Days Gone arrived in April 2019 for PlayStation 4, built by Bend Studio and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was the studio’s first open-world project, its first original property since Syphon Filter in 1999, and its first home-console development effort after decades of handheld spinoffs. Development ran roughly six years, and Bend expanded nearly three-fold to finish it. The result is a game that swings hard at something big and lands most of it.
Trailer, via IGDBcom.
Deacon St. John Rides Into Oregon
You play Deacon St. John, an outlaw biker turned drifter and bounty hunter, two years after a pandemic killed most of humanity and turned millions of others into Freakers. Central Oregon was picked for the setting because of its varied terrain, and it shows. Deacon’s motorcycle is the main mode of transport and the best thing in the game. It needs fuel, repairs and upgrades, and that friction keeps every trip honest.
Freakers, Hordes and the Night
Freakers sleep through the day but gather at night, wandering in search of food and water. They form hordes that will overwhelm you fast if you stand still. Other threats stack up:
- Newts, infected adolescents who attack only in their territory or when Deacon is weak
- Runners and Ragers, infected wildlife
- Hostile human factions, including the cultists called the Rippers
They hibernate during daytime but often congregate, wander around, and search for food and water at night.
Sarah, Boozer and the Search
The story sends Deacon after his wife Sarah, assumed dead after the National Emergency Response Organization camp she was heading to was overrun. Researcher James O’Brian reveals her helicopter was diverted mid-flight, so she may be alive. Sam Witwer plays Deacon, Jim Pirri plays Boozer, and Courtnee Draper plays Sarah. The narrative draws on World War Z, The Walking Dead and Sons of Anarchy, and the storytelling method was inspired by several Netflix shows. It mostly holds.
What Works and What Drags
Combat gives you real choice: firearms, melee weapons, traps, explosives, stealth kills from behind with a combat knife, suppressors to stay quiet, survival vision to mark items and enemies, binoculars to scout. It is a lot, and it works. The open world is the weaker half. Missions stretch, and the middle sags.
Days Gone is not the definitive take on the zombie apocalypse, but its horde system and its motorcycle give it a spine most games in this lane lack. Bend built something worth the six years.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.
