Just completed my Days Gone replay. I played at launch and was surprised how good it was. Sony bros were barely lukewarm on it and I didn’t read a single “raving” review or impression. Sometimes I wonder if most Sony bros are OK. For me, this game deserves the accolades that TLOU gets. Not that TLOU is bad, but if we’re talking post apocalyptic adventures, with romance, brotherhood, action, fear, suspense and wonder, well Days Gone blows it away. Bursting at the seams with content, and one of the cleanest, most developed 3 act stories in all of gaming. In a fair world it would be seen as it is: one of last gen’s very best games.
Just going by numbers of characters I thought were well acted and most importantly, unique. Days Gone has among the most in all of gaming: Deek, Boozer, Sarah, Tucker, Iron Mike, Rikki, Skizzo, Copeland, Manny. I’m probably missing some, but holy shit. I played Cyberpunk right before and even it barely keeps up on that front. You can keep the Mass Effect crew, I’m going to war with those mentioned above.
Weapons were great to use and I was always close enough to tangible, game changing new ones. As an avid shooter myself, I thought they did great with the ballistics feel. Nothing was laser dependable outside of high end snipers. You get a dynamic, loose fitting reticule depending on the gun type. You level up as a player through experience. Learning where to put the reticule, how the gun recoil feels etc. Things are rough at first, but by end game you can be a deadly assassin even with those starting guns. Their stats didn’t level up, your brain did. You’ll never get to 100% accuracy, but you can get pretty damn close with skill. Really feels rewarding. The most important thing in any shooter: headshots always kill instantly. Even heavies at the end, once you pop that helmet off, a headshot with even the weakest gun insta kills. Loadout diversity was brilliant. Do I take a human loadout, zombie or hybrid? Choices mattered For the whole 50 hours you either just got a gun that changes everything, or you’re getting into the swing of using that game. There was rarely a dull moment in that department and I was motivated to grind the next one.
The bike. My steed. My dragon. My wizard. The cocktail of weapon handling, zombies and the bike make for an amazing stew. By the end of the game you’re really attached to this thing. It gets you out of every jam and you’re quick to gas it up or repair it when needed. Not to mention the large amount of upgrades you can buy for it. It’s S Tier in terms of vehicle/horse bond in a game. The game has a great survival-light thing going on. Bike requires gas, you can only change load outs at a camp, Shit gets harder at night. Struck a great balance there and the bike was the glue.
Sequels….. I don’t know. I like to say all games don’t need sequels. Sometimes it cheapens a great experience or piece of art (Matrix, Star Wars, Deus Ex). I’m afraid Sony would listen to the industry reviewers and trade the characters for wisecracking, irony bro DEI cardboard cutouts (Days Gone has a strong black, female, lesbian doctor that actually doesn’t feel forced BTW. This alone deserves a diversity award.) At a minimum I don’t think we’d see Deek and Boozer types in the lead roles. Really Sony Bend got a streak of Rockstar quality writing and storyboarding on this one. I can’t overstate how good they did. In a perfect world where I have dictatorial control over the project, sure, I’d love a sequel. But it’s 2024, the year of our lord, and we live in Clown World.
Everyone should play Days Gone. It’s an S Tier open world game and maybe the best zombie game. I didn’t even mention the hordes…. buy this. It’s worth full price.
