- Jack
- Mar 30
- 10 min read
DAYS GONE (PC)
Days Gone is a game developed by Bend Studios (Syphon Filter, Bubsy 3D, Uncharted Golden Abyss) & Published by Sony in 2019. Set two years after a devastating pandemic wipes out a large portion of humanity turning humans into "freaks", we follow our character, Deacon St. John and his motorbike club (Mongrels MC) brother, Boozer. Riding through the rural lands of the Pacific Northwest, Oregon, you visit locations with varied landscapes such as deserts, forests, marshlands and mountains. After the loss of Deek's (Deacon) wife Sarah, a research scientist and botanist, the story takes him through a journey of grief, desperation and hope. Whilst allying with local camps housing survivors, Deek must earn their trust completing missions for the leaders, protecting them from the freaks and other enemies such as; The Rippers, The Anarchists, The Marauders & The Militia. When faced with information that rocks Deek's boat, we engage on a cat and mouse mission to get to our end goal. Finding out the truth about Sarah's death.
Unfortunately, Days Gone released with terrible reviews due to its low frame rate spikes, crashes, missing and broken textures and issues with the shooting mechanics which all lead to a severe backlash within the gaming media. Despite its Metacritic score of 78 at launch, it was seen as a failure for Sony and put on the back burner for any future content or Sequels. Now that they have worked on improving any issues that plagued the launch, there seems to be quite a heavy following with much better reviews, with many calls to have a sequel made, how ever due to the both Director Jeff Ross and Creative Director John Garvin (Who had caused further backlash for blaming fans for not buying the game at full price for the reason why we'll never get a sequel) have both left Bend Studios, so the likelihood that there will be more is slim.
MY REVIEW
I watched this game go through development, I watched the trailers and thought to myself, yes perfect, this is exactly what I want! However, I never actually got round to purchasing the game, yet I always yearned to play it every time I saw it. Was it a blessing in disguise as the game plays much better now than it did on release, or am I part of the problem as to why we're not likely to get a second? Regardless, recently I bit the bullet and decided to give it a go. I was aware how awful it was received during launch but knowing everyone hates everything recently I thought it best to take a leap of faith and try it out for myself. Jeez, I was very unprepared for how much I was going to love it. Whilst the game's first section is a slow burner, doing small fetch quests for a local encampment with little to no risk, I slowly began to sink into its beautiful world. Days Gone really is a stunning game, visually the different locations each have breathtaking views and gorgeous scenery mixed with vibrant foliage, thriving wildlife, a Night and Day cycle meaning you can choose whether to up the ante by going out at night when the freaks are most active and a weather cycle that also increases the probability of becoming freak food. There have been numerous moments where I've stopped to take an attractive screenshot, or ridden to the top of the hill to look at the vast landscape before me, as seen below. (Yes, I did mod him to have a cute crop top, he's hot ok)
Whilst riding my bike around the valley I noticed there was a mechanic I wasn't using, and actually had no intention on using, the Fast Travel option. Whilst traversing around the map, there are numerous events that pop up on your map with a question mark. These are points of interest which could be; a survivor in danger, a group of enemies or a scenario to investigate, each requiring you to use your skills to complete if you manage to get to them in time. Freaks aren't your only concern on the open road, human enemies will make your heart thump when you encounter an ambush from behind a car or tree, occasionally the red line of a sniper locked onto your head forcing you to dive for cover. It was these little elements that made driving around fun, whilst the environments themselves are worth the long journeys, the enjoyment from these enroute events made the Fast Travel mechanic undesirable. I enjoyed the thrill of driving around on high alert watching the usual spots where enemies like to hide, waiting to see what happens next.
The characters within Days Gone are also a great asset to its charm:
Deacon St. John, our handsome protagonist voiced excellently by Sam Witwer (The Mist, Star Wars: Clone Wars, Being Human), is a kind hearted soul, great friend and loving husband. It was nice to have a character that wasn't so 'macho macho I'm a man hurr hurr' trope. He's a broken man, grieving, scared, exhausted yet hopeful. He is a character that you can warm to easily, with a strong moral compass and humbling attitude for not wanting to be a leader figure, he has fast become one of my favourite male protagonists.
William Gray aka Boozer, voiced by Jim Pirri (Spiderman 2, Batman, The Wizard). Supporting Deek is his MC brother Boozer, a strong and boisterous character who is the brawn within this duo. He is cheeky and charming and doesn't take things too seriously, the complete opposite of Deek. Boozer often is the person to ground Deek when things get too much, and the dynamic they have is enjoyable to watch. The journey they embark on together warmed my heart.
Sarah Whitaker, Deek's Wife voiced by Courtney Drapper who is one of my favourite voice actresses (Bioshock Infinite, The Jersey, The Bold and the Beautiful) is a great juxtaposition between herself and the boys. She's a Botanical Scientist who balances both her biker girl life with her profession with perfect execution. We don't see much of Sarah as we encounter her mostly in flashbacks but when she is on screen the connection between her and Deek is wholesome. She makes the loss that Deek is suffering with seem all that more believable.
The Story has seen some heat from people from reviews I have read but I can't say I agree with them. Whilst the main storyline is segmented and at times drawn out, it never posed a problem for me and I found by Act 3 I was on the edge of my seat and begging for what I suspected to happen, not to. Yes, I do agree that the fetch missions etc are repetitive, but at no point did I not enjoy them. They never got in the way of what I wanted to do and I didn't feel pressured to do them, I was more than happy to participate in them to build my trust with the camps. The characters that you meet along the way are all interesting and enrich the story, for the good or for the bad. There were numerous points during the game where I thought it felt like The Walking Dead (AMC 2010) at its peak, with threats left, right and centre, with a strong need of a community to help rebuild and overcome the obstacles ahead.
One of the main draw factors to Days Gone are the hordes. The hordes are all together terrifying and impressive, and as a game mechanic one of, if not thee, best of its kind. There are 40 hordes in total, varying in size and difficulty where Deek must fight his way through them. I really enjoyed trying to plan and figure out the best way to tackle each horde. There was a LOT of trial and error... definitely errors, but the satisfaction of finally defeating one was worth the trauma of running away from 200 rotting corpses that can overwhelm you in the blink of an eye. They hide away way during the day and the shuffle around at night and bad weather making them terrifying to stumble across. Having said that I do think it would benefit from having some time critical hordes or waves at your camps that you have to defend from. There's a lot of talk about freaks coming from the south as the stray from California, but they never actually arrive. As you spend 90% of your time during this game on the Bike, its important that it doesn't feel cumbersome, which thankfully, it doesn't. The map is surprisingly large, with 2 different areas expanding as you continue much to my surprise. As I mentioned before about enjoying riding around instead of fast travelling, with that comes enjoying the threat of fuel monitoring and bike care. Making sure your tanks were full before embarking on your mission made it feel more immersive along with ensuring that you didn't send your bike off a cliff whilst knowing you absolutely do not have enough scrap to fix it. The bike runs smoothly and the roads are made with fun shortcuts, jumps and tricks to again, make the ride all that more enticing. There is a lot of customisation within the bike that you can upgrade by completing missions and gaining trust with the camps and their mechanics. Equally each completed main story mission gives you a skin related to that person or place which I thought was cool.
The Combat is difficult to begin with as you can be overpowered very quickly by an enemy that is much stronger than you or in large quantities, but you can improve your skills by collecting Health, Stamina and Focus boosting drugs left behind by Nero, the story's resident science division. As you collect these you're eventually much more capable and handling situations. Focus, is a bullet time mechanic where you can slow down time a little to perfectly align your shot to the head. It's not a new mechanic by any means but it is one that I have found particularly useful and was the first of my upgrades I completed. With each completion of an XP level, you gain an upgrade point to your main skills tree; Melee, Ranged, Survival. Each has numerous upgrades that will help you in the wild, such as collecting more meat from animals, or reducing the stamina used when performing a dodge, for example. Finally in your arsenal is a large array of weaponry from shotguns to rifles, to heavy machine guns. Some of them can be upgraded and depending on your playstyle can have silencers attached. Upon defeating certain enemies and completing missions you're rewarded with blueprints. They teach you how to make your own modifications to your melee weapons to make them all that more dangerous, such as attaching a circular saw blade to a baseball bat making an axe.
Finally I'd like to end on one of my favourite aspects of any game or film, its soundtrack and audio design. Days Gone has a fantastic score, perfect for driving around the wilderness, and effective in raising the tension during combat. However, the real beauty is in the Horde music. At times you hear the music before you see the horde and its a mechanic in its own right, it builds as danger increases or you closer to it, getting louder as you draw new and fading out when you leave its range. It has a signature melody, which is recognisable and immediately instils fear. It begins with a low hum, almost like a slow heartbeat. It breathes into your ears gently at the start, and then a higher pitched tune entwines. There's some great string instrument sweeps too, again building and building, layer upon layer, getting louder and more chaotic, and then once the horde is aware, its grows into an almighty crescendo. It's really an iconic part of the game executed to perfection. I'll link HERE to a YouTube video of the soundtrack, as you can see by the comments, I'm not alone in loving this track, I particularly love reading about peoples first encounters!
Is there anything that I'd like to see done differently? Yes, nothing is perfect and this is of course no exception. I think the game would have benefitted from more underline storytelling for example, a lot of the houses are empty and soulless copies, it would benefit from them having a bit of life in them like survivor messages, signs of struggles, evidence that people were here either before or after the apocalypse began. You can collect little bits of memorabilia but they're few and far between. It would also be nice to have more people out and about in general, not just people in distress but others on their own journeys that you can interact with. As I mentioned before I think the hordes are under utilised personally. They're a threat to you and only you, they should be more of a danger to the wider region and the lands that you are helping secure, the longer you leave a horde the more it should increase and the more deadly it becomes to your local camp. There are a few glitches and texturing issues, sometimes the environments turn into polygons which can be fixed by closing and restarting the game, but this is more of an annoyance rather than a game breaking issue.
SUMMARY
Overall, I'm exceedingly impressed with the game. I completed the main story line last night and I loved it so much and given how side-lined it is I wanted to talk about it, and in an ADHD fuelled 2am moment, One Does Simply Review was born. The characters are likeable and interesting, the game play is fantastic with mechanics that put other "zombie" games to shame. It's a beautiful game and made very well (in the end) considering it was their first ever AAA game I'd say despite its setbacks and poor launch it is a success story, and hopefully with the upcoming Remaster for PS5 and Broken Road DLC for PC users I'm hoping this will be enough for Sony to see that they have a wonderful world here to utilise and they'll get someone to create a sequel that can do it justice whilst avoiding this mistakes that this had in its beginning. If you're wondering about playing it, I hope this gives you some insight and a reason to get it. I really had so much fun and I hold it in high regard. Whilst it seems to sleep in the shadow of The Last Of Us (Naughty Dog) I think it surpasses in certain aspects quite easily. PROS:
Great Music
Gorgeous graphics
Interesting and well developed Characters
Engaging gameplay and mechanics
An exceptionally large map
CONS:
Most likely not getting a sequel
Slight bug issues but not game or deal breaking
Repetitive if you don't like just taking in the scenery and ambiance
And that, is why I am rating Days Gone 4.5/5!
Thank you! Jack
You can Purchase Days Gone by clicking on the buttons below:
PC Specs: - 12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-12900k - 32GB RAM - GEFORCE RTX 4070TI Trinity Black
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