By TimoReviews
Days Gone is a game that had me confused at the start, it felt less like a triple a sony exclusive and more like “if Ubisoft made a zombie open world game”, however the more hours I put into it, I discovered that this game is like no other zombie game on the market, with some of the most unique storytelling and pacing in gaming as well as some truly innovative gameplay in the latter half of the game…
STORY
This is without a doubt the HIGHLIGHT of the game, it’s by far the best thing about it…See the game approaches storytelling in more of a “TV-show” structure instead of the usual “act 1-2-3” structures most games use and it’s all the better for it. This structure reminds me a lot of red dead redemption 2 in which it takes it’s time to flesh out the main protagonist, Deacon, and the surrounding cast, it fleshes out every camp, their history with Deacon and it does a lot of world-building in the first 8 hours or so…
Now this might be a complaint to many, that “slower pace” - but the time spent to make us care about the character really pays off when the main plot truly kicks off. Deacon starts out the game as a man with no hope, just going with the flow as most post-apocalyptic protagonists would after years of decay, however after he learns that his previously “assumed dead” wife is alive, the story kicks off into full gear, the game’s flashbacks help you care about finding his wife as well. The path to actually find her pushes Deacon right into the middle of camp rivalries, climactic moments that slowly push Deacon back into the land of the living and shows us his good nature, one he tries to push away throughout the game.
The story as a whole is very intriguing and has very sharp writing, it’s pacing can be a barrier for many as I would classify it as initially a “slow burn” but when it kicks off, the true intentions of the writers are shown and it works greatly. I’d like to give an honorable mention to the acting as well because god this game had me in my feels multiple times due to the acting, Deacon specially, the way he expresses himself is very raw and instead of the scenes feeling like scripted cutscenes, they feel like real life encounters that someone just decided to record, that’s how well-done it is.
GAMEPLAY
The gameplay is where days gone stumbles, but not too much, it’s approach to gameplay is very standard (except for one area, I’ll get back to that soon) Days Gone plays very much like your standard zombie game, it features basic serviceable gunplay that feels quite clunky until you upgrade recoil patterns in the dedicated skill tree, it’s nothing special but it gets the job done…
Besides gunplay, the game allows you to stealth and gives you a decent array of weapons and distractions to mess with from a suppressed pistol to a crossbow to throwable distractions, however as much variety as the game provides, none of that can fix it’s wonky AI, the AI’s issues range from weird detection ranges to mediocre search patterns and many inconsistencies in their behavior… As a stealth-centric gamer, the first thing I do in stealth games/modes is study the AI, their reactions and how to smartly deal with them, but with unpredictable AI, the whole thing falls apart. You’d think not using it would be the “go-to” option but the issue here is it features some forced stealth missions that can truly be frustrating, but they’re very occasional so for the most part, I’d say 95% of the time, you have the freedom of approach.
The final part of the basic gameplay systems is melee combat, and it’s surprisingly good, it’s not great but it gets the job done in a satisfying manner. It boils down to “mash attack and the occasional dodge” but what’s special are the range of weapons you can use, each with unique finishers and excellent gore physics that kept fresh melee boring, even with its simplicity.
Now for the part that actually makes gameplay go from mediocre to great, the hordes, by that I mean days gone has a system called the horde system where you fight literal hundreds of zombies or “freakers” as the game calls them, and that’s where all the systems come together and flow PERFECTLY. You’re pushed to use every weapon in your arsenal as you’ll often empty your assault rifle, LMG and will have to utilize your secondary weapon, the game also rewards you for using explosives, from grenades to well planted C4’s to take out a good chunk of the horde. What elevates this system furthermore is the amount of environmental destructibles placed around the areas of the hordes, ranging from gas tankers you can shoot to wooden planks you can rig to fall and kill freakers, these add so much dynamism to the horde gameplay.
Last but not least, the bike, yes, the bike deserves it’s own section as it has EXCELLENT mechanics, handling feels very realistic but not to a degree of annoyance, oddly it feels reminiscent to your horse in RDR2, where you upgrade it, store your items in it and have to constantly refuel it as well as fix it up from damage. I was iffy about the refuel aspect at first, but one encounter where my bike needed fuel and I had to go into town to grab a gas canister from the middle of a horde infested area ended up providing me with one of the most memorable moments of my play-through.
When it comes to skill-trees, days gone adapts the basic systems, with improvements that just improve basics instead of fundamentally ADD to the game, there isn’t much that’s unique here, skills range from less recoil on guns to more melee durability and improved health benefits. I would’ve appreciated some unique new features instead of just basic improvements, but it works as is, but this points to a bigger problem days gone has which is a very standard approach to gameplay, and innovation is limited to the final act which feels like it comes just a little bit too late…
As a whole, the standard gameplay didn’t blow me away, but when gunplay and melee are combined while taking on hordes, the vision the developers had shines and works excellently, unfortunately though, hordes are only introduced around 60% into the story so you spend more than half of the game doing the basics, which are serviceable but you’d think the devs would want the player to engage with their best system as early as possible.
OPEN-WORLD
This area of the game is simultaneously one of the best and worst things about the game…It’s great when it comes to the open world variety, as you go from varied camps to abandoned towns to military-like areas to snowy regions and lush forests, there’s a lot to see here, and appreciate graphically as well, however that’s all the praise I can give the open-world.
The issue here is what you actually DO in the world itself, I’ll bring up the Ubisoft formula point I mentioned at the start, the open world activities here are pretty bland and feel like an after-thought… These activities range from basic camp clearing which are fun only the first few times to repetitive side quests that are almost always “fetch or save” quests with little important context, the world also occasionally has randoms you can save from “freakers” but saving them doesn’t do much, you get a little cutscene of a thank you and send them to one of the camps you’re associated with, after the first 2 encounters, you’ll have seen everything. When you open up the map, you’ll be bombarded with icons of hordes and camps to clear and not much behind them, no sense of mystery as you know you’re doing the same activity in another environment.
The main story spans around 30-40 hours so I assume the devs relied on it heavily in terms of content, and that side content would be an after-thought, and while the story is a lengthy and beefy experience, I did want more after rolling credits because I had so much fun, but there wasn’t much to truly enjoy and invest worthwhile time into.
FINAL VERDICT
Days Gone is a game with great highs but not drastically low-lows, it features an excellent, rich, well-written and acted story with standard gameplay that shines in it’s most unique element, the hordes.
It’s biggest flaws lie in it’s approach to designing an intriguing open-world, this supports my mentality of “not every game needs an open world, or a huge one at least” - Had days gone focused on a smaller-scope when it came to the open world, it might’ve been packed with quality content instead of quantity it scatters around its map and would’ve went from a really good game to a great one… A great yet flawed experience every zombie fan is almost guaranteed to enjoy.
DAYS GONE - 7.8/10 - GOOD