7 Days to Die Finally Gets a Release Date for Version 1.0

Remember a decade ago when we were neck-deep in early access survival games, chopping trees, and crafting campfires? We had Rust turning us into savage monsters, DayZ making us scramble for beans and bleach, and The Forest giving us the creeps in a dark jungle. Here at RPS, we even had a whole survival week to get it out of our systems. Most of those games have long since hit their 1.0 releases, but one survivalist title kept chugging along: 7 Days to Die. This solid sandbox zombie craft-fest has been cozy in its early access cabin for years. But now, the developers have finally set a release date on the horizon—and it’s coming up soon.

“Right now the target date for stable - and we're hoping to do a simultaneous release for console too - would be Thursday, July 25th,” said Richard Huenink, co-founder of The Fun Pimps, during a Twitch chat with fans last week. “So, cross our fingers, our team is working overtime to deliver this.”

Huenink calls it a "tentative schedule, subject to some game-breaking bug," and mentions that leading up to the stable release, there will be an experimental branch on Steam for anyone eager to test out new features early.

“Monday, June 24th we’re planning on a public experimental,” he added. This gives the studio “four and a half weeks to fix bad bugs and pass certification.”

I remember the early days of 7 Days to Die, and if you compare those old screenshots to the current trailer, it’s a sight for sore eyes. The premise remains simple but fun: build by day and defend by night—a concept that some of its crafting peers, like Minecraft, have drifted from. I’ve been dabbling in Dying Light 2 recently for my zombie apocalypse fix, and it’s great, but there’s something about defending my snowy mountain home against sluggish hordes that keeps pulling me back to 7 Days. It’s one of the best survival games out there.

The developers also hinted during the same Twitch stream that the game might return to Game Pass someday (it was on there for a couple of years), but that’s not confirmed. If you’re hunting for a deal, though, they’ve got some straightforward advice.

“I would just buy it now while the price is still less,” said Joel Huenink. The game is currently priced at £19/$25/€23, but with the full release, it’s set to increase to $45 (probably £40/€45). This price jump is common for games exiting early access. Like many indie studios, the team is pretty upfront about suggesting people snag it while it’s still cheap.

“It’s a desert island game that you can play for a hundred hours,” says Richard Huenink. “We’ve put blood, sweat, tears, and a lot of effort into this game, and we’re still updating it.”