One of the most important things a new player to 7 Days to Die can possibly learn is this... 7 Days to Die is not meant to be played just once then put away. It was designed and continues to be built on a platform that promotes and encourages re-play-ability. You are meant to learn, fail, learn more, try again, succeed, fail, try some more... over and over and over. If you go into the game with the attitude that you must WIN the game, you will not be successful and will probably have a profoundly less than optimal adventure.

With that in mind, lets start at the beginning and go over a few things that will make your gaming experience much less stressful as you're learning to play. It's preferable to start playing in solo rather than joining a random server. Playing with friends, even while learning, is a great thing to do, but when you play solo, you're able to take your time, hit the escape button to pause the game, if needed, and LEARN what's happening around you, sort it out and attack it again. So, this guide will concentrate on beginning a SOLO game.

Once you've downloaded the game from STEAM and hit START, the game will load and you will see a starting screen. Before you hit 'New Game', go to 'Options' and choose or create an avatar. Making your own is fairly straightforward though this will be changing in the near future. We are told that a new character creation will be dropping in a coming alpha which will be very welcome. The current one is pretty dated but will work for the time being. Note: eyebrows are just... not. Also, you'll be able to navigate through the video and audio, as well as the keyboard controls just to see what you can change (turn down the menu music, for example.)

Now that you have your character made, lets actually look at where we'll be playing. So, hit 'New Game'. The screen you'll be looking at has two parts. The left side is where you choose the map you'll be using and note that there are several maps already loaded and ready to play. Use the left '<' and right '>' arrows to navigate through those pre-loaded maps.

Navazgane is a hand made map that the developers created quite a few alphas ago and has not really been updated to the current alpha sets so, the way things stand in Alpha 21 means it's not really optimal for a starting player. Once you've learned the game, however, it's worth the time and effort to explore just to see what the creators had in mind those years ago as they were building the game.

The other maps were created with the random map generator built into the game with their difference being that they come in several sizes. 6K maps are small and easy to navigate with less wilderness between towns but could generate with no larger cities. 10k maps are extremely large with great swathes of empty wilderness but should have several larger cities and many smaller towns on them. All the maps will have well defined highways and roads as well as paths leading to outlying wilderness POIs (Points of Interest).

You can also choose to create your own random map, though, if you click on 'ADVANCED GENERATION', you'll be able to put your own input into the map in several areas, for example, making the world flatter or have fewer rivers or lakes, have more towns, etc. The map will generate over a few minutes and you'll be able to see what you've created on the right side of that page if you're patient. Hold the Windows button and hit PRT SCN to save a screenshot in your computer of the map you made if you wish. Once you're happy with your map, look up at the top of the map to note the name of the area you created such as West Xufoyu Territory, Pulaxu Mountain, weirdo-name here, etc, then hit the BACK button to go back to your previous screen and CHOOSE the map you created with those left and right buttons. Name your game, then it's time to go to the NEXT important thing you need to know.

You must choose how your world is going to fit to YOUR unique play-style. This is done on the RIGHT side of that New Game screen and NOTE that these settings can be changed AT ANY TIME and will not affect anything you've done, built, created, surveyed, etc. You just choose to change them as you Continue Game... on the right side of the screen just as it looks right now. So, note that there are tabs at the top of the right side of that screen. Each tab should be carefully examined, every setting read about, and considered. Mouse over each entry, wait a moment and read about every one of those settings.

It's always a good idea to password protect your game unless you've made it private. It's also a good idea to, either start learning in Scavenger difficulty or with the enemies turned OFF (this setting is found under the Advanced Tab called Enemy Spawning). Everyone plays differently so don't worry about making a mistake with any of these settings. The whole idea is that you learn a bit more each time you play and you can change any of it at any time. If you find you're bored, up the difficulty. If you seem to be dying way too much, lower it or slow down the speed of the zombies. All those settings are there for YOU to make YOUR game fit you and your abilities best.

This one thing is what will determine whether you become addicted to and love 7 Days to Die, or whether you give up and put it away. Please, do NOT neglect learning about all the settings the developers have given you to help you enjoy the game.

Finally... play the game, and DO THE ENTRY QUESTS!! Have fun and, if you're not having fun or have questions, go to the forums and ASK! Most folks there love the game and love to help others enjoy it.

There are lots of good guides out there that will help you choose which weapons could be best for you, how to defend against a Blood Moon horde, how to interact with Traders, etc, but the most important thing to do is just to PLAY! You learn more every time you play and, starting the game from the beginning once you feel like it's getting a little too boring, just lets you put all that new knowledge into effect making the game even better.