7 Days to Die Update 2.0: How to Join the Experimental Branch

The "Storm's Brewing" Update 2.0 hits the 7 Days to Die Experimental Branch on June 16, giving PC survivors early hands-on time with new content, balance tweaks, and quality-of-life additions. If you want to crack open the new build before everyone else, this guide walks through the opt-in process.

Who Can Try Update 2.0 Early

The Experimental Branch is a Steam-only affair. Console players on PlayStation and Xbox have to wait for the Stable release, scheduled for June 30. That two-week gap is short by Early Access standards, so if you are not on PC, it is probably not worth fretting over.

Opting In Through Steam

The whole process takes maybe a minute, assuming Steam cooperates.

1. Sign in to your Steam account.
2. Open your Library, locate 7 Days to Die in the left sidebar, and right-click it.
3. Pick Properties from the context menu.
4. Switch to the Betas tab inside the Properties window.
5. Use the Beta Participation dropdown and choose the latest experimental build from the list.

Steam should immediately begin pulling the new files down. Wait for the download and install to finish, hit Play, and you are in Update 2.0.

Backing Out of the Beta

Changed your mind, or run into one bug too many? Reverse the procedure: head back to Properties, open the Betas tab, and set Beta Participation to None. Steam will swap the stable build back in on the next launch.

Expect Some Rough Edges

The clue is in the name. "Experimental" means crashes, missing assets, and the occasional headscratcher are part of the deal. The development team actively wants those reports, so if something breaks in an interesting way, drop a note on the community forums. Useful bug feedback makes the eventual stable release noticeably smoother for everyone else.