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Loading... From the makers of the Syphon Filter series and Uncharted: Golden Abyss comes Days Gone, a fresh take on the zombie infested post-apocalypse that challenges players to survive in its open world. You play as Deacon St. John, a former outlaw-turned-drifter and bounty hunter who would much rather live life on the road than in wilderness camps scattered across Oregon. The undead here are known as “freakers” and differ slightly from the traditional zombie in that they are still alive. This is Days Gone’s attempt to bring additional tension to combat sequences each time you unleash countless bullets towards a heard of flesh-eaters.
Crafting plays an important role in Days Gone. With almost every car, building and environment searchable, Deacon can upgrade his means of dealing with freakers to make him a far more effective survivor. Combat and discovery are a vital part of the experience, as is learning how to manage hundreds of on-screen undead all piling up on one another. Upgradable weapons include a remote mine, crossbow and a big game rifle.
Deacon’s primary method of moving through this realistic open world is his bike. That is, until, it carelessly is stolen from him at the very start of the story. From here it’s all about building up your new motorcycle to be the fastest and most reliable travelling vehicle and biker gang member can depend upon, effective at driving through hordes of freakers when moving from point to point.
While many might take one look at Days Gone and think, “Oh no, not another zombie game!”, we’d say you can rest easy knowing that there a couple of gameplay features and narrative surprises that makes this game’s take quite unique. “Sons of Anarchy meets The Walking Dead” simply doesn’t do it justice as a surface-level description, and this is because as a first-party PS4 exclusive title it shows a level of thought and quality lacking on other platforms. Here are some cool things Days Gone has got going for it.
Whereas most third-person action games set in an open world sees vehicles rather throwaway, Days Gone has you invest in your motorcycle to such a degree that it even has its own cool nickname. The Drifter is not only what will carry Deacon through the story in Days Gone but is also an extension of himself and as such can be improved the more time goes on. Possible upgrades include larger saddle bags to store more ammo and faster speed outrun freakers.
Days Gone adds to the Zombie mythos by using tech previously never witnessed in a game featuring the undead. It takes inspiration from the likes of World War Z, where piles upon piles of freakers mount up and band together to cause problems for Deacon St. John. This is all thanks to subtle tweaks made to the Unreal 4 Engine that the game is running on. Swarms of enemies can run towards you at any one time, meaning its vital for Deacon to use of his surroundings to fight back.
As already mentioned, Days Gone is a largely on-the-road style of affair, meaning that Deacon and his trusty bike spend a lot of time together in the natural beauty of this rendition of Oregon. This world is made even more stunning thanks to realistic weather effects like rain, wind, snow and day-night cycles that impact the gameplay. Days Gone’s lighting reacts dynamically all in real-time, offering flexible visuals as players move from one location to another.
