Hello everyone, hope you're all doing well and welcome to my review of Days Gone! When this was announced at E3 a few years ago it looked like something that had a lot of potential. We've had plenty of zombie games over the years, but this seemed like it was taking things in a new direction, putting a different spin on the genre. I was excited to try it out, even though I wasn't completely sold on the idea yet. When Days Gone finally released recently I was very surprised by the extremely low scoring reviews that were beginning to surface and I started to fear the worst. But I decided to ignore the negativity because it still looked like a good game to me and I'm glad I did. It took me nearly three weeks to finish the story and I'd love to give you my thoughts on it, so let's dive in.
Days Gone is an action-adventure game developed by Bend Studio, released on April 26th, 2019 as an exclusive title for the Sony PlayStation 4. It's an open world game, played in a third person perspective, taking place in a post-apocalyptic setting. The game begins two years after a global pandemic has ravaged the world, but the story actually starts right when it's spreading and everyone is panicking. You play as Deacon St. John, an outlaw biker living in Oregon, who's a member of the local motorcycle club. As this disease begins to spread, turning people into violent, animalistic creatures, you try to escape to safety with your wife Sarah and your best friend Boozer.
Sarah is badly injured, so you get to a nearby medical helicopter to airlift the three of you out of there, but they only have room for one more. You put Sarah in the chopper, find out where it's going and plan to meet her there later. Now you and Boozer get the hell out of town, riding your motorcycles to the rendezvous point. When you arrive the place is completely overrun by the infected called, Freakers, and Sarah is nowhere to be found. Deacon searches for his wife for the next two years, until he finally excepts that she's gone. This is where the gameplay begins. You live with Boozer in an old ranger tower in a world that is drastically different from the one you once knew.
A very large portion of the map is open to you right from the start and with your motorcycle you can freely cruise around anywhere you want. Freakers, cults, bandits and wild animals roam the open world, which means you need to be careful while out searching for supplies. There are local encampments, basically makeshift villages that act as safe zones, where you can buy new weapons, upgrade your motorcycle, get gas and supplies, or take on new missions. The more you help each encampment the more trust you earn with them and this will unlock better weapons and parts for your bike. At first you're pretty weak and your bike is slow, but eventually you will have an arsenal and a badass motorcycle, giving you a constant sense of progression.
After a while you are introduced to Freaker Hordes, huge packs of infected that can swarm you in an instant, almost flowing like water around the environment to get to you. These act as the game's bosses to a degree and in order to take one out you'll need to plan ahead, setting traps, crafting explosives and stocking up on firepower. You probably won't stand much of a chance until a bit later in the game when you have better access to stronger weapons. There's a good variety of enemies in Days Gone, different groups of human enemies, multiple kinds of Freakers and various infected animals, but the highlight is definitely the Hoards.
As you progress two more large portions of the map open up for you to explore and you also get a few more encampments to help out. The overall size of the game world, the scope of the story and the length of the game really surprised me. It's on a similar scale to something like Red Dead Redemption 2, which I did not expect. The environments are gorgeously detailed and fun to explore, with a real time weather system and a day to night cycle. I really enjoyed the story and the characters, finding it easy to become invested in Deacon's journey. The quality of the writing and some of the dialog is a little lackluster though, but everyone gives a solid performance.
You get a wide array of firearms to pick from, being able to equip three at a time, as well as a melee weapon. The combat feels great, it's a large part of the game and I never had any problems with it. While out exploring you can collect a variety of crafting materials that will allow you to make healing items, traps, new melee weapons and all sorts of explosives. Just keep an eye on your gas tank because your bike can run out of fuel and needs to be maintained occasionally, which can become a little tedious. I also noticed some framerate drops when there was a lot going on at once, but I didn't experience any major bugs at all thanks to a series of patches that were released.
I went into this game with low expectations because of it's initial bad reception from critics and was very surprised to see how well done everything turned out to be. The story and characters were compelling, the combat was fun and easy to figure out, the map was huge with many beautifully detailed environments and I always felt a good sense of progression. Two major highlights for me were the Hoards and your motorcycle. I had a blast cruising around the Oregon countryside, fighting Freakers and discovering new areas to explore. Aside from some minor technical issues and some sub-par writing in places, this was a great experience for me. Not game of the year or anything, but definitely something I'd recommend. I'm going to give Days Gone a grade of....................
B
Thank you for reading my review of Days Gone, I hope you enjoyed it!
