Learn how sleeping works in 7 Days to Die
In many survival games, sleeping is a game mechanic players can use to help alleviate adverse status or recover from damage. In some survival games, such as The Forest, sleeping is used to progress the in-game time forward.
So, it’s common for new 7 Days to Die players to seek out how and what benefits sleeping may have. However, to many gamers’ surprise, no sleeping mechanic can be found in 7 Days to Die.
Why is there no way to sleep in 7 Days to Die?
7 Days to Die was designed so that day and nighttime cycles progress the game forward, and players have no control or say in the speed at which it does this (with the exception of world generation or option changes.)
Likewise, adverse ailments and status effects are cured in other manners, such as by using bandages to stop bleeding or drinking goldenrod tea to alleviate dysentery. Healing occurs when players have recently eaten, used certain meds, or over time if the character has relevant regeneration perks.
So, what are beds and bedrolls used for?
In many survival games, beds, sleeping bags, tents, and other associated items are often utilized in sleeping mechanics. In 7 Days to Die, players can craft bedrolls and beds and place them in their desired locations, but these are not used for sleeping. The function of a player-made bed is instead to set a custom respawn point for when you die.
These respawn points have numerous benefits, such as spawning in a desired location that could prevent you from traveling across the map for a significant amount of time, risking your precious inventory and life again.
Additionally, setting your spawn point at your base ensures that you are right back in the safest possible location should you perish, giving you access to your defenses and supplies to get geared up again. Respawning at your chosen location is also a method for meeting up with your teammates across the game world.
Additionally, placing down beds and bedrolls in 7 Days to Die will give you a moderately safe location to spawn that prevents zombies from spawning nearby. This game mechanic is quite valuable for those events where you meet an untimely end.
Though it is also possible to respawn near the location of your death, it may not always be the safest choice, as enemies may still be present, and (depending on your world settings) you may no longer have the equipment to face them. Keep in mind that each player can only have one active bed at a time, and the last bed placed is automatically activated.
Sleeping is for suckers.
While players can’t sleep in 7 Days to Die, this inability may have been a functional concern for the game’s developer, The Fun Pimps. Still, more likely, this was a deliberate choice to encourage players to spend time fortifying their base and sell the survival-horror elements of the game by forcing the player to survive each night.
