Can you win?

[DirectOrder]

Hi, thinking about purchasing, but have a question first. Can you win? Like is there a last boss or final mission or end game goal? Or is it one of those games where you just try to see how long you can go before you die?

[Ensign Toby]

Can you win?

It's a Sand Box Game, there is no End-Game "Win State" other than Max Level (300).

Like is there a last boss or final mission or end game goal?

Not Yet?
The 2025Q4 Road Map has a goal of a Story Mode, but it's way too early to tell yet.

Like most Sand Box Survival/Build Games, you make your own fun by Not Dying...

just try to see how long you can go before you die?

It's not called "7 Days to Die" for nuthin'...

It's still plenty fun, and it'll take you 100+ hours to reach max. level (without cheesing it).
Try it.

[DirectOrder]

Thanks so much for the reply Ensign! How long does it take to get to level 300? Approximately.

[Ensign Toby]

It's still plenty fun, and it'll take you 100+ hours to reach max. level (without cheesing it).
There are many ways to level, some are faster than others.

I took way longer (an embarrassing amount longer), but I wasn't in any big hurry...

[OsamaBinLemon]

No real endgame but you can get very creative with building with all of the different shapes you can use. Me and my buddy spent 200+ days on a modded play through and made underground tunnel systems through all of the different biomes. Castles, underground bunkers, you name it, and you can build it.

[Crater Creator]

Originally posted by Ensign Toby:

It's still plenty fun, and it'll take you 100+ hours to reach max. level (without cheesing it).
There are many ways to level, some are faster than others.

I took way longer (an embarrassing amount longer), but I wasn't in any big hurry...

With the addition of gamestage and calculations derived from it, I think the game does a good job of keeping up with the player. Time management is important but you don’t really have to worry about progressing ‘fast enough’ because the game will keep pace, whatever your pace is.

I’ve never taken a game all the way to level 300 (short of bug testing), but I agree it’d take me well over 100 hours.

[DirectOrder]

That's at the base (100%) XP modifier, right? I've seen in a couple videos that you can adjust the xp modifier in the new-game setup. Could you put it up to 500% and get there in 20 hours instead of 100?

[Ensign Toby]

Could you put it up to 500% and get there in 20 hours instead of 100?

I believe it only goes to 300%, but if you want we can Declare You a Winner right now.


If you're in that big a hurry, open up the Cheat Console and Give yourself Level 300.
Game "won" in less than 15 minutes.

BTW: That's not how Speed Running works.

[DirectOrder]

Not in a hurry, just looking for a reasonable end game goal I can look to achieve when playing hardcore, and I thought max level might be fun, but 100 hours per run to achieve that seems just a bit long lol

300% might be good enough tho!

Also thinking completing all trader quests? Any other ideas?

[Tahnval]

Originally posted by DirectOrder:

Not in a hurry, just looking for a reasonable end game goal I can look to achieve when playing hardcore, and I thought max level might be fun, but 100 hours per run to achieve that seems just a bit long lol

300% might be good enough tho!

Also thinking completing all trader quests? Any other ideas?

Mining can be surprisingly good for XP.

Selling stuff to traders can be surprisingly good for XP. Supercorn is good for that as it fetches quite a high price and can be produced in bulk and stacks in large numbers (you can sell 3 stacks to each trader every 3 days in vanilla IIRC). There's the setup work of making dozens or hundreds of farm plots and supercorn seeds and levelling the living off the land perk and making magic farmer armour, but once that's done the money and XP is rolling in.

There's a drawback to gaining levels as fast as possible. The enemies you encounter are linked to your gamestage and your gamestage is linked to your level. So rushing up the levels can lead to a situation in which you're under-equipped for the enemies you're facing.

[Mardoin69]

Originally posted by Tahnval:

...
There's a drawback to gaining levels as fast as possible. The enemies you encounter are linked to your gamestage and your gamestage is linked to your level. So rushing up the levels can lead to a situation in which you're under-equipped for the enemies you're facing.

This ...^...
If you're looking for MORE challenge, then increasing that XP modifier is one of the things you can do. People often make the mistake of thinking that will 'decrease' their difficulty--due to leveling up their characters abilities quicker. It's quite the opposite... since it can dramatically increase GameStage. On the other hand, it does help increase your LootStage in the same process so, you should have higher 'chances' for better loot earlier in the game. But, the RNG in this game is a fickle beast. Most likely, you'd run into the situation Tahnval described... being under-equipped for the first couple weeks (in-game) if not longer.

[Serious]

You can't actually win and there is no actual boss. Though there is progression like POI tiers.
Someone could make it's "winning" to survive all 21 highest tier POIs (Buildings).
Others make winning to survive xxx days in a row. It's up to you.
I'm pretty sure most players stay on one map till get's boring (for any kind of reason) + as it is often with open world survival games the start (let's say first 10-20 days) in the most intense and most difficult time so some players just do this again and again.

The consequences of dying is fully up to you. Some prefer playing with 1 death → new map. Others play like a death doesn't hurt at all (except that you have to go back to your bycicle you left at the building where you died). There is no wrong or right way. It's most likely also related to how you play. E.g. do you play singleplayer and just for the thrill, or do you play multiplayer and exploration is your primary thing.