While we wait for the hotly-anticipated 3.0 update, we have been given a new kind of update. This update is simply called the Survival Revival update, and it brings the game up to version 2.5. It may not be a major update, but there have been a lot of changes, and I mean it’s an extensive list of changes, tweaks, and improvements.
To keep things simple, I will go over some of the biggest changes that have been introduced in this update. These changes range from quality-of-life polishing to changing up how you progress.
Jars of Joy
Bringing back an old feature, it’s Empty Jars. These items have been given a revamped way of working, providing benefits to early players.
Empty Jars can be used to contain various jarred items, such as Water.
Firstly, an Empty Jar can be scavenged for or crafted in a Forge and Crucible. Their primary function is to serve as an easy way to obtain water in the early game. Before, all you had access to were jars of Murky Water and lake water, with clean water only obtained through Dew Collectors. Now, you can fill a jar with Murky Water, then it can be boiled into clean drinking water, saving your dignity from dysentery.
Of course, there is a drawback to this. To balance out the earlier access to clean water, Dew Collectors now have a Workstation crafting requirement. In order to unlock the Dew Collector, you must be at level 16 in Workstation Crafting, and there will be a greater requirement for crafting. Furthermore, once a jarred item is consumed, that jar may not be refunded, but there will be a setting to have a chance at returning an Empty Jar.
Keeping Inventory
With all that loot you’ll be carrying around, where are you going to store away all those items? What if you want to relocate an entire base? How about returning an ally’s lost items to them? Well, all vehicles have been given a permanent improvement, increasing the number of storage slots available in each vehicle. These range from a single new column of items in a Bicycle to a whopping 9 more columns in a 4x4 Truck.
With vehicle storage like this, who needs a base?
It does not stop there. Vehicles will also have modifiers to increase storage, allowing for even more items to be carried around. At this point, you won’t even need a base when you can just drive around with everything you need! Though, just make sure you know where shelter is for the storms. Speaking of storms…
Storms Brewing: Round 2
Yes, Storms are being constantly tweaked and updated for better gameplay and immersion. For Survival Revival, we get another update to better improve storms, biome hazards, and a polish on temperatures by splitting these up into individual hazards.
First of all, storms will have an extra grace period depending on the gear you wear. If you have the latest in protective gear, you’ll get that little extra time finding shelter, compared to the 30 seconds you’ll have unprotected. Furthermore, if you can take shelter from a storm, you’ll be able to recover some of that grace time so you can get back out there. For those up for a challenge, zombies offer more risk and reward, becoming more aggressive in a storm in exchange for better loot.
Next, biome hazards are given a little more descriptive detail. For example, face gear that would protect you from specific hazards will now detail what kinds of hazards they will protect against, such as the smoke and ash of the burnt forest biome, or the toxic fallout of the wasteland.
Some of the small changes related to biome hazard flavour text. Now you should know what each gear protects against.
Finally, the Temperature system. This is a revamp of the old Temperature system with several new changes and features. There are certain conditions such as the time of day, the weather, and shelter that will affect body temperature. Certain items such as torches and campfires can keep the cold at bay, allowing for a quick way to warm up. If you get too hot or too cold, you will receive certain debuffs such as increased food or water consumption and reduced movement speed. Of course, certain gear can increase your temperature tolerances.
Busy work with busy bees
I can hear one or two of you up the back there wondering how you can get Honey sooner. After all, one of the many reasons this is 7 Days to Die is that you’ll be dead in 7 days if you get an infection. The easiest way to cure an infection without antibiotics is Honey, but with how Honey is harvested and how much you’ll need, it’s going to be a problem.
Introducing: the Apiary. This will be handy for those looking to get into the thick of the horde by slowly generating honey every day. Crafting the Apiary will require level 30 Workstation crafting, and it can be upgraded with 3 other modifications. These are the Smoker to reduce angry bee swarm chances, a Brood Box to harvest more honey, and an Extractor to get more honey sooner.
Like a Dew Collector but for Honey, the Apiary can aid in regular collection of Honey.
More honey production also means more use for Honey. There are three new food items that can be made with honey, such as the Honey Tea that can hydrate and cure infection, Honey Glazed Ham, and a Honey Brisket that fills you up and cures infections.
Smells like trouble
Let’s go over one more big change in this update: the Smell System. After all, a zombie needs flesh to eat, and they can’t get that just from looking around. This is another system that is receiving an improved look and feel with new features and tweaks.
Zombies can now smell you. Certain items and actions such as consuming food can create a smell at a certain distance. The smell generated from items like Raw Meat can be masked by wrapping them up.
Various items and actions can generate a smell which will attract the attention of zombies. When a smell begins generating, it will slowly spread, increasing in radius until it reaches a maximum radius. The more sources of smells are generated, the greater this radius can grow, all the way up to 100m. Stealth is also affected by smells - after all, you can’t sneak away a bad smell. There are ways to reduce or clear a smell, such as containing certain items, staying indoors, or swimming in a body of water.
Hunting for meat is more challenging as zombies can smell the raw meat and animal carcasses. If you plan to haul back fresh meat, make sure to wrap it up. Certain food items may also generate a smell when eaten, and eating multiple items at the same time can stack the smell radius, so make sure to plan when to eat. There’s also an added danger to contracting dysentery as this also generates a smell, so make use of the new water purifying methods.
…and so much more!
The Survival Revival update is surprisingly big of an update, and we are still yet to see more major updates! There are updates to the new zombies introduced in 2.0, improvements to controls, and better quests. You can check out a detailed list of every change introduced in 2.5 here.
For those looking to tweak some server settings, there are a few new configuration settings added in this update. They are the following: CameraRestrictionMode: Controls what cameras players are allowed to use. 0 for both first and third person, 1 for only first person, and 2 for only third person. JarRefund: A percent chance to refund a jar after use. This value ranges from 0-100 in increments of 10, as well as 5 for a 5% chance. AISmellMode: If a zombie detects a smell, they will change behaviour. Value ranges from 0-5, where 0 is no AI smell mode, and 5 is nightmare.
If you are looking to take a dive into this update, why not get started with a server? We make creating a 7 Days to Die simple! Start by purchasing the Hero Tier plan, then create a new 7 Days to Die server by following our handy guide.