Days Gone review- An aesthetic challenging open-world game

Days Gone is an upcoming survival game that has got everyone hyped with its constant releases of trailer, it is exclusively on PS4 and will be coming out this April 26. Fortunately, we were able to play the game way early before its official release and it’s definitely a game that you should get if you’re a fan of an open-world and zombies, but it’s called Freakers in this game and is much different from one. Have a look at our Days Gone review.

Introduction

Days Gone is a third-person open-world survival game where the world is overrun by Freakers, beings that are infected by an unknown virus. Players will take on the role of Deacon St. John, a mercenary who led a rebellious biker life before the civilization falls. Along with his pal, Boozer, they strive to survive in this decimated apocalyptic world where humans are equally dangerous as Freakers.

Story

The story takes place in a city of mayhem which is when an unknown virus hits humanity, turning most of the living organisms into Freakers. By the time that happens, Deacon along with his wife and Boozer was caught in the middle of it. Unfortunately, Deacon had to part ways with his wife and she eventually died in the process. Right after that, an overwhelming introduction was tossed right into our face after two years passed as Deacon has to make a tough decision in the beginning of the game which I will not spoil.

The Looks

Well, got to hand it to the development team for creating such a gorgeous open-world with immersive ambiance of environment. Although it’s infested with Freakers, you can see how realistic the in-game world is once you see past those creatures. The game comes with a Dynamic Weather which of course changes the weather from time to time and it comes in handy in certain situations.

Like when it’s raining, the sound of the rain will mask your footsteps making you undetectable if you stay out of enemy’s sight. Besides that, there’s a whole lot of freedom when it comes to interacting with the environment. For example, abandoned cars can be ransacked for scraps and some useful items such as a muffler for guns. Then, there are also camps located around the map that Deacon can explore, some are friendly, and some are not.

The Feel

At first, it was overwhelming to take in at the start of the game because of how vast the world is, and the controls are rather complicated but is easy to get used to once playing it a while. When it comes to exploring, Days Gone has successfully instill fear in me as it made me hesitant because of the Freakers prowling through the land. However, that was only at the beginning and realizing the importance of Deacon’s bike made me safer than ever.

Aside from that, man oh man, I got to say this game really does did a good job in spooking me. The jumpscares are so good even though we view the world in a 3^rd person perspective. So, every time I’m looting or exploring a run-down shack, the game will be in total silence and then boom! comes the Freaker! It gets me every time even when I’m mentally prepared, the feeling is exquisitely frightening.

Besides that, the feeling of the game is pretty smooth but experienced some FPS-drops in some moments on the PS4. One more thing that I like and feel about the game is how it has close to zero loading time, you won’t even notice there’s the need to load except when you’re saving the game.

Deacon’s Bike

So, one of the things that I would like to point out is the importance of Deacon’s motorbike in the game. It’s one of the symbols in Days Gone as players will get to see it being around Deacon throughout the game.

The bike serves as Deacon’s survival tool, his only means of transport, a checkpoint and an evacuation plan. I have never felt so fixated to an object in a game before until I played this game because Deacon depends heavily on it. For instance, the bike will be the only thing in your mind if everything starts to turn south.

Besides that, it’s also the reason for players to go explore the sprawling apocalyptic open-world filled with Freakers. No way will someone be willing to go around exploring on legs when man-eating creatures are roaming about.

However, there are downsides to the bike as well like how it can become a liability to Deacon. The bike needs constant care as it’s easily damaged early in the game and the fuel runs out incredibly fast but all that can be taken care with upgrades later on.

Threats

In the world of Days Gone, there are imminent threats everywhere and that’s not all just Freakers because Humans too are dangerous. The threats that I encountered so far are Freakers, Newts, The Horde, Rippers, Drifters and Squatters. Like what was mentioned above, Freakers are living organisms that has gone mad when an unknown virus infection spread making them extremely strong and agile in exchange of losing intellect.

Newts are basically adolescent kids that fall prey to the unknown virus which turns them into some sort of Monkey-ish Freakers that will pounce on Deacon when his health is low. Then, there’s The Horde which is made up of mass numbers of Freakers that will just go through about anything in their way, it’s best to avoid it but it does fetch a handsome price in taking down The Horde.

Moving on to the humans, there are the Rippers, Drifters and Squatters with each of them having their own characteristics. Rippers are people that worship both the Freakers and the outbreak itself, they also have RIP acronyms all around their body which is terrifying to look at.

The Drifters are just survivals who drift around scavenging and robbing people of their resources and can be seen carrying weapons on them. Lastly, Squatters are a group of people that will camp and prey on humans and Deacon will frequently come across them. They will set traps and even snipe Deacon while he’s riding his bike.

I personally think that putting up a fight against a human is much more intense because they are smarter than Freakers and they can use firepower as well. There was once I got ambushed by a group of Squatters and when I thought I could ran away, NOPE, they shot you to the ground. Just like Freakers, they will gang up on you and is worse when they have both ranged and melee attacks.

To make things worse, these humans will set up traps around their camp, although you can use your Track Vision to sniff them out but believe me while in the heat, all you will do is run for cover and that’s when the traps will get to you.

For instance, there’s this one time I stepped on a Bear Trap and these Drifters were after me and I was panicking because I was low on health and the trap keeps chomping away my health when I din’t pry it open and when I did successfully escaped from the trap, I got 1 hit due to low health. I kinda rage quit for a moment and take a short break before coming back to play, it really is a challenging game.

Gameplay

Be it at killing Freakers or scavenging for supplies, I enjoyed playing it from the very beginning although it did take up quite some time to get used to the gaming mechanics. It can be complicated and overwhelming at first and I know I have been repeating this because I’m stressing at how I struggled in the beginning. Also, the game did somehow remind a bit about “The Last of Us” in the aspect of crafting tools and distracting enemies. Moreover, the game is realistic as it has real-life physics applied into it like how Deacon can save his bike’s fuel when going down a slope.

Besides that, there are plenty of collectible supplies and resources lying around throughout the map that can be easily missed but those perfectionists will no doubt satisfy their desire by collecting those items that are left behind. Speaking of items, the resources in the game is extremely scarce so is not wise to waste it. Take the Molotov for example because it’s a valuable weapon used to clear Freakers’ nest and it should not be simply used.

As the game progresses, Deacon will gain experience and level up and when that happens, players can pick between the skill trees of Melee, Ranged Combat and Survival. All three plays a vital role in helping Deacon to survive and players will have to decide which that will suite their own playstyle. For me, I put most of my skill points into Ranged Combat because I love putting bullet through the heads and there’s a skill that allows a temporarily window of slow-mo making it easier to land headshots.

Moreover, there are Nero Checkpoints (Lab facility) in the game which contains Nero injector that can be used to improve Deacon’s states like Health, Stamina, and Focus but only one state at a time, meaning players will have to think carefully before picking it up and using it.

Despite playing the game on Normal mode, the gameplay is not as easy as it seems because the A.I human beings can take on a few hits before dying except when landing a headshot. On the other hand, the Freakers are more easier to kill unless they form a herd and when it does and you are low on supplies, is better to take off on your bike.

There’s one more thing that I like is the rush of excitement or fear that the game offers. Like whenever you sneak up on a Freaker even though you know you have distracted it, there’s this feeling that tells you “It’s gonna turn back on me!” and that there is absolute gold. Or when you’re too into killing enemies and only find out there’s no ammo left, oh man, I got to say I turned from hero to zero pretty quickly and jump on my bike and ran away as fast as I could. That pretty much sums up what I went through in Days Gone.

Verdict

In a nutshell, Days Gone is simply an amazing game that offers player so much freedom and creativity to roam about in the open-world. Players can adapt their very own style and complete missions in so many ways. Besides that, having Deacon’s bike around makes the game much more interesting and challenging as players will have to keep the bike under constant care. However, there are a few flaws in the game as well. The first thing would be the bike because fuel for it is a problem in the game unless players upgrade the fuel tank for the extra capacity. Then, the map in Days Gone is hardly visible and I find myself not using it unless I’m traveling around. In addition to that, the quick-action buttons are hard to see as well. Overall, it’s a very impressive and aesthetic game with deep back stories, highly recommended to players that are always looking for a challenge.

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