Seven: The Days Long Gone

Growing up is a funny thing. First, the hind legs of a chair seemed to be pillars just begging a palisade to be grown inbetween and blossoming further with some linen, pillows, and sticks. Or the top of the wardrobe seemed like a mountain there to be conquered that could only be braved by the righteous and valiant. Before you know it, you find yourself giving directions to tourists or navigating a city, completely alien, for no other reason other than some “work stuff”. I don’t like it. I hate finding myself having travelled between two totally different countries, and three different cities within a week, only to be back at home, totally exhausted and craving an end to my suffering.
I keep going back to Seven: The Days Long Gone in my mind, even though it has been more than a month since I completed it. The more I think about Seven, the more I find the exact reason I loved it so much is this feeling of growing up. I started out in a mansion, where each and every guard seemed like insurmountable challenges. I moved onto, what seemed to be, the massive port city of Lewmer. Then I found out that this Lewmer, with its incredible verticality, multiple factions, and bustling bazaar is nothing more than a provincial backwater, where inmates are just being acclimated to what is to come and how things work on this alien (but familiar) planet called Peh.
I had that same feeling, as I checked out the map and saw the greyed-out parts expanding far, more than I could have imagined. As if I am a toddler once more and there is an insurmountable wilderness, filled with magic (and sometimes monsters), between home and school. I even came across a Steam forums thread titled “Too Overwhelming” and even though I disagreed with it, I could not help but sympathize with the OP. The thread was complaining about how the owner wanted to love the game but “there is just too much open world” and they just need some pointers to get going. And ♥♥♥♥ me if at least some of us haven’t thought exactly the same growing up.
The same feeling of overwhelmingness came over me when I left Lewmer for the first time and had to move across a giant quarry that spanned across multiple levels, two bays and towns, and was full of enemies that I was too weak to take on. Unlike the OP, I persevered, as I as well loved the game and had nothing better to spend my time on. During my whole playthrough I never got over the dread of having to visit a new location, but I also grew confident as my abilities started to outshine the perceived difficulty of the areas I visited before.
To be frank, I did not realize I was loving Seven at this point, and I occasionally refrained from booting it up as a new area felt too daunting, or even impossible. But I kept coming back to it. Sometimes it reminded me that there are more colours than only four (or five) we are allowed to use in the perceivable colour spectrum, sometimes it gave me a glimpse of some landmark far away and of course I had to travel (meaning: climb, fall, teleport, die, climb again, die again) there to see it. At one point, I realized I was now feeling very confident that I could traverse the capital, Warden’s Hollow, without looking at the map, and it filled me with a sense of impervious survivability. Just like I bragged to my girl about how I could traverse her city, or mine, from end to end, without ever needing to look at the map and came out justified.
I also grew to be more confident in what I could do, other than just being more effective with traversal. When I was in Lewmer, I got caught multiple times by regular NPCs because I had to steal some unpaired socks to craft some XYZ that I cannot even remember now, and I remember going through the wrong door in Mortbane and getting immediately impaled to the wall, but in Warden’s Hollow I was stopping time and doing flashy combos to become the arena champion. I found myself wishing the real life growth worked the same, and I could grow more confident in my abilities as more of the world became my stomping ground.
Maelor wrote a beautiful piece about walking and permanence of things we see while we walk a couple of months ago, and ever since I completed Seven, I cannot stop thinking about becoming accustomed to objects so much that they no longer hold any significant impression on us. There is an abandoned cushy armchair in the middle of an unchecked weed growth in my neighbourhood, first couple of times I saw it, it reminded me of post-Soviet imagery and I even drank a couple bottles of wine and beer next to it, contemplating my and the chair’s place in the universe. The thing is, I eventually learned to walk just past it, looking for other, more novel objects to entertain my melancholy. This sense of moving on is exactly what I felt while playing Seven, especially when The Witcher composer M. Przybylowicz’s especially melancholic works kicked in.
As much as the game reminded me of my own growth, it never felt shy of reminding me that this is a world divorced from reality. I walked through a swamp filled with putrid, blinding fog, narrowly escaped death by mutilation or falling and found myself at a treehouse tavern where everybody was having an inexplicably good time. I let out a chuckle when I checked my inventory and saw the all-knowing demon in the main character’s head was unable to describe an 80’s controller, but I obviously could. I visited a temple built on living, breathing tissue and understood why they cultivated organic matter that caused a plague even though I did not agree with them. The game reminded me of the famous quote, “any sufficiently advanced technology is undistinguishable from magic” at every turn and made me love how weird the literal application of this concept turned out to be.
A developer in an AAA studio getting an idea similar to Seven would be shot, drawn and quartered. They would also be lauded as geniuses if it were as a strong start as Seven to an IP. I only played Seven because I was enamoured by The Thaumaturge and I now truly hate Fool’s Theory because they have given me two incredible worlds that I cannot see any future for. Seven: The Days Long Gone is a victory of colour over the repetitive corporate drabness, and ambition over caution. Or I could say that if the game actually became a cult classic as I would have expected it to be. For me, this game scratches the Cyberpunk itch, Deus Ex itch, Dishonored itch and even China Mieville videogame itch many other itches I did not even know I had. I am at a loss in how else I could convince you to give this one a try.
Growth and melancholy/10

Hidden jem of stealth action genre. Really fun pro-active gameplay, especcially in stealth. Action encounters are also feels good thanks to different tools even if winner of most fights is decided by who gets to chain stun the enemy first. Story, charactes, visual style, worldbuilding and voice-acting+music are very solid too.
The only frustrating thing for me was the navigation between the sectors on the world map. Even though this game is an open world, most quests are evenly distibuted between sectors which are often conneted by 1 max 2 small chokes. And the problem is, these chokes are not represented on the map vividly. Because of that, I occasionally found myself lost on simple roads from A to B. Moreover, "Seven" is still rather buggy, but these glitches are mostly minor so just save your game more often and they wont be a problem.
All in all, I had a lot of fun playing "Seven" mostly because of systematic game design which offers greater extent of player freedom than other stealth games.

The Masterpiece You’ve Been Told to Ignore
Seven: The Days Long Gone is a singular experience that was, quite frankly, wronged by its own launch and a wave of biased reviews. If you can walk into Peh without trying to compare it to every other RPG you’ve played, you will find one of the most innovative open worlds ever crafted.
A World with Real Purpose and Density
Unlike many modern open worlds that feel like massive, beautiful boxes filled with "nothing" (looking at you, TotK), Peh is incredibly dense. At every turn, I’m amazed by how many distinct regions, cultures, and citizens the developers managed to pack into this island. It feels like a living ecosystem where every faction—from the high-tech Technomagi to the fanatical Biomancers—interconnects seamlessly.
The environment isn't just a backdrop; it’s a narrative tool. The sheer volume of fully-voiced side quests is staggering, and they aren't just "fetch" filler. They provide a genuine reason to explore, giving the world a sense of charm and conviction that keeps you curious about what’s over the next wall.
The Visa System: Freedom Through Subversion
The game uses a "Visa" system to gate your progress, but here’s the beauty: the gate is only as strong as you are uncreative.
Circumvent Boundaries: Between the parkour and the infinite stealth gadgets (smokes, traps, disguises), you can circumvent almost any barrier.
Risk vs. Reward: If you're smart, you can be in a Visa 4 zone while still on Visa 1. But be warned: if you get caught, the Technomagi will demolish you.
True RPG Progression: You don't "grind" by farming enemies to see a number go up; you progress by becoming more knowledgeable about the world’s rules, items, and shortcuts.
Stealth as a Survival Necessity
Many reviews complain about the combat. While it's true that combat is functional at best, that’s missing the point. Seven doesn’t encourage you to be a warrior; it wants you to be a Master Thief. The difficulty curve is a deliberate nudge: boss fights are nearly impossible if you haven't grasped the gear and build mechanics first. This encourages you to actually use your utility belt. If you decide to cross a frontier early, you are free to try, but the game makes it clear that your survival depends on your wit, not your DPS.
Lore and Narrative
The lore is impressively rich and well-thought-out without being "Dark Souls-levels" of cryptic. It’s not unnecessarily complex, but it’s deep enough to stay interesting for dozens of hours. While it may not be as psychologically heavy as something like Pathologic, it is charming, convincing, and clearly crafted with love.
Final Verdict
It’s its own beast—a gritty "Techno-Fantasy" immersive sim in an isometric view. If you value player agency and a world that respects your intelligence, ignore the Metacritic score and just play it.
Disclaimer: Review written at 50 hours in. I haven't finished the main quest yet, but the journey so far has been nothing short of a hidden masterpiece. I'll update this once I finish the main questline

Nice stealth RPG. Quests and lore are interesting. Exploration is amazing, it's the best part of the game. The map is big and pretty much open from the start of the game. Gameplay is not too complicated, both combat and stealth are very easy, the consequences for being seen is basically non existent. The traversal is a bit janky, you can die from a wrong jump easy, also can be that you wanted the character to grab a ledge, but you can't see exactly if he will be able to because of the perspective. Better quicksave very often.

It's a real shame that this game didn't do better on release. An isometric, stealht RPG with immersive Sim elements. That's tailor made to my tastes.

There's a little bit of jank here, but not too much. I love the blend of action, stealth and gear systems, as well as the interesting and well designed 'open world'. Highly recommended checking this game out, especially now that it's cheap. And it doesn't look bad either. The slightly cel shaded art style menas that the graphics haven't dated too badly over the last nine years.

If I could make one request for this game, it would be the ability to zoom the camera out a bit more. I like to see a bit more around me than what the game allows.

Summary
100% completion (all achievements) was around 36hrs for me.
Seven is a 3D top-down, cel-shaded, parkouring thief/assassin game in the age of a post-war dystopian future, with factions and mutant creatures.
Similar to Thief (or Skyrim), you can save whenever you want without worrying about what your next plan of action is - even during combat.
The game's ending seems to create an idea for a possible sequel, so I'm kind of surprised there isn't one yet.
Once the game ends, you can reload at your last save, so if you want to continue playing after the story, then make sure you have adequate saves so you can reload back to them.
Tips
Sense Mode - Sense Mode - Sense Mode; the amount of times I thought the game was bugged, just to find out that the next part of the objective was hidden within Sense Mode.
Store all junk in Crafting Bench and only break it down when you need it.
Stockpile weapons and armor, and use them as trading fodder to buy from merchants.
Remove all armor so you can run around the map, then put it on right before fighting.
Spear's secondary attack throws enemies off edges.
Problems
Subtitles attached to characters, which works, but once they move off screen then you can't read it; making it standard subtitle at the bottom of the screen would fix that, or a hybridized version: once the speaker is off-screen, then it switches to standard.
Having to reset the fullscreen option since the game opens in window mode, though it says fullscreen in the settings; switching to window mode then fullscreen fixes the problem, but I have to do it every time I start the game.
Consumables saying 0.1s, though it's actually 30s // no sorting option for the effect that it causes // 'Medium Vigor Syringe', 'Small Vigor Syringe', and 'Small Potency Syringe' doesn't have their effects on tooltip.
When saving the game (at least on controller), sometimes when the cursor nears the bottom of the saves, it won't show the last few saves, so you have to save blindly.
Combat is combat, but it isn't really fluid: you can dodge, but there isn't a parrying or blocking system from what I've seen (possibly weapon-based); also, guns 'energy' shouldn't be attached to ability energy - they should have separate gauges.
Looted weapon/armor auryte value is too high as it makes the economy cheap; you can just stockpile the stuff and never have to worry about Auryte ever again - one spear can obtain a merchant's entire stock.
In 'Warden's Hold', the framerate seems to drop harshly, in which I don't think is my PC considering that I can play games like Warframe.
Disguises seem to be hit or miss for some reason, with it being a lot of misses on my end: enemies notice me regardless.
Nitpicks
There are no Playstation controller glyphs that appear when using the controller; it's a PS5 controller, so maybe that's why..
When two lootable crates/things are located atop of each other, the game can't differentiate between the two, only allowing the one to be looted.
Dialogue scrolling is a bit off when it comes to trying to reread the very top statements due to the fade, though not a big problem.
Can't move bodies - in an assassin-like game... though the game allows 'Body Dissolver' instead.
Inventory tooltip blocks the items in inventory; would be better if situated lower on the screen - or increase opacity.
No pings (*) upon or next to inventory tabs, showcasing that there is new information in the different sub-tabs.
Rocks should be limited to upgradable pouches, because currently, you can throw as many as you want.
In Sense Mode, you can't rotate the camera while in it, and holding down the thumbstick is kind of dumb considering how much it is used - clicking into the mode would be better.
Inventory and start menu buttons being reversed.
There should have been an option to hold a button to open the map, instead of going to inventory, then to the map.
No inventory trash option.
'Flash' ability being a straight line instead of choosing an area to blink to, therefore blinking vertically doesn't work.
The 'Birdcage' closes its door when you leave, which doesn't allow you to return and loot the rest of the bodies.
When stashing items, the equipped items should also be a part of the inventory, instead of having to unequip it to stash it - maybe mark it as equipped.
Items that are stashed can't be dismantled, meaning you have to take it out of the stash and into your inventory before dismantling it.
No sorting option for Junk Type: Techno, Mineral, Leather, etc.
When 'taking all' loot, the cursor jumps to the top to grab each one, instead of taking from where it is highlighted: example being, you don't want the weapons, but everything below it without having to click each one - a select multiple option could fix that.
Loadouts, especially for disguises, would be great at a button-press.
Weapon-changing not canceling, which makes the player have to wait until animation completes.
Cameras aren't alerted by bodies.
Only two weapon hotkeys.
No filter for linked Fast Travel Panels that can be used, versus the locked ones.
Enabled/disabled map pins don't stay toggled.
Radial menu should be customizable, meaning not only two weapons while being forced to take 4 usables and consumables.
Sprinting seems to slow too much based on armor worn, with the heavier defensive armor being almost a crawl, which is crazy.
Usables should be weightless, but with a certain amount allowed.
Bugs
Faction (Technomagi, etc) armor doesn't compare all its values to worn/unworn armor: it only compares movement speed value, though 'Technomagi Pioneer' does.
Taking the last item in a list of lootable items causes the selector to jump to the top.
When buying from 'Shady Merchant' in Visa Area 01 and then exiting dialogue, the player sometimes can't move and is stuck until a save is loaded.
Enemies respawn every time save is loaded.
Foraged plants continue to show on Sense Mode
Dropped items that were bought apparently counts as stealing them.
'Hairlock' doesn't have the glyph for which item it breaks down into, but when you go to dismantle, it shows that it'll break down into mineral, though once it's broken down, it gives nothing.
Stashed weapons with upgrades don't show they have upgrades on their tooltip.
Water apparently makes you drunk, even though the tooltip doesn't say anything about it being contaminated.
'Ability Radius Upgrade' & 'Ability Radius Upgrade II' have the same stat modifier of '+x1.2', which I presume to be because it stacks, but 'Thief Pickpocketing Upgrade' and 'Thief Pickpocketing Upgrade II' stack as well, though their upgrades are '+10%' and '+20%' respectively.
'Sporeox Golden Gland' doesn't show in inventory, but it shows up when trading.
Within radial menu at the bottom, it says, 'Relese to confirm'.
Mouse cursor sometimes appears in center of screen when pressing the start button on controller.
Save states show the wrong time, with it showing 5 hours behind for me.
Quest 'The Vault': the subtext shows the word 'behind' as 'behing'
Quest 'Cinder Man': the part where you are in the bar getting the dude drunk, it seems to bug out and not allow the quest to move forward, though I did reload after a while and it seemed to fix it.
Quest 'What a Girl Wants': reloading the game the moment the hallucinations kick in and before Hash finishes speaking, the effect will bleed over and doesn't seem to go away until you reload again.

That game was quite frustrating at times. A buggy mess at other times. But, the story was nice. The gameplay was nice. the no hand holding approach (not as much as Morrowind but way less than skyrim) was a breath of fresh air in a sea of baby games where they guide you toward every quest location.