Short Version:

If you want the authentic and engaging 7 Days to Die experience, play alpha 16.4. If you want a glorified, Arcady Fallout 4 zombie mod, play the newest version.

Long version:
EDIT: Cut the Long version shorter.

I keep playing the new versions and the devs push you more and more into THEIR desired playstyle. It's not an Open World - Survival - Do what you want kinda game anymore. In A 18 till 20 we could still play the "living of land" style, so to speak but now you have to do the traderquests if you want to get any noteable progress. When avoiding the traderquests in the older Alphas you could still get all the materials and equippement you needed, this has significantly changed in A21. We tried to stay away from the quest grind and had to find out, that hordenights where extremely difficult. Furthermore the resourcegathering regarding components was a pain.
The devs force you into this questgrind to get your stuff. It fells like a sandboxy Fallout 4 where you can only do Preston Garvey's quests. The incentive to build is also pretty much gone. The Devs seemingly force you into a playstyle. For anyone whos new to the game and didn't get to play the old alphas, the game is probably and allright survival game with quirky mechanics but for a player who's here since the beginning it's frustrating. Every update destroys the original gameplay more and more.
Don't get me wrong, the visuals got alot better in the last updates. The graphics are actually good right now. I also love the new world generation with more realistic towns and street layouts. I don't wanna play down the good work the devs have done but the gameplay took such a steep dive, the better graphics etc. just don't make up for it. The performance also didn't really get much better over the years, which for me, isn't an issue but for someone with a weaker system definetly will be an issue.
The devs also love to remove working systems or just random things. Why did the jail door have to go? Why is the whole water system reworked? Why did you made the huntingrifle look absolutely horrendous? These are just some things I fail to understand. I won't even talk about the skillsystem at this point...if you know you know.
All in all, it's not a bad game, it's just not for me (and my friendgroup) anymore.

Short Version: If you want the authentic and engaging 7 Days to Die experience, play alpha 16.4. If you want a glorified, Arcady Fallout 4 zombie mod, play the newest version. Long version: EDIT: Cut the Long version shorter. I keep playing the new versions and the devs push you more and more into THEIR desired playstyle. It's not an Open World - Survival - Do what you want kinda game anymore. In A 18 till 20 we could still play the "living of land" style, so to speak but now you have to do the traderquests if you want to get any noteable progress. When avoiding the traderquests in the older Alphas you could still get all the materials and equippement you needed, this has significantly changed in A21. We tried to stay away from the quest grind and had to find out, that hordenights where extremely difficult. Furthermore the resourcegathering regarding components was a pain. The devs force you into this questgrind to get your stuff. It fells like a sandboxy Fallout 4 where you can only do Preston Garvey's quests. The incentive to build is also pretty much gone. The Devs seemingly force you into a playstyle. For anyone whos new to the game and didn't get to play the old alphas, the game is probably and allright survival game with quirky mechanics but for a player who's here since the beginning it's frustrating. Every update destroys the original gameplay more and more. Don't get me wrong, the visuals got alot better in the last updates. The graphics are actually good right now. I also love the new world generation with more realistic towns and street layouts. I don't wanna play down the good work the devs have done but the gameplay took such a steep dive, the better graphics etc. just don't make up for it. The performance also didn't really get much better over the years, which for me, isn't an issue but for someone with a weaker system definetly will be an issue. The devs also love to remove working systems or just random things. Why did the jail door have to go? Why is the whole water system reworked? Why did you made the huntingrifle look absolutely horrendous? These are just some things I fail to understand. I won't even talk about the skillsystem at this point...if you know you know. All in all, it's not a bad game, it's just not for me (and my friendgroup) anymore.