My First Blood Moon in 7 Days to Die -- #Blaugust2021 Day 1

Recently I started playing 7 Days to Die because my drop-dead funny friend, Lessah, and I decided that it was time we played a game together. 

At first we thought we'd give Creativerse a try, but she wasn't really feeling it, so I said . . . name the game and I'll play. The game named happened to be 7 Days to Die, a survival game near and dear to her heart--one where she's put in well over 2,000 hours playing.

Lessah showed me the ropes on how to play this game and even pushed the record button so she could share highlights on her YouTube and Twitch channels. It's some great stuff like this, where I get stuck in a bathroom with a horde of zombies because curiosity killed the Friendly Necromancer.

I had a blast wandering the apocalypse with Lessah, but I really needed to learn the game more. Because of this I started a solo game on the side where I could really get to know the ropes. At the core, you could dismiss this as a Minecraft clone, but there's more to it than just that.

7 Days to Die is all about exploring houses that have gone through apocalyptical changes. In essence, each house is kind of like a mini-dungeon full of loot and zombies. Pathways through houses have been orchestrated where you can find hidden tunnels and zombies pop out at you from closets or drop down on you from above. Most houses have a loot bin hidden deep inside them, and that is the real candy you're looking for when you explore -- "The Khan's True Wealth" as Lessah is fond of saying.

Bobs Boars and Carl's Corn -- two great tastes that go great together!

In addition to this, there is a trader that acts as a hub for quests and as a vendor to sell your junk to. The trader typically gives you a choice from several quests. So far these all seem to involve clearing out an area of zombies, stopping a horde outbreak, fetching lost supplies, and digging for buried treasure. Completing quests gives you money and a choice of reward.

And you do all this while you have several life-blood counters ticking down, making the journey very difficult and full of excitement: 1- Food, 2- Water, 3- radiation levels, and 4- The Blood Moon. 

One, you can find food by rummaging houses or killing wild beasts (before they kill you) and using their meat in cooking recipes, which there are plenty of options, but to cook you have to first find cooking pot and a working grill rack for your fire.

Two, you also find water by rummaging, by filling empty jars with river water and boiling it, or by drinking murky water out of toilets . . . safely, if you can find a filtration mod for your helmet. 

Three, contact with zombies naturally leads to blood loss and also radiation exposure. If that exposure gets to high, you're out. The best way to counteract that seems to be either medicines or good ol' honey. That natural cure seems to take the radiation right out of your body.

And finally, every 7 days the blood moon comes, and I experienced my first just the other day. Now, I had watched my friend Lessah and her friend fight off a blood moon on her YouTube channel and got completely terrified at what I saw: hoards and swarms of unrelenting zombies attracted to your fresh meat.  

Because of this, I spent a whole in-game day and a half of preparations where I put down spikes all around my home base, blocked off the doors with fencing, covered the windows and stairways in barbed wire, and hunkered down for a terrifying experience.

Ready for the blood moon with spike traps and Molotov Cocktails a plenty.

What I didn't realize was that what I saw on Lessah's channel was a blood moon from several days in. I didn't know that it doesn't start out like that. Instead what I found out was that I waaaaay over prepared for the event. That first blood moon was basically two waves of a handful of zombies.

The biggest threat came from the skies as two zombie vultures started dive bombing me from the roof of my house.  They almost got me, but I was prepared with bandages and medicine -- stupid vultures!

Surviving the blood moon, though a bit anti-climactic compared to what I was expecting, felt pretty great.  Now the game just continues as I work in anticipation of Day 14 instead of Day 7.  I'll need to build my base back up a bit as they tore themselves up on my spike traps. 

Seems legit . . . They won't get past the spike traps and the barb wire on the stairs, will they?

All in all, I'm enjoying myself in 7 Days to die and that's mostly thanks to Lessah who made the experience more fun. If you're ever wanting to survive the apocalypse, it's good to have friends like good ol' Lessah Ismorah at your side.

Happy Dueling!