7 Days to Die Alpha 20 Release Date, Update Time and Everything We Know

7 Days to Die is a survival horror game that has been in development for a while now. The Fun Pimps, the game's developers, do have an early access version available, but we've been waiting on the final version for years now. Still, the early access version isn't short of updates and things to do. In fact, the early access version of 7 Days to Die Alpha 20 version is coming soon, with plenty of new features.

Here's everything we know about the 7 Days to Die Alpha 20.

Latest News

6 December 2021 -

Today's the day! Alpha 20 should be dropping at some point today, although the devs haven't shared an official release time (yet). That said to pass the time, it's worth taking a look at the latest Patch Notes for 7 Days To Die A20.

In the developers own words "Alpha 20 is by far the largest content drop TFP has ever delivered."

With the in mind, have a read of the latest and greatest changes, here:

7 Days To Die A20 Release Notes

1 December 2021 -

It's now been confirmed that Alpha 20 is coming 6 December 2021. Before this though, the developers are hosting a A20 Streamer Weekend event which starts Friday (3 December). Public Access will begin on the following Monday.

7 Days to Die Alpha 20 Release Date

There isn't any fixed 7 Days to Die Alpha 20 update release date so far. According to the official Dev Diary, the Alpha 20 will go live sometime during the first half of December.

However, there is a streamer event weekend starting December 3 and a public experiment session starting December 5. Since the devs are moving into more active testing, we expect a full release date is probably not far off.

Here's what you can expect in the 7 Days to Die Alpha 20 release.

What's New in 7 Days to Die Alpha 20

The information below has been taken from the official 7 Days to Die dev diary.

1) Unity Update

• TFP will be working with Unity devs directly

2) Random Generation Update

• New stamp tech that will allow artist created features such as mountains, hills, rivers, etc. to be placed in biomes. There will be a stable of different land features for the game to choose from.
• Additional controls in the map generation interface to give players more options for terrain generation such sliders to determine mountainous vs flat (for example).
• Biome selectors and city selectors to allow users to control the density of these map features.
• 6k, 8k, and 10k map sizes implemented
• City tile system randomly places city buildings into tiles so that they are aligned well with each other and city streets. Multilayered for sewer systems below groundlevel buildings and the ability for ends of one tile to match up with those of an adjacent tile so that everything generates looking consistent and aligned.

3) Vehicle Mods

• Tinting mask will allow vehicles to have color details added to differentiate vehicle owners better.
• Fuel Saver
• Off Road Headlights
• Super Charger
• Expanded Seat allows 1 passenger on Minibike and Motorcycle and 2 extra passengers for 4x4
• Reserve Fuel Tank

4) Shape Menu and Building Update

• Shapes are shown as shaded drawings of blocks
• Blocks from the shape menu are placed as particle board blocks that function the same as frame blocks
• Simplified upgrade path: Frame/Particle Board -> Wood -> Stone -> Concrete -> Steel
• Blocks destroy to air. They do not downgrade.
• 14 categories and over 1000 shapes

5) Dynamic Imposters

• Changes to the world and player built forts are represented in distant terrain

6) Terrain Improvements

• Better terrain blending
• Quality setting effects basemap distance and mesh density
• Basemap renders faster and terrain size is in smaller chunks for quicker updates

7) Feral Sense Game Option

• When turned on Zombies can sense the player from much farther away and stay focused on the optimal path to where the player is
• Stealth still works but zombie senses are heightened so stealth play is much more challenging
• Settings are: Off, Day, Night, All

8) Biome Difficulty

• Snow and Desert will have gamestage boost creating tougher enemies and better loot
• Wasteland will have a greater gamestage boost creating even tougher enemies and even better loot

9) Weapons

• Pipe Rifle
• Pipe Pistol
• Pipe Baton
• Pipe Shotgun
• Pipe Machine Gun
• Pipe weapons craftable from backpack without need for schematic
• Lever Action Rifle Tier between Bolt and Sniper
• Many weapons reskinned to apocalyptic art style

10) Trader Progression

• Trader goods offered tweaked to better match gamestage progression
• Trader prices re-balanced
• Improvements made to quest progression. Lower tier quests will remain available
• Improvements to quest tier completion reward and trader to trader quest
• 11) Loot Progression and Gamestaging Improvements
• Biome gamestage modifiers added for loot and enemies

12) New POI's

• New Gas Station (shown to reveal Restore Power Quest
• Over 145 new POI's and many new props and environmental decorations
• New Tier 3, Tier 4, and Tier 5 locations
• Many legacy POIs updated

13) Dynamic Music and Ambient Audio Improvements

• More tracks and better segment mixing for wider variety
• New BloodMoon track

14) Environment

• Weather changes more often and has more variety
• Wind dynamically affects leaves and plants and wind will gust
• Improved textures for environment art
• Temporal Anti Aliasing option with a separate sharpening option
• New mesh generation, shaders and lighting for plants and grass and optimized colliders
• Bedrolls can be recolored during placement
• Fuse Boxes updated and made into triggers

15) Quest Improvements

• Digging Quest improvements
• Tier 3 Digging Quest added
• Tutorial Quest uses the beacons to point out nests and rocks

16) Restore Power Quest

• Lights go out when rally marker is activated
• Find the generators and repair them
• A block trigger system added with multiple triggers, like switches, and can be on a layer. Blocks, like doors, can respond to them by doing something such as opening or closing.

17) New Zombies/ Entities

• Trader Hugh
• Nurse
• Drone
• Screamer
• Fat Cop
• Burnt Zombie (cold, hot, flaming)
• Hoodie Dude
• Lumberjack
• Radiated Zombie with AOE acid bursts
• All legacy zombies have been converted to new HD standard
• All traders have been converted to new HD standard
• Bandit models have been started for A21

18) Twitch Integration

• Streamers and Audience can interact through the game
• Chat commands to help or harm streamer
• 19) AI and Sleeper Improvements
• Zombies can duck and crawl through areas that are less than 2-meters but more than 1-meter
• Zombies include 1-meter holes in their paths and can crawl through them - pushed to A21
• Wandering Sleepers - pushed to A21
• There were a few more additions that we could have seen in the Alpha 20 update, but that's been pushed to the Alpha 21.

And that is all we know about the 7 Days to Die Alpha 20 update. We'll keep updating this piece as and when we know more about it.

Read more: Everything we know about Dying Light 2 so far