Review (Contain Spoilers)
Days Gone released on the PS4 in 2019 and released on PC in 2021.
Scoring a (71) on PS4 and a (76) on PC.
I enjoy good Zombie games, especially those that throw plentiful Zombies at you in scenarios that just simply feel unwinnable... Days Gone caught my attention with the Horde numbers and I wanted to give the game a fair trial. I am also into motorbikes and figured the idea of a Zombie apocalypse with motor cycles just sounds good to me.
GAMEPLAY
I finally completed the game, doing all Side Quests and main story line. The game took me around 67 hours to complete everything with the exception of the New Game+ and Challenge modes. The game is a fairly healthy size and at no point did I find it a chore to complete side missions or gather materials.
I really enjoyed the Motorbike engineering. Considering I am into bikes, I wanted to unlock everything for the bike and found it quite enjoyable. Seeing your bike evolve from a puny naked cruiser to an ex-military, Zombie Apocalypse bike felt awarding.
STORY
The story isn’t anything we haven’t heard before, a virus breaks out, infects people, people turn to zombies and everyone is on the survival train. It’s not amazing and it’s not bad, it’s just generic. The game starts off well, the chemistry between Deacon and Boozer is believable and so is the love relationship with his wife Sarah, until it gets close to the end. The reason I am saying this is that when you finally meet up with Sarah again after assuming she was dead, I felt the plot drag out. Example when Sarah asks why he is at the militia camp, he replied saying he hates the freaks like she does, instead of just telling her the truth in that his been searching for her for 2 years. I also don’t understand why he hid the fact that she’s his wife to the Captain kouri, even though they had a close bonding moment talking about the people they love. When companies try to push out the story they can break the immersion. The game ended on a possible sequel, something I don’t believe Sony want to continue with.
HIGHS
The Visuals are quite impressive and so is the open world. Exploring the world on your bike was always fun for me. Days Gone looks and feels fantastic at 60fps.
The bike handling felt true even though riding a road bike off road wouldn’t be possible in most of the scenarios I took it.
Deacon is a good character, I know he copped a lot of flake in some reviews however I felt he and Boozer were believable.
Hordes are intimidating and are fun to take out once you have the right amount of tools. Accidently running into one is quite scary and will end you without caution. Never underestimate them.
Game has a lot of hidden Easter eggs, like Bike Skins and random grave stones with people’s names and dates on it. Assuming some people passed away during the making of the game. RIP.
LOWS
Came across a few glitches in my play through. Game failed to load textures in some cases, I got stuck in an Ambush Camp and the game walled me in and even getting my Bike stuck in a tree and couldn’t get it out.
Rendering issues
Bike stuck in the tree, Don't ask.
Skizzo just felt predictable, the acting was fine however a lot of the scenarios didn’t make sense and why Iron Mike trusted him baffled me.
Visuals… yes when a game looks fantastic like Days Gone does, then the standards are set high. Weapon Sheathing was horrible in this game. Seeing characters placed weapons on their backs with no straps breaks the immersion. There was a scene in the game where Deacon tells Skizzo to not fire his gun, so he gives him a plank of wood, and Skizzo just sheaths it on his back, and instead of getting immersed with the scene, I was thinking to myself, how is that plank hanging on his back? Games with realistic visuals need realistic attention to detail. Adding straps to weapons or placing them in bags needs to be a requirement, otherwise it looks fake.
I also hated the slow walking moments. The game draws you to tip toeing so you can listen to the characters chatting. Even moments when you get too close to a Quest Giver, the game slows you to almost a halt and you have to slow walk out of the radius to get back to normal speed. It’s just annoying.
CONCLUSION
The game has highs and lows, and most Zombie games I have invested my time into, are never perfect. I played a lot of State of Decay 1 and 2 so my expectations with these games have been formed.
Days Gone considering the negatives I gave it, I actually enjoyed my play through. It’s a solid Zombie game that focuses a lot on story telling. Where other games like State of Decay focuses on base building and team building, Days Gone sets a narrative for you and the characters.
This game is better than the reviews have given it, my review on this game is a 8/10. Deserves a sequel.
