Games like 7 Days to Die: 9 zombie games with crafting and bases

The best games like 7 Days to Die give you a world to loot, tools to craft, and a base to defend. Night of the Dead is the closest match. Infection Free Zone and They Are Billions are best for pure base defense. Below you get nine games, with what each one does the same and what it does differently.

What 7 Days to Die does

7 Days to Die by The Fun Pimps left Early Access with version 1.0 in 2024. It is a first-person open-world game that mixes survival horror, crafting, tower defense, and RPG skills. You can play a fixed map or a randomly generated world.

The core loop has three parts:

• Loot and craft. You search towns, find schematics, and craft weapons, tools, armor, and vehicles.
• Build. You design a fort with traps, electric power, turrets, and walls. The world is fully destructible, so bad structures can fall down.
• Defend. With the default settings, a Blood Moon horde attacks every seventh night. Most zombies walk in the day and run at night.

So when you look for a similar game, decide which part you like most. The list below marks the strong part of each game.

Route 48 (our game)

Full disclosure: we made Route 48, so we put it first.

Route 48 does not have base building, so it is not a full match. It fits this list if you like the loot and gunfight side of 7 Days to Die. You search abandoned buildings for weapons, ammunition, and fuel, and you fight zombies and armed survivors with guns in first person. Route 48 is in Early Access on Steam, and your car is the thing that you must keep alive.

Night of the Dead

Developer: Jackto Studios. Released: 2024 (Early Access from 2020). Players: Single-player or online co-op.

Strong part: base defense, every night.

You explore an open world with different biomes, collect resources, and build a fortress. Zombie hordes attack every night, so the build and defend loop comes much faster than in 7 Days to Die.

The game also has followers that survive with you, production lines that you can automate, and hidden dungeons. A vehicle can become a fortress on wheels. If you like the Blood Moon more than the quiet days, start here.

Infection Free Zone

Developer: Jutsu Games. Released: Early Access since 2024. Players: Single-player.

Strong part: base defense in a real place.

You type the name of a real city or town, and the game uses OpenStreetMap data to make the map. Then you choose a base, adapt the buildings around it, and build farms, walls, gates, and towers.

At night, large hordes of the infected can attack your settlement. You fight back with melee and ranged weapons, vehicles, walls, and light. The big difference: you command a group of survivors, not one character in first person. You can also research a vaccine or a cure as a long-term goal.

They Are Billions

Developer: Numantian Games. Released: 2019. Players: Single-player.

Strong part: pure base defense at a large scale.

This is a real-time strategy game in a steampunk world after a zombie apocalypse. You build a colony, collect resources, and protect it with walls, gates, towers, and an army. The swarms of infected are very large.

You can pause the game at any time to place buildings and give orders. Survival Mode generates a random map for each game. Choose it if you like the tower defense side of 7 Days to Die and want to plan more than aim.

VEIN

Developer: Ramjet Studios. Released: Early Access since 2025. Players: Single-player or online co-op.

Strong part: first-person survival with a fortified home.

VEIN is the closest first-person match for the base side of 7 Days to Die. You gather supplies, explore abandoned buildings, fight zombies and bandits, and build safehouses. You defend your home against raiders and invasions, alone or with friends.

The pace is slower and more realistic than in 7 Days to Die. You hunt, fish, farm, and chop wood. The world changes with the seasons. You can drive cars and trucks, and you must refuel and maintain them.

Survivalist: Invisible Strain

Developer: Bob (as listed on Steam). Released: 2025. Players: Single-player or online co-op.

Strong part: a settlement that makes its own supplies.

You recruit survivors and give each one a job, such as farmer, chef, or arrow crafter. Over time, you build a defended settlement that can even produce its own bullets.

The difference from 7 Days to Die is people. Every character has a personality and remembers what you did. You can switch between third-person action and an overhead view to give orders.

Unturned

Developer: Smartly Dressed Games. Released: 2017. Free to play. Players: Single-player or online multiplayer.

Strong part: a free sandbox with bases.

You scavenge, hunt, and build a shelter, then fortify your base before you go out for airdrops. You can travel by land, by sea, and by air.

Unturned also has PvP raids on servers, and you can find custom maps and mods in the Steam Workshop. It is a good choice if you want to try the genre without a purchase.

State of Decay 2

Developer: Undead Labs. Released: 2018 (Juggernaut Edition on Steam: 2020). Players: Single-player or online co-op for up to 4 players.

Strong part: a base and a community to protect.

You choose where your community settles, then fortify and upgrade the base. You send survivors out for food and ammunition, and you defend the base when zombies attack.

The Juggernaut Edition includes the Daybreak Pack, a siege mode where you survive waves of zombies. That mode feels close to a Blood Moon night. The main game is more about your people, because a survivor who dies stays dead.

Project Zomboid

Developer: The Indie Stone. Released: Early Access on Steam since 2013. Players: Single-player, online multiplayer, or local split-screen co-op.

Strong part: deep survival and slow base building.

You see the world from an isometric view. You loot houses, chop trees, saw wood, and build forts that keep zombies out. You also farm, fish, cook, and drive vehicles.

The pace is the opposite of 7 Days to Die. By default, the zombies do not run, but large hordes move across the map. Every wound and every noise matters. Read our list of games like Project Zomboid if this style suits you.

Quick comparison

How we picked these games

We chose zombie games where you craft, build, or defend, and we noted which part each game does best. We checked the developer, release date, and player modes on each Steam page. We did not include survival games without zombies, even good ones, because this list is for zombie fans.

Which one should you play first?

• Play Night of the Dead if you want the closest loop to 7 Days to Die.
• Play VEIN if you want first-person survival at a slower pace.
• Play Infection Free Zone or They Are Billions if base defense is your favorite part.
• Play State of Decay 2 or Survivalist: Invisible Strain if you want to lead a group.
• Play Project Zomboid if you want the deepest survival systems.
• Play Unturned if you want a free start.
• Play Route 48 if you want first-person guns, loot, and a car on an open road, without a base.

If you like the random worlds of 7 Days to Die, read how procedural generation works in games. For more large maps, see our list of the best open-world zombie games.