Summary
- 7 Days to Die offers a challenging survival experience with hordes of zombies and strategic defense building.
- Looking for similar games? Try Unturned, Killing Floor 2, or S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat for intense gameplay.
- Explore other survival horror games like Project Zomboid, Sons Of The Forest, or Zed Zone for new challenges.
7 Days to Die is a fun game to play if you are looking to truly test yourself in a survival setting. The game is full of challenges, especially since the moon turns red every seven nights and zombies swarm your position. The horde breaks down any barriers you hoped would keep you safe.
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PostsYou will have to use your resources carefully and strategically build up your defenses if you want to survive. If you’ve been playing 7 Days to Die for a while, though, you may be looking for a new game to capture your attention. The list below contains some great games for you to try out.
Updated August 8, 2024 by Jack Pierik: Whether you’re hopping in solo, on a public server, or working together with friends, 7 Days To Die is almost always a blast. Whether you’re coming back because of an update, or it just feels right, the zombie-survival formula continues to show its replay value and compelling mechanics.
However, there is an inherent problem here: what if you’re tired of 7 Days, but you want a similar experience? That is probably the reason you’re here. No worries, we’re adding three more games with similar vibes and mechanics to help satiate your survival-horror cravings.
24 Unturned
CloseUnturned
Survival Developer(s) Smartly Dressed Games Platform(s) PC, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S Powered by Expand CollapseUnturned can be thought of as a free-to-play version of minecraft that reworked the building mechanics at some point, and turned its attention to zombie and survival elements. You can’t have a zombie game without guns and vehicles, after all.
You can loot buildings, run over zombies with your fortified car, farm crops, equip your guns with different attachments, forage, fish, try out different servers and gamemodes, complete quests for NPCs, board up windows, set traps for other players, build a base, and do so much more.
23 Killing Floor 2
CloseKilling Floor 2
FPS Survival Horror Developer(s) Tripwire Interactive, Hardsuit Labs, Saber Interactive Platform(s) PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One Powered by Expand CollapseKilling Floor 2 is an intense, wave-based zombie shooter with a variety of weapons and classes to try out and level up. You won’t have to worry about a water or food meter, but you will have to fight challenging bosses and hordes of enemies.
You can play on your own, with up to five other players in cooperative mode, or with 12 players total split into two separate teams in a PvP mode called Versus Survival. You can even play as certain enemies in PvP if that sounds fun to you.
22 S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat
CloseS.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call of Pripyat
Survival Horror Developer(s) GSC Game World Platform(s) PC Powered by Expand CollapseThe S.T.A.L.K.E.R. universe offers zombies, various NPC factions that you can improve or deteriorate your relationship with, terrifying mutated creatures, strange and lethal anomalies, heavily irradiated zones, and plenty of other hazards to deal with.
The survival elements are gritty, intense, and tangible, making practically every choice you make have immediate or future consequences. Plus, if the base game doesn’t feel right to you, the Gamma mod implements countless upgrades, fixes, and features to make the experience even better.
21 Project Zomboid
CloseProject Zomboid
Survival Horror Developer(s) The Indie Stone Platform(s) PC Powered by Expand CollapseWhen looking for games similar to 7 Days To Die, Project Zomboid is often considered a fun alternative. Instead of a first-person shooter experience, you'll look down at your character as they explore this apocalyptic setting, but this never takes away from the tense, scary nature of the game.
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PostsThis is another challenging sandbox adventure, where you'll begin in a random location and must collect supplies, explore and develop skills to help you progress. Alongside setting up a base of operations, you can also grab vehicles and explore the wider world further (or simply try to run down as many zombies as possible). Like 7 Days to Die, you have a lot of freedom to tell your own zombie apocalypse story alone or with your friends.
20 Sons Of The Forest
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Survival Open-World Survival Horror Developer(s) Endnight Games Platform(s) PC Powered by Expand CollapseIf you want more survival games like 7 Days to Die but are happy to swap out the zombies for cannibals and mutants, then Sons Of The Forest is an exciting option. This horror survival game has you crash-landing onto an island full of dangerous threats as you attempt to find a missing billionaire and their family. But, it is very easy to get distracted by the various crafting mechanics available to construct your ideal forest campsite, with zip lines and elaborate defenses. The billionaire can wait…
Sons Of The Forest is a sequel to The Forest (which we talk about below), and it has made quite a few updates to the previous game in the series and is considered a standalone experience primarily. So whether you played the first game or not, this creepy world, its captivating lore, and doing whatever you can to stay alive is worth diving into.
19 Zed Zone
ClosePlatform(s)
PC
Developer(s)
Leven Liu
Genre(s)
RPG, Indie, Action, Simulation
Zed Zone is another top-down zombie game with features similar to 7 Days to Die, such as various exciting weapons to find and great crafting mechanics to help you build a shelter to keep the zombies out.
A great addition to this survival experience is the inclusion of special infected. Similar to games like Left 4 Dead, you'll have to take on advanced zombies with special abilities that are far more challenging to take on. The Beast, for example, has super-human strength. Can you survive being trapped in the apocalyptic Zed Zone?
18 Meet Your Maker
CloseMeet Your Maker
FPS Strategy Developer(s) Behaviour Interactive Platform(s) PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S Powered by Expand CollapseWhen thinking of games like Seven Days to Die, you might not immediately think of Meet Your Maker, but it is still an exciting post-apocalyptic, first-person game full of action and suspense. Instead of surviving in an open world, you're building outposts with traps and monstrous guards and heading off with your friends to raid rival outposts.
If you loved the base-building aspects of 7 Days to Die, Meet Your Maker takes this to a new level, with many options to craft mazes for others to attempt to fight their way through. Meet Your Maker is a unique, exciting concept worth trying out for yourself.
17 Ark: Survival Evolved
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Survival Developer(s) Studio Wildcard Platform(s) Linux, macOS, PC, PS4, Xbox One, Stadia, Switch, iOS, Android Powered by Expand CollapseArk: Survival Evolved is a survival game that throws you into a land filled with everything from dinosaurs to mythical creatures, depending on your map choice, and nothing but a strange device embedded in your arm.
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PostsIn order to survive, you must build a base, tame many of the beasts trying to kill you, and uncover the secrets of the Ark. You can choose to play on a PvP or PvE map, depending on if you want a more cooperative experience, or risk it all against other players and groups.
16 The Forest
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Survival Horror Developer(s) Endnight Games Platform(s) PC, PS4 Powered by Expand CollapsePlenty of survival games have scary elements about them. That's only natural since survival in harsh conditions with nothing but danger around you is inherently terrifying for our more primal instincts. But The Forest is a game that can be considered an authentic cooperative horror experience.
In this game, a plane crash will leave you, either solo or with some friends, deep within an inescapable forest, and now you must struggle to survive. You can play with friends, but even if you choose to play alone, you'll soon learn you're not truly alone in those woods.
15 Valheim
CloseValheim
Sandbox Survival Developer(s) Iron Gate AB Platform(s) Linux, PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S Powered by Expand CollapseValheim is a logical recommendation if you like 7 Days to Die, as it has many of the same features. You must build a base, pay attention to your health, stamina, and stat bars, and fight off recurring attacks from time to time in order to survive.
While Valheim takes a more medieval approach to technology compared to 7 Days to Die, it is still a game of procedural grinding, exploration, and discovery that will scratch that itch for something similar yet slightly different.
