Drizzlehell
Banned
Playing this game is a bit of a surreal experience, because every time I fire it up, I'm transported to a world so vividly immersive that I can smell the rain-soaked forests in the game. It's like I'm right there, exploring the wilderness like I used to do on my pre-covid camping trips. The palpable sense of presence is so intense that everything else fades away, and I'm completely immersed in the desolate yet stunning world. Every time I scavenge empty houses, I'm on high alert, listening for any potential threats lurking in the shadows. I'm also filled with dread when I realize that a horde of zombies has wandered into the town outside while I was rummaging through drawers, and I suddenly have to sneak my way back to my bike without alerting them. The tension is nail-bitingly intense.
This is what really sets this game apart from many other open world games that I usually play - its meticulous attention to detail. Every aspect of it, from the sound of my bike's tires on different terrains to the weather effects, adds to the immersive experience. It almost manages to recreate that level of detail and polish that characterizes The Last of Us games, and translates it to an open-world sandbox experience. It's a shame that not many developers pay attention to these little details that make a significant difference in creating a sense of realism.
The story in Days Gone is also quite captivating, primarily due to its characters and their subplots. I find Deacon to be a compelling character, brought to life by Sam Witwer's outstanding performance. The natural dialogue and dynamic characters add to the game's overall appeal. But here's where the game's biggest problem lies - although the overarching plot involving the virus and military operation is intriguing, the pacing feels sluggish, and I wish it would progress a little faster.
This issue is further exacerbated by the fact that so many missions in the game feature very repetitive objectives and they very rarely push the plot forward to any significant degree, which makes the whole thing feel very scaled back and slow. There are so many missions that revolve around traveling to a location on a bike and shooting meaningless groups of bandits or zombies, all for a token amount of progress in a specific subplot, or a "story" as it is called in the game. The only time when a mission stood out as particularly well made or memorable, was when I was exploring some unique location with another character, such as when I explored the power plant and mine. But other than that the mission design feels largely unimaginative. I'm also yet to experience any real encounters with a zombie horde, which was supposed to be one of the game's exciting features, and I remember seeing gameplay footage where Deacon was desperately fighting off hundreds of zombies by the skin of his teeth while trapped in some sort of a quarry. You can see it in this interview with Witwer, for example:
Like, where is that stuff? I want to get caught off-guard with those kinds of situations.
And yeah, I know that there are zombie hordes randomly roaming around the map and I could go and get them to chase me any time I want, but the game itself hasn't made any attempts to actually create a situation like the one from that gameplay footage above, where I would have to to fight my way out without having an option to just hop on a bike and drive away. I still haven't finished the game but I find the lack of these types of missions a bit underwhelming.
I mean, I'm almost 50 hours into this game, you'd think that after progressing in it that far would be enough to start throwing some more exciting missions at me, specifically those featuring zombie hordes.
Anyway, despite these shortcomings, I'm still hooked on Days Gone. The stunning visuals, immersive experience, and captivating story make it a game worth playing. I'm excited to see what the rest of the game has in store for me and hope there's still enough of the story left ahead of me for the game to pick up the pace.
This is what really sets this game apart from many other open world games that I usually play - its meticulous attention to detail. Every aspect of it, from the sound of my bike's tires on different terrains to the weather effects, adds to the immersive experience. It almost manages to recreate that level of detail and polish that characterizes The Last of Us games, and translates it to an open-world sandbox experience. It's a shame that not many developers pay attention to these little details that make a significant difference in creating a sense of realism.
The story in Days Gone is also quite captivating, primarily due to its characters and their subplots. I find Deacon to be a compelling character, brought to life by Sam Witwer's outstanding performance. The natural dialogue and dynamic characters add to the game's overall appeal. But here's where the game's biggest problem lies - although the overarching plot involving the virus and military operation is intriguing, the pacing feels sluggish, and I wish it would progress a little faster.
This issue is further exacerbated by the fact that so many missions in the game feature very repetitive objectives and they very rarely push the plot forward to any significant degree, which makes the whole thing feel very scaled back and slow. There are so many missions that revolve around traveling to a location on a bike and shooting meaningless groups of bandits or zombies, all for a token amount of progress in a specific subplot, or a "story" as it is called in the game. The only time when a mission stood out as particularly well made or memorable, was when I was exploring some unique location with another character, such as when I explored the power plant and mine. But other than that the mission design feels largely unimaginative. I'm also yet to experience any real encounters with a zombie horde, which was supposed to be one of the game's exciting features, and I remember seeing gameplay footage where Deacon was desperately fighting off hundreds of zombies by the skin of his teeth while trapped in some sort of a quarry. You can see it in this interview with Witwer, for example:
Like, where is that stuff? I want to get caught off-guard with those kinds of situations.
And yeah, I know that there are zombie hordes randomly roaming around the map and I could go and get them to chase me any time I want, but the game itself hasn't made any attempts to actually create a situation like the one from that gameplay footage above, where I would have to to fight my way out without having an option to just hop on a bike and drive away. I still haven't finished the game but I find the lack of these types of missions a bit underwhelming.
I mean, I'm almost 50 hours into this game, you'd think that after progressing in it that far would be enough to start throwing some more exciting missions at me, specifically those featuring zombie hordes.
Anyway, despite these shortcomings, I'm still hooked on Days Gone. The stunning visuals, immersive experience, and captivating story make it a game worth playing. I'm excited to see what the rest of the game has in store for me and hope there's still enough of the story left ahead of me for the game to pick up the pace.