Who is this for exactly?
The saga of Days Gone is a crazy one, I remember the hype surrounding its launch back in 2019. At the time it was touted as the ‘next big thing’ from Sony, who was riding high with first party releases like Spider-Man and of course its inclusion of zombie-like creatures was a win because this was the height of World War Z and the Walking Dead craze. At launch Days Gone was praised for its graphics and for Sam Witwer portrayal of Deacon but it was pretty much lambasted for everything else. In fact, it’s been well documented that Bend Studio had pitched a sequel that Sony brass declined. So instead of just letting sleeping dogs (that’s a game that needs to come back) lie, we got a remaster that I guess is for the loyal fans of the original.
I didn’t play Days Gone at launch but I need much later, and while I never finished the game, I did enjoy what I had played of it. The story of Days Gone is all about a biker who a heart of gold, Deacon St. John aka Deek represents the ‘everyman’ as he is violently separated from his lover due to the ensuing zombie apocalypse. Some time has past and Deacon and his brother from the biker gang eek out a living in the Oregon wilds. Running various tasks for the scattered human survivor communities in area Deek is soon pushed into an incident that has him embark on a quest that will change his life.
MSRP: $49.99 ($10 upgrade for existing owners)
Platforms: PlayStation (reviewed), PC
Price I’d Pay: $49.99
Yea that sounds super deep, and honestly the story in Days Gone is one that leans heavily into its emotions and evoking them out of the player. While a lot of the missions that players will embark on feel like the usual ‘fetch-type’ quests from any number of open-world games but there are some standouts among the crowd. The zombies in Days Gone are known as ‘Freakers’ and these dudes are more like the World War Z variety of undead than the shamble Walking Dead-type in that they will run you down and travel in large hordes. Running away is a viable option in this game as players can quickly become overwhelmed with freaks.
Luckily players aren’t on foot as Deek will be getting around on his motorcycle, which players can upgrade throughout their time with the game. It can’t be stressed how important the bike is to the experience; players will be able to save only when near the bike. Also making sure it is repaired and full of gas is super important, but I will say for this being an apocalypse there was always an abundance of gas cans lying around. Players will also scavenge supplies to craft health packs, makeshift weapons and even silencers and parts for guns.
Let’s talk about what has changed with this remaster, for starters, graphically the game looks great. Now I am not going to gas you and tell you that it is some world-changing difference from the original release, because its not. Let’s be clear, this is a remaster that really didn’t need to be made. Sure, the graphics and lighting got a bit of an uptick, and maybe it’s because I don’t have a PS5 Pro that I am unable to truly appreciate this for the remaster that it truly is. But on my regular old standard PS5 the game looks about as good as it did on my PS5 when playing in BC mode. In fact, my biggest issue with this remaster is that for some reason or another all of the movement, combat and interactions feel EXTREMLY sluggish to me as opposed to on PS4. The remaster offers two modes in the usual Performance which offers 60fps and the Quality mode which gives players the usual 30 and I have tried both and both feel ‘off’ in some way. This very well could just be a ‘me’ issue honestly but I felt like I should bring it up anyway.
All in all, I am excited to revisit and finally finish Deacon’s story and with the inclusion of the Broken Road DLC as well as the new Horde mode there is a lot of extra and brand-new content for players to explore. I just really don’t understand the wisdom of doing this remaster, while I am sure the fans appreciate it very much; I didn’t think Sony was moving forward with the franchise. So, to invest money in this remaster just seems like giving some false hope to fans that are interested in seeing more from Deacon and gang but who am I, just a black guy reviewing games. I am sure Sony knows what they are doing……right?
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
