During the PS4 era, Sony was pumping out exclusive after exclusive, most of which were considered absolute bangers. At launch, games like Spider-Man, God of War, and Horizon Zero Dawn were considered near masterpieces. One exclusive had a rocky start, though: Days Gone. Developed by Bend Studio and released in 2019, Days Gone’s launch was filled with bugs, performance issues, and an overall lack of fanfare from the gaming community. However, I enjoyed the game and even went so far as to get the platinum trophy. After several years of updates, free content, a PC release, and rumours of a PS5 remake, now is the perfect time to give Days Gone another shot, and I will tell you why.
During the 2010s, a whole lot of zombie/zombie-adjacent games were released. They were such a common occurrence that the general audience assumed they all had the same story and stopped caring. Days Gone was no different, with many people writing it off as just another basic zombie story, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. The story in Days Gone is my favourite part of the game, and I’d argue it’s one of the better game stories of 2019. Instead of relying on the story tropes that become commonplace in zombie media, Days Gone instead focuses on the story of the protagonist, Deacon St John.
His story was exciting, tense, and even emotional, to the point where it hit me in the feels multiple times. Playing as a guy who has lost almost everything and has been hardened by those losses was incredibly engaging. That’s not even mentioning the twists the story takes, with several of them leaving my jaw on the floor. I know I’m being vague with plot details, but this is 100% a story you should experience completely blind, so I hope you’ll forgive the lack of detail.
What I will gush about in detail, though, are the performances because, holy fuck, they’re amazing. Right off the bat, Sam Witwer is fantastic as Deacon, and I eagerly awaited every piece of dialogue just to get more of his incredible delivery. Am I a tad biased about this because I adore Sam as an actor? You bet your ass I am, but that doesn’t take away from the stellar performance he put in here. By the end of the game, you’ll have seen Deacon go through so much, both emotionally and physically, and Witwer captures it all perfectly.
The rest of the cast is also stacked with Jim Pirri as Deacon’s best friend Boozer, Courtnee Draper as Deacon’s wife Sarah, Eric Allan Kramer as Iron Mike, and even Laura Bailey as the orphan Lisa. These actors and the rest of the cast all put in magnificent performances that you are depriving yourself of by not having played Days Gone already.
The gameplay loop for Days Gone is, admittedly, for the most part, nothing new. It borrows a lot from other big Sony games, and it would be naïve of me to say that it’s wholly original. That’s not to say it doesn’t do anything new (it most certainly does), but it will feel very similar if you played any Sony games from the 2010s. For starters, the movement and combat feel very much like Horizon Zero Dawn, even down to the slo-mo weapon wheel. Instead of taking down machines with a bow and arrow, you’re mowing down hordes of freakers (what these zombies are called). The camera and crafting are also similar to Horizon but are implemented well enough that it doesn’t feel like a carbon copy. The stealth is reminiscent of The Last of Us or Uncharted, and it’s just as satisfying here.
You’re probably thinking now that Days Gone doesn’t bring anything new to the table. Well, you’d be wrong because I haven’t mentioned the two most significant features of Days Gone: the motorbike and hordes. I’ll start with the bike because it’s a constant factor throughout the game. You’ll be spending a lot of time on the bike, so, luckily, it becomes one of the most satisfying parts of the game.
You start the game with a bare-bones bike that can barely travel for five minutes before running out of petrol. The handling sucks, and you might just decide to run everywhere. But once you start to upgrade the bike, it slowly becomes a dream to control. Aside from eventually controlling well, it creates exciting situations throughout the game. Do you risk driving through the night even though you’re at half a tank? Do you decide to make a risky stop to fix your bike? Do you upgrade the bike or focus on your weapons? All these little decisions make you feel like you’re the one surviving this freakish nightmare.
Speaking of freakish nightmares, let’s now talk about the freakers. These infected humans roam the world of Days Gone and can be considered fodder in some instances or terrifying menaces in others. In terms of normal gameplay, they behave like most zombies in other zombie games. They shamble around, start sprinting when they see you, feed on flesh, the usual stuff. What sets freakers apart here, though, is the horde mechanic. Scattered around the map are large collections of freakers called hordes. These can range from hordes of 50 freakers into the 100s, and they will all focus on you.
I can barely put into words how terrifying it was when I first encountered one of the larger hordes just moving across the road I was driving on. The shrieks they gave off had me high-tailing it out of there without a second thought. So when I went for the platinum, I was terrified, to say the least. But conquering these hordes through skill and perseverance was the most rewarding experience I had throughout the game.
Days Gone didn’t launch in the best of states. It was pushing the technical limits of the PS4, and it definitely showed. There were dropped frames here and there, some physics was entirely out of whack, some characters just didn’t load into cutscenes, and I may have fallen through the world once or twice. While these issues didn’t ruin my experience, I understand other players bouncing off the first time their bikes launched into the sky because of a branch. But Bend Studio was able to iron out most of these issues with consistent patches and bug fixes, and now, the game is in the best state it’s ever been.
Besides ironing out the bugs, multiple new modes and features have been added. The big one is challenge mode, which throws you into various situations and challenges you get a high score. If you do well enough, you’ll get passive bonuses for the main game, which you’ll need when you take on a new game, plus on the harder difficulties. Throw in free cosmetics and weapons, and you have a game with great replay value that runs great. It just needed a little longer in the oven.
Days Gone deserves a second chance. The game has a solid foundation with an amazing story and cast of characters. The gameplay isn’t wholly original, but the unique aspects make it a memorable experience. Now that it runs great on PS4, PS5, and PC, now is the perfect time to give this overlooked gem a second chance.
You also get to play as Sam Witwer, who’s amazing, just in case you forgot.
He’s really cool (hit me up for an interview plz).
Have you played Days Gone? What did you think? Does it deserve a second chance? Let us know in the comments where we can talk about other games that deserve new life.
