The sun sets on Farewell, Oregon. A Small town in the farewell region of the northwestern United States. The city resembles a war zone, streets filled with abandoned cars and the sound of screams filled the air. Something has gotten to some of the residents of this town, they have turned into mindless freakers hell-bent on nothing but survival and fresh meat. You take control of Deacon St. John, a U.S. Army Veteran turned biker as he escorts his wife Sarah and best friend Boozer to a nearby N.E.R.O. Helicopter taking civilians to safety. Being at capacity N.E.R.O. is only able to take two more passengers, so Deacon makes Sarah go as he and Boozer stick together and try to meet up with them on their bikes. 731 days have gone by since the night that we have last seen Sarah. Deacon and Boozer are surviving by hunting down and capturing bounties and supplies for camps and other survivors.

Development

Days Gone is here and it is truly something to behold. It shows something rare in video games today, humanity. The story crafted by John Garvin at Sony Bend Studios was made with love. It is a third person action–adventure survival horror set in this post-apocalyptic world. Inspired by things like the Sons of Anarchy and The Walking Dead, Bend wanted to create a massive version of that world. Beginning production in early 2015, Sony Bend wanted to push the Playstation 4 to a place it’s never been before. This is the first original IP from the studio since 1999’s Syphon Filter and their first time attempting the open world genre. One of their unique aspects of this world was the horde, which is unlike something unseen in a video game, they’re constantly moving and flowing together with a tremendous amount of speed. That brings me to a very important topic for this game.

GAME-PLAY

Game-play here feels kind of like a jack of all trades, you have melee and shooting combat. The shooting feels like the beginning of the uncharted series, good but unrefined. You have a circular reticle to aim, and when you fire your weapon the bullet will hit anywhere within that circle. As you upgrade your shooting skills the reticle gets smaller, and you become used to aiming. It’s something that grows on you and over time feels like realistic shooting for the situation. Melee feels like it has some weight but isn’t anything special. All melee weapons degrade with use, with repairs and crafting coming later with a skill unlock. When out in the field, you can find melee weapons and craft upgrades for them making them stronger and more durable. Fighting humans, freakers and mother nature, the combat gives you more than you bargain for. There are different factions of humans that inhabit the world controlled by freakers, and most don’t take kindly to your presence. One of your most problematic human threats are the marauders, setting up camps and traps around the map hoping to catch you off guard. The freakers are no cake walk either though, as the freakers can travel in hordes. The hordes are one of the most unique aspects that this game has in its arsenal. First teased in Sony’s 2016 E3 press conference, the Horde was always a part of the Days Gone production. It flows like a sort of river, going over or through obstacles until It gets what it wants, and it is breathtaking to experience. With any open world game there will be a lot of traveling, and it is important that it feels unique and not a burden on the player. This is the one part of the game-play that felt amazing from the start, the motorcycle felt like it had weight when turning and accelerating. While this was one of my favorite parts of the game-play it still had its issues. Issues can always be fixed though, which brings me to one of my most important points.

Performance

Days gone is a powerhouse example of how to make a beautiful open world with incredible looking environments and vistas. Pushing Sony’s PlayStation 4 to it’s limit, Bend Studios took their time meticulously crafting this open world. With so much attention to detail on the open world however pushes the standard issue PS4 to its breaking point. During my playthrough I noticed a drop-in frame rate when riding my bike and facing hordes, a trail left behind the bike as its moving, textures popping in and out and other visual bugs. Fortunately, we are in the golden age of gaming.