Best Games To Play If You Love 7 Days To Die

Key Takeaways

• In
  7 Days To Die
  , players face impending zombie hordes every seventh day, leaving death and destruction in their wake.
• Project Zomboid
  and
  The Forest
  offer similarly frightening exploration and survival experiences to
  7 Days To Die
  .
• Fallout 4
  and
  Dead Island
  offer apocalyptic worlds with varied gameplay and monstrous challenges to overcome.

Released from early access in 2024 by The Fun Pimps, 7 Days To Die is a sandbox survival crafting game with strong horror undertones. Players must fight, build, and craft their way through a decaying world ravaged by zombies. Every seventh day, a frenzied horde will arrive, bringing with it death, destruction, and devastation.

Among 7 Days to Die’s most commendable features is its addictive gameplay loop that sees players explore more dangerous environs to gain increasingly more powerful weapons. This game also gives players unprecedented freedom to explore its elaborate, well-designed locations. Whether players want to spend their seven days crafting, building, or dying repeatedly to the undead masses, the choice is theirs. For those looking for a similar experience that touches on one (or several) of 7 Days To Die‘s core elements, this list is just for you.

8 Project Zomboid

Open World Zombie Mayhem

Project Zomboid is a survival crafting game with horror undertones. In this game, players must survive alone or with friends in the remains of a world that has recently fallen to a zombie apocalypse. Exploration is as exciting as it is terrifying, and a deadly horde could be lurking around every corner.

Like 7 Days to Die, Project Zomboid gives players total freedom in how, or even if, players traverse the land. Build, explore, or cower within a building; the choice is up to the player. Be warned though — with a complex ‘needs’ system, there’s only so long players can hide from the apocalypse before hunger and thirst drive them to explore the zombie-infested cities.

7 Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead

Unprecedented Freedom

Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead is a single-player turn-based survival game that sees players dropped in the middle of the apocalypse. Build, craft, and fight to survive in a world afflicted by all manner of apocalypses, from aliens to Lovecraftian horrors. Of all these apocalypses, the zombie plague that consumed humanity is the most frequently encountered.

A world like no other, this game gives players unprecedented freedom. From the weapons players wield to the skills they develop, or even the bases they inhabit, players get to choose it all. Build impenetrable fortresses, purge cities of the undead, or become a meat-cleaving cyborg; players can do all that and more. Anyone who loved the apocalyptic freedom of 7 Days To Die is in for a treat with this game!

6 Unturned

Varied & Realistic Zombies

Unturned is a multiplayer survival exploration game with a distinct cartoon design. Make no mistake, though; these blocky zombies are still terrifying, especially in hordes! In this game, players must survive, build, and explore a world that has recently fallen victim to a zombie apocalypse.

Similarly to 7 Days To Die, Unturned boasts a visually and mechanically diverse array of zombies for players to fight. From acid spitters to zombies that explode upon death, players always need to be on their toes if they want to keep their heads. The zombies of Unturned also have crawling and sprinting variants, adding to the complexities of combat and evasion.

5 The Forest

Constant Threats, Exhilerating Exploration

The Forest is a multiplayer survival horror game where players find themselves trapped on a tropical island following a plane crash. This island is far from paradise, however, as it is infested with cannibals and humanoid mutants. Players must explore and fight their way through the wilderness to uncover the story of this island and escape its clutches.

Players who enjoyed the horde mechanics of 7 Days To Die will thoroughly enjoy The Forest’s cannibals, who will periodically attack the player and their bases with hulking mutants in tow. The Forest also presents players with an expertly designed network of caves to explore. Each expedition into the depths is more terrifying and claustrophobic than the last.

4 Fallout 4

A Truly Apocalyptic World

Fallout 4 is a single-player open-world RPG set in a nuclear wasteland. Hundreds of years on from the nuclear war that ravaged the planet, the player awakens from cryogenic sleep. The safety of their nuclear vault has been compromised, and they must now embark on a quest through a wilderness filled with mutant monsters, raiders, and the undead.

Like 7 Days To Die, Fallout 4 allows players to explore a ‘what if?’ scenario, one that gives the game eerie, almost horror-like undertones. These apocalyptic worlds are, after all, so similar to those that the real-life player inhabits. Fallout 4 also has extensive base-building mechanics that closely resemble 7 Days To Die‘s, with players using much of the material they gather during expeditions for building.

3 Dead Island

Terrifying Thrills

Dead Island is an open-world survival horror game where players are caught amid a zombie outbreak. Stranded on a tropical island, players must fight, craft, and explore their way through the unrelenting hordes of the undead to escape. Zombies are as fun to kill as they are terrifying to encounter, especially in groups.

Dead Island expands upon the weapon modification and crafting seen in 7 Days To Die, allowing players to craft a plethora of flashy weapons, all with different features and rarities. This is all within a gameplay loop that sees players gain ever increasingly more powerful weapons. Dead Island also boasts a variety of zombie types with unique designs, abilities, and environments in which they can be found.

2 Don’t Starve

Change Over Time & Needs Management

Don’t Starve is a single-player crafting game with distinct horror undertones both in its atmosphere and art style. Players find themselves stranded on an inescapable island inhabited by fantastical creatures, many of which are deadly. Survival in this game is paramount, as players only get a single life.

Similar to 7 Days To Die, Don’t Starve’s world gets increasingly more challenging over time as players face periodic waves of hounds akin to 7 Days To Die’s seventh-day hordes. Like these hordes, hound waves get more powerful and larger over time. Don’t Starve also has a well-designed needs management system that requires players to balance exploration with maintaining their needs, both presently and in the future.

1 Subnautica

Terrifying Exploration, Similar Gameplay Loop

Subnautica is an open-world survival crafting game that is as beautiful as it is utterly terrifying. Following a spaceship crash, players find themselves stranded on an oceanic planet. Players must learn to survive in this alien world, overcoming their fear of its dark depths, so that they may find the resources necessary to escape.

Like 7 Days To Die, players must explore terrifying environments where jump scares are common and death could be lurking around every corner. The game can go from calm and peaceful to an intense battle for survival in a split second. Subnautica also features a gameplay loop akin to that of 7 Days To Die where players overcome an area, gain its unique materials, and craft stronger equipment.