - and if you find (can't make them yourself yet) a higher quality part of a weapon, you can take the weapon apart (if you have learned the corresponding skill from a book / scheme - this will improve / change in the future also) then you can replace that part, to make the weapon more effective. There are also melee weapons - no swords or shields (yet) but various types of clubs and stone / fire axe.

I had mentioned before "server operator and their community" - 7D2D is not run by just one company and a few servers, instead anyone can set up their own server and change various attributes, to customize the experience based on either their own wishes or that of the community playing on the server. Servers a either PVE or PVP - some are PVE with a PVP zone; I have played on both and I always felt that something is missing then.

So I decided to invest a substantial amount of money and started my own (non-commercial - I make NO money whatsoever with this) server, running 24/7 on a dedicated high performance multi-CPU system - "Casual Action Survival" or short "CAS". The aim of the server is to allow for true immersion - it's PvP but has a new player friendly / pure PvE zone, plus RP (Role Play) areas - that way you can decide what you want to do.

The landscape (map) is persistent, fully destructible (including every building - pre-existing or player built) and random generated - 2,000 by 2,000 km, with hills / mountains, rivers / ponds / lakes, even caves systems and a huge bombed out city (AKA "the hub city", as it is located at 0,0 - the center of the map) and various towns and single buildings like stores, log cabins, metal sheds and many others. It has a full day/night cycle (24 hours in-game = 50 RL minutes) with varying weather (sun / hazy / rain - no thunderstorms yet, but they're probably coming in the near future). Players can create their own gardens to grow various fruits and veggies, to cook into stews - there are a few types of animals that can be hunt, the variety will increase with future game updates; herding and breeding animals is not (yet) possible.

The RP areas are decided by the person(s) in charge - those places might be run like a Wild West town, or corrupt "sin city" or even totally lawless - or like a modern day town / city with a major / governor / council. Each RP area has its own theme of buildings - from quaint little town to gated community to walled in town with castle - or even underground.

As you can see, there is a lot to experience in this game, especially on the CAS server - it is populated by a (generally) helpful community and actively administrated. The server hardware also runs an ARK server (if you prefer dinosaurs, many of which you can herd / breed / hatch and even ride - on land, in the air and even some in the water) and a TeamSpeak server. It does run a web server, it's currently "under construction", including a discussion forum.

I hope this excites someone as much as it does me - this game is ever-evolving, having transformed this game already quite a bit to give a new experience, future changes will change the gameplay even more drastically and will transform the game into a new, even more immersive and interesting one, I have no doubt about that!

Looking forward to perhaps seeing some of you on the CAS server!