Almost 12 years after release, 7 Days to Die finally announces it's leaving early access

Which one is 7 Days to Die again? It's the zombie survival game where every seven days a rampaging horde arrives to mess up everything you've made? Sounds like Brisbane on the weekend.

I remember hearing 7 Days to Die is one of the good ones actually, but since it came out at the peak of my period of "being a bit sick of all these zombie games, especially the early access ones" I never gave it a look-in. "I'll wait until it leaves early access, then I'll check it out," I thought. And then I didn't think about it again until now, when developers The Fun Pimps announced 7 Days to Die really is about to hit 1.0.

They won't be moving on to another project, however, saying, "The Fun Pimps have and will continue to support 7 Days to Die development with a majority of their resources."

While version 1.0 will launch with a new zombie gore system, remade vehicle assets, a new challenge system, more zombie variance, updated controller support, and more, a few things are being planned for future updates. Intriguing notes on the roadmap mention a wardrobe system, bandits, and a story mode, as well as Steam Workshop support.

When it leaves early access, which is currently scheduled for June, the price will go up from $US36 to $45. It's having a last chance sale on Steam before then, and will be discounted from April 22 to April 29.

7 Days to Die feels like one of the last of the long-development early access hits to announce 1.0 that is realistically likely to. What's next, Project Zomboid? Star Citizen?

Jody's first computer was a Commodore 64, so he remembers having to use a code wheel to play Pool of Radiance. A former music journalist who interviewed everyone from Giorgio Moroder to Trent Reznor, Jody also co-hosted Australia's first radio show about videogames, Zed Games. He's written for Rock Paper Shotgun, The Big Issue, GamesRadar, Zam, Glixel, Five Out of Ten Magazine, and Playboy.com, whose cheques with the bunny logo made for fun conversations at the bank. Jody's first article for PC Gamer was about the audio of Alien Isolation, published in 2015, and since then he's written about why Silent Hill belongs on PC, why Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale is the best fantasy shopkeeper tycoon game, and how weird Lost Ark can get. Jody edited PC Gamer Indie from 2017 to 2018, and he eventually lived up to his promise to play every Warhammer videogame.