Project Orpheus

Public test · Live

Purgatory / Navezgane County, Arizona

7 Days to Die is now a full RPG

Pick a past life. Master a trade. Own your place in a living economy, inside a quarantined zone that never lets you rest.

Read the briefing Explore the overhaul
Zone status Sealed Agent status Airborne Protocol Active
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The Vision

More than survival.
A world worth living in.

Project Orpheus began with a simple question: What if 7 Days to Die could offer more than surviving another Bloodmoon?

What if your choices shaped how you survived? If mastering a trade mattered as much as mastering a weapon? If every player had a place in a living economy, and the world gave you reasons to keep coming back?

Orpheus is an independent overhaul built around that vision. An attempt to expand the survival experience into something deeper, where progression, cooperation, and discovery are as important as the fight to stay alive.

This is what 7 days to die should have been. So I'm building it.

Lloan Alas - Project Orpheus

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Help shape what's next.

Follow active development, testing notices, and deployment updates with the KOBK Gaming community.

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THE WORLD

The work is unfinished

Death is not an escape.

You don't get to stay dead. The Program won't allow it.

You already know this world. Navezgane. The Duke running everything from behind his casino. The traders scraping by under his thumb. The dead that never stop coming. We didn't replace any of it, we asked the question the base game leaves hanging: what actually happened here, and why can't anyone leave?

Our answer is Project Orpheus, a buried program that tried to reverse death and instead made it permanent. It's why the county is sealed, why the dead keep rising, and why you, specifically, keep waking up after every death. You're not a random survivor. You're an asset the Program refuses to let go.

This is our take on 7 Days to Die's story, taken seriously and pushed all the way down.

Lore page coming soon
Correa Rockworx quarry with Anima at the pit center
Correa Rockworx Anima site active
The zone

Containment designation: Purgatory

A laboratory
and a prison.

The zone is made of the thing that's killing you. It's called the Anima, it's in the stone, the water, the animals, the dead, and it's both the disease and the only road to a cure. So survival here isn't scavenging, it's extraction. Every swing, every harvest, every kill feeds one economy. Learn to work it and you won't just survive the zone, you'll run it.

Some of what follows is straight from 7 Days to Die. Some of it is us digging into the questions the base game leaves open. Here's the short version of what you'll run into:

The Agent
The airborne plague that ended the world. Base-game canon. We just answer where it came from, and it's still working.
The Anima
Our addition, and the heart of everything. The disease in raw form. Rip it out of the ground, refine it, and it becomes the deadliest gear in the zone.
Lazarus
Why you don't stay dead. The protocol hauls you back after every death with your skills and rank intact. You never start over. You just wake up... wrong.
The Origin
Ground zero, and the cure. Reach it, survive it, finish what the Program couldn't. Almost no one will. Will you?
Learn by doing

15 Trades. No permanent class. In progress

Specialize without
locking yourself in.

Learn by doing. Master a Trade. Become the person everyone else needs.

01 / Extract

Excavation

Specialist: Miner

Ore, stone, and Core Samples.

02 / Extract

Foraging

Specialist: Forager

Wild plants, herbs, and finite finds.

03 / Extract

Cultivation

Specialist: Farmer

Crops, Engineered Seeds, resistant strains.

04 / Extract

Hunting

Specialist: Tracker

Game, hides, antlers, and rare biomass.

05 / Extract

Butchery

Specialist: Processor

Meat, hides, fats, and biological materials.

06 / Extract

Bioharvesting

Specialist: Researcher

Infected tissue, Anima samples, and reagents.

A gap in the economy isn't a wall. It's your opening.Basics are always craftable; the advanced goods are earned, and whoever earns them becomes the person the whole server needs.
Combat roles

One Major. Two Minors. Swap affinity mods anywhere. In testing

Your loadout
defines your role.

Affinity Mods are equipment, not permanent classes. Slot one Major to set your active role and two Minors to splash in effects from other lines. Run a Major long enough in the fight and it levels into its Master form, stronger, sharper, yours. You carry one role at a time, but you're never locked in: swap the loadout, swap the job you bring to the squad. Parties are hard-capped at 5 players.

Equip → Play → Master

Equip

Slot a Major. That's your Role, right now. No commitment, no class lock.

Earn it

Fight in that Role and your Major climbs. Kills and role-work feed its progress. You specialize by doing the job, not grinding a tree.

Master it

Max a Major and it becomes a Master Mod: a stronger, signature version of that Role's power. Proof you didn't just pick the role. You earned it.

The synergy web

Every Role stamps a status the others feed on. Marked, Staggered, Weakened, Warded, Mended. Two players combo. Five players turn a fight into a machine.

Solo, you trade raw power for adaptability. In a party, your Roles stack into one coordinated response.

MarkedStaggeredWeakenedWardedMended
Survival systems

The zone pushes back

Survival with consequences.

Nothing here is free. Every system can turn on you, and every one of them is a lever you learn to pull before it pulls you.

Threat

Bloodmoon In testing

On Bloodmoon nights the infected stop hunting you and lock onto the Resonant Core at the heart of your Holdout. Build it, defend it, hold till dawn.

Your signal has been traced.
Body

Condition

Your body is gear. Fitness, Immunity, and weight rise and fall with how you live, so how you eat, sleep, and push yourself is part of the build.

World

Contamination Planned

The best loot sits in the biomes trying to kill you. Exposure stacks fast, only Alchemist serums, sealed armor, and resistance food get you into the deep zones and back out.

Identity

Past Life & Traits Live

Pick who you were, then build who you are. One Past Life, 41 traits, every effect shown before you commit. The choice is permanent. Choose well.

Economy

Food & Spoilage Live

Your stockpile is rotting right now. Farmers grow it, Butchers process it, Cooks preserve it, Alchemists stretch the clock. Feeding a full Holdout before a Bloodmoon is its own war.

Contracts

Contracts & Missions Planned

Post bounties and requisitions through Fixers. Run Sigil Contracts with the right Role for easier clears. Bring all five roles and the hardest sites open up.

Record

Service Records

The zone keeps score. Documented feats unlock recipes, passives, titles, and Sequence Fragments. Titles stick to your Steam ID across wipes. You either did the work, or you didn't.

World

Secret Bunkers

Buried across Navezgane are the Program's blacksites. Crack each one for a first-discovery reward, a piece of the truth, and gear the rest of the server hasn't reached yet. Be the first in.

Progression

Skills

The perk tree is rebuilt around how you actually play. Points go into the lines you use, and dead branches get cut. Your artisan build reflects your playstyle. Built on top of vanilla 7 Days to Die skills.

World

Factions

The Duke runs the casino economy. Traders scrape by under him. White River still has teeth. Pick your deals carefully, every side remembers who paid, who stole, and who walked away.

Social

Parties & Clans

Fight in fives, one per Role. Belong to a Clan of any size, everyone's progress counts, no matter which party they run in.

Weapon progression

Build the weapon.
Earn the encounter.

Crafting decides what you carry in. Bosses decide what you're allowed to build next. Every tier up is a wall you break, not a bar you fill.

Better gear. Tougher enemies. Higher rewards.

Vanilla quality Live

Where everyone starts. Reliable, familiar, and nowhere near enough.

Signature sets Live

Named weapon lines with their own identity.

Anima Planned

Boss-forged and infused with the Anima. An upgrade chain you climb by killing: Masterwork, then Blackline, then Genesis. No shortcuts to the top.

Sentinel Live

Ascension locked

The gear the unascended will never hold. God Forged and the Sentinel sets, earned only after you transcend.

Boss escalation Planned

Stronger foes unlock
stronger gear.

Every boss you drop is a key. Hunt the Anima-Born, survive the Apex Horrors, and answer the World Bosses with your whole server. Each kill unlocks recipes, materials, and the next weapon tier you couldn't touch before.

Tier I

Anima-Born Planned

Twisted by the Anima. Summon them, kill them, and rip the first Masterwork parts from the wreckage.

Tier II

Apex Horrors Planned

Multi-phase monsters that punish a sloppy team. Bring a real party, or bring a body bag. They drop the Blackline tier.

World

World Bosses Planned

Endgame threats the whole server answers together. The only source of Genesis materials, and the rarest fight in the zone.

Sentinel ascension

At maximum level, the real climb begins Live

Some survive.
A few ascend.

Hit the ceiling and burn an Ascension Tome. Drop to level one, keep everything you learned, and rise again as a Sentinel. Five tiers. Each one buffs the players around you, unlocks gear the unascended can't touch, and paints a bigger target on your back. You don't max this game. You transcend it.

THE FIVE TIERS.
Climb them again and again. Each ascension makes you stronger, and the zone angrier.

IIIIIIIVV
AccessThe Sentinel arsenal

Gear the unascended will never touch. A taste:

The Program named these after old gods, because Anima-tech this far gone looks like myth. It isn't. It just does what nothing else can.

  • Loki's Fang Throw the blade, blink to where it lands. Strike from anywhere, vanish from everywhere.
  • Thor's Hammer Hurl it across the field. It shatters everything in its path with lightning and flies back to your hand.
  • Ghostwatch A full armor set that turns you invisible to the dead for 10 seconds. Walk through a horde untouched, then reappear behind them.

And these are just the first. New Sentinel weapon and armor lines keep coming.

ConsequenceHunted by name

The moment you rise, the zone notices. Elite reanimated spawn to hunt you. Power has a price, and everyone can see you paying it.

Ascension is not a victory lap. It is the moment the zone starts hunting you by name. Most players never see it. Will you?

The Origin

Seasonal objective Planned

Reach ground zero.
Finish the cure.

Every boss you drop, every fragment you bank, points to one place. Assemble the Sequence as a server, breach the Origin, and attempt the cure almost no server ever completes.

Finish it and your name goes in the history books, and you walk out. Extraction. Most never will. Will yours?

  1. 01 Bank the Sequence

    Boss kills, Fixer work, and Anima harvest feed Sequence Fragments. The whole server has to carry the count.

  2. 02 Breach the Origin

    Ground zero opens when the Sequence is ready. What waits there is not a dungeon. It is the unfinished Project.

  3. 03 Extract

    Survive the attempt. Earn the cure title. Walk out with personal Extraction. The season does not end. Your record does change.

Permanent record

Subject surveillance and personnel record Live

WatchTower records everything.

Every player has a personnel file. Kills, deaths, Certifications, Service Records, Sentinel tier, boss victories, titles, and cure participation are attached to it. WatchTower is the off-site record Lazarus uses to decide who returns.

Field media

Purgatory // Project Orpheus

Recovered from inside the perimeter

Field recordings.

Gameplay captures, system demonstrations, environment studies, and development footage will be archived here as the overhaul enters playable testing.

Development record

Current development

Active work.

Work is published with clear status. The roadmap tracks what is being explored, built, tested, and prepared for release.

Live

  • WatchTower

    Live

    Personnel files, permanent titles, Service Records, and Sentinel history. Polished and in use on the test server.

Building now

  • Core systems

    In progress

    Trade progression, shared survival pressure, and the systems that hold the overhaul together.

  • Trade framework

    In progress

    Fifteen live Trades, milestone catalogs, Certifications, and specialist supply chains.

Exploring

  • Combat Roles

    Exploring

    Affinity Mods, Major and Minor slots, party statuses, and role mastery.

  • Secret Bunkers

    Exploring

    Discovery order, power requirements, first-find rewards, and archive delivery.

Planned

  • Origin sequence

    Planned

    World bosses, Sequence Fragments, cure participation, and Extraction.

Frequently requested intel

Declassified answers

What personnel
need to know.

Does Project Orpheus require a client download?

No. The overhaul is designed for dedicated servers and vanilla clients. Server systems, XML, progression, and supported server-side hooks carry the experience.

Am I locked into one Trade?

No. Trades improve through use. Certification rewards mastery and specialist output, but universal basics stay available and other Trades can still be learned.

Are Combat Roles permanent classes?

No. Your equipped Major Affinity Mod defines your current Role. Change the Major and your Role changes with it.

Does creating the cure end the season?

No. The cure is an optional community objective. It awards a permanent season title and unlocks personal Extraction for qualifying players. Wipes remain scheduled.

What survives a wipe?

Levels, equipment, and bases reset. WatchTower preserves titles and honors tied to your personnel record.

When can I play?

The project is in active development. Testing and access details will be posted through the KOBK Gaming community - we have a collection of channels for different projects.