Days Gone Review (PS4)
Introduction
This is an action horror and open-world game developed by SIE Bend Studio. As this game has bugs and glitches, it is highly recommended that you download the latest update to fix most of the issues.
Story
The story takes place in Oregon, after several years of an unknown outbreak where humans turned to creatures called Freakers. Deacon St. John is one of the survivors, along with his closest friend Boozer. One day, Deacon found out that the person who evacuated his late wife survived, and began to having thoughts that his late wife may be alive somewhere. Embark on his journey on how he survives this Freaker apocalypse as well as to find out the truth about his late wife.
The story starts a bit slow at the beginning, but it quickly picks up and ended up being really interesting until the end of the game. Many good conclusion of several story arcs such as NERO's involvement with the Freakers, Boozer, and etc. The ending is also well-done, as well as having a surprising yet good epilogue.
The characters are pretty interesting too. Deacon is a very likable character, as well as Boozer, O'Brian, Rikki, Iron Mike, Tucker, Skizzo, and others. Background lore is interesting as well, by listening to recorded tapes by NERO staff that are scattered throughout the game.
Gameplay
This game plays like many other open-world action games. You will control Deacon, and explore the post-apocalyptic Oregon in order to survive. You will need to complete Story Missions to progress the game's story, as well as able to complete optional quests such as burning the Freakers' nests, kill all marauders in an ambush camp, etc.
The progression is simple. In order to progress the game, you need to complete Story Missions, where it will require you to complete certain objectives in order to complete a mission. Some Missions length can range from short to long. As you progress, you will unlock new areas to explore, as well as new sub-weapons to kill your foes. Exploration is mainly done by riding your bike to your destinations. However, your bike requires fuel for travelling, so remember to refuel your bike whenever you can during free exploration. You are also free to explore at different areas for supplies, new ambush camps, new side missions, and etc.
You may acquire new weapons by two ways. First, you can retrieve it by human enemies' dead bodies. Some of them may drop a handgun, an assault rifle, and etc. Secondly, you can purchase them from certain camps' merchants. However, you need to achieve a certain Trust rank for those camps. Trust ranks can be achieved by completing that camp's associated Story/Side Missions or trading in bounties. Higher Trust ranks allow you to buy better weapons, better bike parts, as well as more supplies. Your bike may also be customised with different parts, such as better fuel tank and tires. They can also be purchased from merchants in certain camps as well.
Combat is simple. You can engage enemies in either melee, stealth, or ranged combat. For melee, you may use a knife to kill humans or Freakers, or you may use an object to kill them as well. You may find various objects as weapons, such as machete, a wood, a bat, a makeshift bat with saw, and etc on the field. As you progress, you may also create your own makeshift melee weapon, as long as you have the right recipe and materials. You may also defeat enemies stealthily if they are unaware of you.
You may also engage enemies using your firearms or sub-weapons in third person view. Different firearms have different stats, usage, and condition, so pay attention to them before using them. Sub-weapons can be found by looting enemies, looting areas, or created by crafting them with certain materials. During combat, you may also open your Weapon Wheel to craft items on the spot during slow-motion, such as molotovs or bandages.
As you progress in the game, you will fight a variety of enemies. Human enemies usually come with firearms or a melee weapon, and Freakers come with different variety that will make your day miserable enough. Humans will usually ambush you at certain areas, such as roads and petrol stations. Freakers come with different variety, such as one type of Freaker can call multiple Swarmers to attack you, or a certain aggressive Freaker type animal that can kill you easily.
Overall gameplay is solid. No real weak spots here. The main highlight is the Horde side missions, where they prove to be a challenge as well as dangerous to you due to their sheer amount of Freakers coming at you. Decent combat, good leveling system, meaningful skills, and good enemy variety.
However, I find that the game should introduce a story mission that requires you to eliminate a Horde earlier to show how big a threat they are to players. The story Horde missions came way too late in the game's story to make an early impact. Other issues include the recycled mission objectives for story missions, not user-friendly weapon wheel U.I., few stealth options, and weak looting system. Still, a solid start for the next game.
Graphics
This game has amazing visuals. Great looking characters and environments. The framerate is variable, where it can be steady but not at many occasions. This is specially noticeable when riding your bike.
The user interface is not good, however. Particularly, most of the text size in the menu and weapons wheel are a bit too small for my liking.
Sound
This game has good voice acting. All voice actors do commendable job on voicing their characters, such as Samuel Witwer (Deacon). No weakspots here.
The soundtrack is pretty good, and the main theme of the game is quite memorable. Some of the licensed songs are good too.
Replay Value
This game has good replay value. You may opt to find all collectibles, find all NERO injectors, complete all Jobs by camps, eliminate all Horde threats, completing Ambush Camps, and etc. Not to mention, there are few post-game story missions that you may complete for additional story closures for several characters.
Conclusion
This is a pretty good game. Interesting story, good and likable characters. overall solid gameplay, good exploration aspects, intense yet generic Horde fights, meaningful skill upgrades, and great visuals are the main draws for this game. I do suggest that you install the latest update to fix most bugs and glitches in the game. A pretty good action horror and open-world game, and a solid start to a potential new series. Recommended game.
Score
Story: 9/10
Gameplay: 7/10
Graphics: 7/10
Sound: 8/10
Score: 7.75/10 or 31/40
Pros
- Interesting and good story.
- Many likable characters.
- Good gameplay.
- Good amount of side-content.
- Intense Horde fights.
- Meaningful skill upgrades.
- Immersive post-apocalyptic atmosphere.
- Good enemy variety.
- Good replay value.
- Good music.
- Good voice acting.
Cons
- Bugs and glitches
- Recycled mission objectives for story missions.
- Few stealth options.
- Troublesome \looting system.
- Not user-friendly interface, such as small menu texts.
**Screenshots are from official Days Gone site.
This is an action horror and open-world game developed by SIE Bend Studio. As this game has bugs and glitches, it is highly recommended that you download the latest update to fix most of the issues.
Story
Deacon is one of the survivors of the outbreak in Oregon.
The story starts a bit slow at the beginning, but it quickly picks up and ended up being really interesting until the end of the game. Many good conclusion of several story arcs such as NERO's involvement with the Freakers, Boozer, and etc. The ending is also well-done, as well as having a surprising yet good epilogue.
The characters are pretty interesting too. Deacon is a very likable character, as well as Boozer, O'Brian, Rikki, Iron Mike, Tucker, Skizzo, and others. Background lore is interesting as well, by listening to recorded tapes by NERO staff that are scattered throughout the game.
Gameplay
Explore Oregon.
The progression is simple. In order to progress the game, you need to complete Story Missions, where it will require you to complete certain objectives in order to complete a mission. Some Missions length can range from short to long. As you progress, you will unlock new areas to explore, as well as new sub-weapons to kill your foes. Exploration is mainly done by riding your bike to your destinations. However, your bike requires fuel for travelling, so remember to refuel your bike whenever you can during free exploration. You are also free to explore at different areas for supplies, new ambush camps, new side missions, and etc.
You may acquire new weapons by two ways. First, you can retrieve it by human enemies' dead bodies. Some of them may drop a handgun, an assault rifle, and etc. Secondly, you can purchase them from certain camps' merchants. However, you need to achieve a certain Trust rank for those camps. Trust ranks can be achieved by completing that camp's associated Story/Side Missions or trading in bounties. Higher Trust ranks allow you to buy better weapons, better bike parts, as well as more supplies. Your bike may also be customised with different parts, such as better fuel tank and tires. They can also be purchased from merchants in certain camps as well.
Freakers will not be your only adversaries.
Combat is simple. You can engage enemies in either melee, stealth, or ranged combat. For melee, you may use a knife to kill humans or Freakers, or you may use an object to kill them as well. You may find various objects as weapons, such as machete, a wood, a bat, a makeshift bat with saw, and etc on the field. As you progress, you may also create your own makeshift melee weapon, as long as you have the right recipe and materials. You may also defeat enemies stealthily if they are unaware of you.
You may also engage enemies using your firearms or sub-weapons in third person view. Different firearms have different stats, usage, and condition, so pay attention to them before using them. Sub-weapons can be found by looting enemies, looting areas, or created by crafting them with certain materials. During combat, you may also open your Weapon Wheel to craft items on the spot during slow-motion, such as molotovs or bandages.
As you progress in the game, you will fight a variety of enemies. Human enemies usually come with firearms or a melee weapon, and Freakers come with different variety that will make your day miserable enough. Humans will usually ambush you at certain areas, such as roads and petrol stations. Freakers come with different variety, such as one type of Freaker can call multiple Swarmers to attack you, or a certain aggressive Freaker type animal that can kill you easily.
Overall gameplay is solid. No real weak spots here. The main highlight is the Horde side missions, where they prove to be a challenge as well as dangerous to you due to their sheer amount of Freakers coming at you. Decent combat, good leveling system, meaningful skills, and good enemy variety.
However, I find that the game should introduce a story mission that requires you to eliminate a Horde earlier to show how big a threat they are to players. The story Horde missions came way too late in the game's story to make an early impact. Other issues include the recycled mission objectives for story missions, not user-friendly weapon wheel U.I., few stealth options, and weak looting system. Still, a solid start for the next game.
Graphics
Pretty visuals, but variable framerate performance. Bugs and glitches are present too.
This game has amazing visuals. Great looking characters and environments. The framerate is variable, where it can be steady but not at many occasions. This is specially noticeable when riding your bike.
The user interface is not good, however. Particularly, most of the text size in the menu and weapons wheel are a bit too small for my liking.
Sound
Good voice acting and soundtrack.
The soundtrack is pretty good, and the main theme of the game is quite memorable. Some of the licensed songs are good too.
Replay Value
Good replay value.
Conclusion
Pretty good game with promising start.
This is a pretty good game. Interesting story, good and likable characters. overall solid gameplay, good exploration aspects, intense yet generic Horde fights, meaningful skill upgrades, and great visuals are the main draws for this game. I do suggest that you install the latest update to fix most bugs and glitches in the game. A pretty good action horror and open-world game, and a solid start to a potential new series. Recommended game.
Score
Story: 9/10
Gameplay: 7/10
Graphics: 7/10
Sound: 8/10
Score: 7.75/10 or 31/40
Pros
- Interesting and good story.
- Many likable characters.
- Good gameplay.
- Good amount of side-content.
- Intense Horde fights.
- Meaningful skill upgrades.
- Immersive post-apocalyptic atmosphere.
- Good enemy variety.
- Good replay value.
- Good music.
- Good voice acting.
Cons
- Bugs and glitches
- Recycled mission objectives for story missions.
- Few stealth options.
- Troublesome \looting system.
- Not user-friendly interface, such as small menu texts.
**Screenshots are from official Days Gone site.
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