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[remember_spinal]

Days Gone director Jeff Ross has outlined ideas for the canned sequel

- Continued focus on Deacon & Sarah

For Days Gone 2, Ross wanted to carry on with Deacon St. John’s story and explore the relationship dynamics between Deacon and Sarah. “Yeah, they’re back together, but maybe they’re not happy,” he explains. “Well, what can we do with that? Okay, we were married before the apocalypse, but what about the future?

- Improve gameplay based on player data

According to the telemetry data, the number one cause of death for players was the players themselves. Ross looked deeper and narrowed it by damage type. Around 25 percent of self-inflicted deaths were caused by people throwing molotovs at themselves, falling from a high place, or blowing themselves up in some way. The remaining 75 percent died by drowning.

- A more dynamic game world with roaming animals and more varied enemy/ally behaviors

That means no more slowly following guys in hazmat suits through instant-fail stealth sections. “A lot of that stuff, like the Skizzo boss fight at the end, is terrible,” Ross admits. “But we had to button everything up as best we could with the systems that we had. Scripting AI was really hard. With the stealth sections, we had to maintain the sense of ‘they will shoot on sight’, but we didn’t necessarily want to have a shootout because the player couldn’t kill them. That was the only thing I could really figure out to do, and we tried a lot of stuff. For the sequel, those are the types of things I wouldn’t do. I didn’t want to do them here. I kind of had to, but we have the data now.”

On top of all that, Ross wanted to push the ecology of the world, allowing bears to dig through trash cans, wolves to roam and hunt more dynamically, and generally give every enemyand ally more varied behaviors.

- Swimming

“We have to be able to crawl before you can walk, and walk before you can run,” Ross says. “I just see that as a trilogy. First games – Batman: Arkham, the first Uncharted – are basic. They are a platform to build on top of for subsequent titles. And if you look at a game like Uncharted, you could surface swim in the first game. In the second or third game, you could go underwater. Then in the fourth game, you’re scuba diving underwater. They didn’t start with scuba diving, they built towards it. That applies to every game. Horizon Forbidden Westis going to have swimming underwater. It’s gonna have all the things that they probably wanted to do in the first game but just ran out of time.

The lack of swimming in Days Gone came from an engineering constraint, which the writers then worked into the lore to explain why Deacon was scared of the water.

“The swimming thing in Days Gone, it’s the worst,” Ross explains. “(Writer and director) John Garvin acquiesced to a certain point and just brought it into the narrative. It gave him an opportunity to have character growth too. I think that’s why he really liked it. This character can swim but refuses to, and later makes the decision to do it. There’s a screenwriting principle behind all that. But from a gameplay point of view, I hated it. I’m like, ‘Alright, we’ll figure this out later.’ By the time we circled back around we were probably in the final year when the user testing was coming back, and people were complaining about the water.”

The only way I could figure out how to solve this was we’ve got to put in surface swimming at a minimum, just to give players a chance,” Ross remembers. “Because once they hit that water, it turns to lava. We want to at least give them an opportunity to get away from the lava before it gets them. It was not a popular pitch.”

The story behind Days Gone and the sequel that never was

The story behind the development of Days Gone, as well as the pitch for Days Gone 2, as told by its game director.

t.co

 

[Imtjnotu]

I really don't think a sequel is dead.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Imagine THAT being your Days Gone 2 pitch. They seem like OK people but my God that's vanilla without the flavoring. Bend was probably correct on moving on from them and Days Gone.

 

[FingerBang]

I'm happy Days Gone 2 will have a different director if that's what this guy was thinking of. It's good that Bend is working on something else. There's always time for a sequel.

 

[remember_spinal]

I really don't think a sequel is dead.

Well, I can’t see Sony welcoming Ross and Garvin back with open arms after all this, especially Garvin who was fired.

I kinda hope if Bend does revisit the IP its in a different setting with different characters

 

[jhjfss]

This guy needs to accept that sony is not interested and just move on...

 

[oldergamer]

@mods wasn't really necessary to delete my post, all i was asking for was a merge. I'm not saying the information posted wasn't worth posting, so thread ignore is useless.

 

[ParaSeoul]

I really don't think a sequel is dead.

after this guys tantrum it might be lmao

 

[Chukhopops]

I don’t have an opinion on Days Gone (never played it) but those seem like very basic and unoriginal ideas. Also weird that the main cause of player death was self inflicted damage.

 

[The ninja farmer]

Didn’t play this, until I got my ps5. But had bought it well before and added to to the ‘to be played pile’

Totally loved this game. Was it perfect ?

No, far from it. But to reference the comments by the dev ‘it was a start’. The potential was clear and I would like to think that Sony might revisit. As a more action driven alternative to the last of us, plus the basic world building had been done and the foundations are now in place (the horde is truly the star of show for me. That and the setting, atmosphere)

So many good things and areas the team got right. Even under all sorts of pressures and time not being their friend, at the end

One of my games of the generation. If it’s one & done so be it.

But you can but hope for more

 

[ultrazilla]

I really don't think a sequel is dead.

Nailed it my friend! I'm willing to bet this is under deep and I mean DEEP NDA and it's being worked on. No doubts in my mind. The first game is phenomenal. Sony would be crazy not to allow Bend to follow
it up. And then we have semantics. We have Sony saying Bend is working on something else now. Ok, yeah they're not gonna say "Days Gone 2" but rather it's under some code name like "Red Snow" or something.

 

[SJRB]

Riveting features.

Swimming, woooooow. Imagine that. Crazy.

 

[remember_spinal]

Riveting features.

Swimming, woooooow. Imagine that. Crazy.

Yeah but under water zombies? Think about it

 

[Aenima]

Looking at the sequel features, im glad Bend is working on something else.

 

[Calverz]

 

[Clear]

after this guys tantrum it might be lmao

The only people throwing tantrums here are those who despite apparently not caring about the game are unable to resist chiming in to whine about... something.

 

[Fake]

The only people throwing tantrums here are those who despite apparently not caring about the game are unable to resist chiming in to whine about... something.

As soon as they find this thread will be a freakshow.

 

[dyergram]

The thing I would want from a sequel would be to build on the horde gameplay. Asynchronous coop hordes a larger open world where I could encounter other players and more varied enemies and combat scenarios not swimming and more mediocre story beats. Or a similar style game as the original days gone with a different setting for example or just a different part of America.

 

[TexMex]

I think that Sony is beyond tired of this post Days Gone publicity tour that Jeff and John are on.

 

[bitbydeath]

I hope the next one let’s you build the community up more, let them scavenge for parts to upgrade your camp.

 

[SilentUser]

Honestly, nothing of that sounds exciting. I liked the game, but got burn by how long it was and that pitch for the sequel would actually make things worse. Seems like a good idea to block the idea for the sequel.

 

[DarthPutin]

I don't think Bend itself in interesting in making sequel. Only these two guys, who are no longer there (and maybe someone else, I don't claim to know for sure). But mostly them.
It's good that the game exists, but do we need another 30+ hours of this? Again, the game exists and can be replayed.

 

[Kokoloko85]

No need for all of the studios to make sequels

 

[remember_spinal]

The thing I would want from a sequel would be to build on the horde gameplay. Asynchronous coop hordes a larger open world where I could encounter other players and more varied enemies and combat scenarios not swimming and more mediocre story beats. Or a similar style game as the original days gone with a different setting for example or just a different part of America.

Instead of including so many animals and other stuff they should just make the hordes more intelligent. They should be able to act like pack animals and make forminations and flank you. Or have them chase you into dead ends, maybe also have pack leaders that you can kill to break up their formation patterns so they go back to scattering around mindlessly

 

[ManaByte]

This guy needs to accept that sony is not interested and just move on...

He's approaching Ray Finkle levels.

 

[Warnen]

Guy can’t just let go huh?

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

I really don't think a sequel is dead.

After all this drama, these guys not keeping their mouths shut and now even leaking their ideas and pitch for the sequel?

If there's a dead IP for Sony is this one lmao

 

[bitbydeath]

Honestly, nothing of that sounds exciting. I liked the game, but got burn by how long it was and that pitch for the sequel would actually make things worse. Seems like a good idea to block the idea for the sequel.

They’re likely holding back on the story details as it may still get used. Being the continuation of the secret ending.

 

[remember_spinal]

After all this drama, these guys not keeping their mouths shut and now even leaking their ideas and pitch for the sequel?

If there's a dead IP for Sony is this one lmao

Yeah they still had a good deal of sympathy after the first time they did this, talking about the numbers and behind the scenes NDA stuff like potential projects probably blew up any chance of that ever happening. Sounds like Bend didn’t really want him in charge of the next game anyway considering they were switching to a flat creative development structure.

He says in the article he didn’t care if he wasn’t the creative director but that they needed one. That to me sounds like he was bitter about being taken out of leadership role and eventually left and blamed it on the other stuff.

He basically got his shot, he didn’t land, and now he’s having a hard time dealing with the fact that he’ll never get another shot at redemption with this franchise. Reminds me of David Ayer with Suicide Squad or the guy who directed Fantastic 4.

 

[Fake]

After all this drama, these guys not keeping their mouths shut and now even leaking their ideas and pitch for the sequel?

If there's a dead IP for Sony is this one lmao

lmao. Yeah, god forbidden them to speak about their game. They need to shut their mouths indeed.
Speaking of drama.

 

[Warablo]

Sequel usually involves a great story pitch or brand new feature, what all he lists seem standard but nothing wowing.

 

[Metnut]

Would love to see these guys make a similar type with new IP. Don’t need more zombie games, but this is a talented group and would like to see them work with a different setting.

 

[ethomaz]

Is he seeking attention for what exactly?

 

[Imtjnotu]

After all this drama, these guys not keeping their mouths shut and now even leaking their ideas and pitch for the sequel?

If there's a dead IP for Sony is this one lmao

9 million copies say other wise

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

Needs coop.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

9 million copies say other wise

9 million people that played the game you mean. Those sales numbers aren't official and are based on trophies. Plus most people that actually bought it was at a discount. The game barely spent much time at full price when you compare with most Sony games.
If the game had done so good a sequel would've been in production right away and that didn't happen.

 

[ethomaz]

9 million copies say other wise

Made up numbers lol

 

[Elbow Identity Shallow]

I'm really starting to wish that publications would start ignoring these two, it's just not interesting. They've had their time in the gaming news and it's relly run it;s course. It's understandable that they're not happy if their vision wasn't accepted by their superiors but that's a part of being an employee, it's not up to you to make all the decisions and there will be times that things just don't go your way.
I don't suppose either have them have been talking about why it took them seven years to make the game? Or why it took months of fixes after release to get it where it should have been probably years earlier.
At the moment they both come across as being incredibly unprofessional and I wouldn't be that surprised if they'd both earned a reputation for those seven plus years of completing that game and I can imagine their boss had other plans for the studio than Days Gone 2 before the first game had even launched.
It says in that article that 142,000 people have signed a petition for a sequel to the game. That's 142,000 people for a game that took so long to create, for that many signatures you'd be lucky to get Flappy Bird 2 from a company let alone something that would cost as much as Days Gone 2 to produce.
Seriously, we really should start another petition titled "Please Shut The Fuck Up About Days Gone" or "Please Mr Sony, We Don't Want A Days Gone 2" and hopefully get more signatures than the original petition ever did.
What I'm hoping is that during the games production some of the creatives there stood out and were marked as people who really could be useful to the studio moving forwards. It'll be interesting to see how good whatever they end up releasing next is and lets hope it it ends up being more nuanced to play that Day's Gone was and also that it doesn't take as long to release and then fix.

 

[JayK47]

Another day another Days Gone thread. Ah yeah.

To be honest, as a fan of Days Gone, this doesn't sound that interesting. Relationship issues? I guess it is better than some woke BS. But they need to do better in every way for a sequel. More bike customization. Coop with Sarah. Or get to choose between Deacon or Sarah. Or have Deacon and Sarah specific missions. Something like GTA5 where you can swap between them real time. More enemy types? Yeah obviously, but so many times sequels make new enemy types annoying and less fun to fight.

 

[AmuroChan]

Never say never, but I really can't see a Days Gone 2 happening. The IP is damaged goods at this point. I think it's better for Bend that they're working on something new.

 

[Tschumi]

i've played a very small amount of days gone... i will play more... i'm partially spoiled by Noah Caldwell-Gervais shitting on Deacon in his review, but I'll still give it a chance.. I'm struggling...

..it seems like one of the last games in that decade and a half period where games were reduced in physical scope/employed smoke and mirrors to limit their physical scope to compensate for hardware... like thief: deadly shadows on the xbox... The 'open' areas in the mountains have a feeling of being very much cannily obscured box levels... like you're meant to feel like you're going along a forested mountain highway but it feels like a 2 lane road going through a ravine... i dunno i can't put it in words but i think i came to this game too late, after too many realistically dimensioned open worlds, to really get immersed by it.

 

[Phunkydiabetic]

Didn’t play this, until I got my ps5. But had bought it well before and added to to the ‘to be played pile’

Totally loved this game. Was it perfect ?

No, far from it. But to reference the comments by the dev ‘it was a start’. The potential was clear and I would like to think that Sony might revisit. As a more action driven alternative to the last of us, plus the basic world building had been done and the foundations are now in place (the horde is truly the star of show for me. That and the setting, atmosphere)

So many good things and areas the team got right. Even under all sorts of pressures and time not being their friend, at the end

One of my games of the generation. If it’s one & done so be it.

But you can but hope for more

It was a fantastic first attempt at a type of game the studio had never done before. I really enjoyed the world they created, the atmosphere. I'd totally be down for a sequel, let's hope it happens!

 

[sigmaZ]

 

[remember_spinal]

 

[ANIMAL1975]

Ok they really touch him in the doll.

 

[nosferatu93]

The comedian?

 

[sncvsrtoip]

I realy wanted days gone 2 on ue5 but lets hope new ip on decima will deliver

 

[A Most Virtuous Cat]

The only people throwing tantrums here are those who despite apparently not caring about the game are unable to resist chiming in to whine about... something.

Exactly; I don't know what's up with these guys.

 

[GymWolf]

I never died for drowning or by self inflict molotov...modern players are pretty shitty skilled...

 

[Skifi28]

Sounds pretty basic. "what we have now plus a few improvements". Yeah, glad it's not being made and we get something new instead. Deacon and Sarah were not that interesting to begin with, just move on.