Days Gone Review: Gameplay Impressions, Videos, Speedrunning Tips

Days Gone is the epitome of the old warning to not judge a book by its cover.  

That cover is a zombie-riddled apocalypse with Sons of Anarchy-types playing the heroes in a survival-horror adventure boasting the usual open-world features, aligning nicely with the usual video game tropes of the current era. 

But Days Gone from developer SIE Bend Studio is much, much deeper and enthralling than those simple generalizations. 

The zombies (dubbed "Freakers"), open-world stage and more hide a refined experience with depth in its systems, some worthwhile innovations and an unexpectedly deep story that will grip players and not let go until the ride concludes. 

While it isn't perfect, Days Gone is quietly a juggernaut of a release worth a player's time, if not a system mover in its own right. 

Graphics and Gameplay

The general theme of Days Gone seems to be one of unexpected depth. 

It applies in the graphical department. SIE Bend Studio has put together some incredible facial animations that shine, even in the tensest moments of stories. Characters, particularly the leading roles, wear their emotions in a way that allows for more engrossing storytelling. 

Flanking those characters and their tales is a barren, albeit pretty, world. Guiding the bike over a sinking, curving bridge outside of a camp and hearing the vibration of each board as the tires pass over it is a treat and a small example of the immersive detail.

Details indeed pepper the world. Cars scattered throughout the roads, jammed into tunnels and barricades at medical checkpoints thrown aside hint at the plight of those afflicted trying to escape. A smaller, gory scene at a picnic table outside of a small town suggests a quieter, accepted fate for some. 

While the world as a whole can feel a bit empty when outside of a camp and not running into a horde, it is rather diverse. Dirt paths alongside rivers, towns of various sizes, mountain ranges off in the distance and deep forests are spread throughout an expansive, visually appealing map. Strong overall graphics, though with some notable frame rate dips at times, are all the more impressive with some of the best lighting in gaming to date. 

The dynamic weather system propels the sense of immersion, if not awe. And this isn't some poorly labeled thing those in charge of making the game tossed in so they had a talking point on the back of the box. 

This is downright incredible technology—and perhaps the best of its kind we have seen from a video game to date: 

This is a progressive weather system. When a snowstorm starts to flitter in before becoming a full-blown blizzard, specks of snow start accumulating on the player's character and objects around him. Then the ground starts to muddy and the green on trees starts to go. Eventually, if it is indeed a big storm, the ground is coated in powder and the bike becomes slower to gain traction and acceleration—but the Freakers aren't affected by it...at all. 

The same applies for rain, with the roads becoming noticeably slippier and impacting gameplay in the way one might expect from a racing game, not here. But the snow is more fun and perhaps more symbolic of the game's overarching theme—this didn't have to be in here, but something that goes much farther than a simple visual effect throws the player into a survival experience across all seasons and times of day. 

Overall, Days Gone is much deeper in the gameplay department than one might expect, as various systems form a cohesive whole that is satisfying to progress. 

The gameplay loop surrounding the bike itself isn't overly complicated. Fuel is a finite source, and players will have to keep the tank topped off or risk having to walk the bike around in a Freaker-infested world. Damaging the bike also requires players to jump into a mechanic role and fix it via scraps collected around the world. 

These are simple presses of the button and nothing more. The micromanagement of both systems isn't something players will have to overly worry about and never causes frustration. Rather, it adds an interesting layer of strategy to what is otherwise the routine in an open-world game. 

Fuel and bike upkeep can also be addressed at various camps throughout the world, though these cost camp-specific credits. Those are earned by going on jobs for the leaders, which creates a fun loop and reason to go out of the way to do non-story content. There are also trust levels at the mechanic and armory, which grant access to better bike upgrades and weaponry, respectively. 

Speaking of those facets, the bike controls well from the jump. It's a weighty experience and feels both faster and smoother as the upgrades begin to flow. This is nailed down well, and cruising the world is enjoyable. Gunplay itself is spottier: This is floaty and difficult to aim at times, and the Focus meter, which slows down time, doesn't help things. 

This combat side of the equation is a mixed bag overall. Guns are simply erratic. Systems like bullet drop over long distances and choosing a bow or silenced weapon to remain hidden while taking out enemies are nice, but it starts to fall apart once a big battle against human enemies starts. Those enemies are extremely lethal and can overwhelm quickly. There are plenty of control options to fiddle with in an effort to remedy some of these problems, at least. 

As such, stealth is the typical preferred approach for most encounters. But like many others that try it, this can struggle at times because of the A.I., which can feel erratic in its player detection and quite forgetful rather quickly despite a previous gunfight. 

That said, when stealth goes wrong, it can be a treat to see what sort of chaos unfolds. Days Gone boasts an incredible array of interacting NPC types that can create some shockingly good times. Getting busted while attempting stealth stinks, for example, but the non-suppressed gunfire from a camp's baddies could lure a horde of Freakers to swarm them while the player slips away. 

And this continues everywhere in the world, not just in camps. It isn't uncommon to be cruising along and see a bear duking it out with a few Freakers. Friendly bases will mop up Freakers chasing the player toward the main gate. There are layers of strategy and fun here that create a never-plays-the-same feel—which is true. A base might be too difficult to tackle, but turning Mother Nature or Freakers against them is a viable option. Hunting game out in the wild might be tougher than anticipated, but not if the pack of deer running from the player runs into a few Freakers. 

This complexity extends to other general systems. Crafting, skill trees, melee weapon maintenance and rules surrounding fast travel are simple to understand and are enjoyable. These add to the game, not bog it down, giving an unexpected depth to gameplay. 

Perhaps the crowning achievement of Days Gone from a gameplay perspective is that while it doesn't tackle too many fresh ideas, its execution is strong enough and not one part worsens the experience notably, rather, the deficiencies simply ask the player to adapt. The linear storyline events unfolding throughout a massive open world create a feeling of everything the player does is important. This is an incredibly hard feat to pull off in an open-world game, but it never feels like the player is being asked to do meaningless side tasks for the sake of extending the game's run time. 

A hodgepodge of ideas, most of them done before in some fashion, Days Gone is a joy to play in all areas. Cruising and exploring is fun. Methodically pitting A.I. systems against each other is too. Specing out a character via skill trees and upgrades deepens the player connection. It all isn't as intuitive right out of the gates as it could be, but Days Gone in this regard ends up winning players over. 

Story, World and More

The story of Deacon St. John isn't winning any awards for its innovative ideas, but it is an experience players won't soon forget. 

Separated from his wife during the global pandemic and stranded between camps with his friend and fellow gang member Boozer, St. John has to scrap to survive while trying to unearth what happened. This takes him on a long journey as a drifter and bounty hunter whose only goal is keeping the idea of his wife somewhat alive and doing the same for his friend. 

Sounds sappy. It partially is, but the story goes over some well-trodden roads in interesting ways. Interactions with camps dive into tough topics like how to rebuild a small community, the pitfalls of not having access to power or modern medicine, even the dwindling of resources like fuel and who gets to play judge, jury and executioner. 

Outside of an incredible performance from St. John himself, superb characters surrounding him make the story a memorable one. Camp leaders, close friends and rivals emerge to take on starring roles and force the player to care about their actions and fates. It has the air of a usual video game quest-giver and sprint to the end of the game feel at first, but when the story opens up, players will know and be unable to stop. 

But outside of the story, Days Gone isn't doing anything overly special with its version of enemy outposts, with only the different A.I. systems and their butting heads providing some variance. There are medical outposts that provide a permanent stat boost. Ambush outposts are exactly what they sound like. 

The hordes out in the wild are the most innovative thing Days Gone seems to put forward during its open-world segments. These are swarms of literally hundreds of Freakers at once that convene on one location and collapse on the player if agitated or if the player is simply detected. It's technically impressive and something that seems right out of the World War Z movie. The player is free to hunt these down, though arriving on scene and plotting out traps is the best course of action, as death is instant if the bike tips over and St. John runs out of stamina. 

Days Gone also does some interesting things with general open-world features such as fast travel. Not only does fuel management come into play, but also, if infection sites are blocking a player's desired fast-travel route, the game won't permit it at all. A small, but a simple feature that goes a long way toward making side content such as clearing out infection zones feel meaningful. 

There is also some notable innovation peppered into the gaming experience itself. The HUD is minimalistic but feeds plenty of information to the player. And the menu system is one of the slickest in gaming, as swiping in one of four directions on the DualShock controller brings up a different feature of the pause menu, such as the map. 

And while storyline mission variety isn't great and some of them seem to drag on for too long, the dispersal of storylines is engaging. Players don't merely get access to the main storylines all in a row and knock them out. Rather, the game doles out missions in various storylines at a time and offers a helpful percentage gauge to show how the player is progressing through those. 

The RPG elements play a role too. St. John has three different skill trees to level up as the game progresses, detailing ranged, melee and survival traits. The latter partially plays into the crafting system, which has a similar vibe to The Last of Us. Cobbling together rags and bottles, for example, will help create the usual Molotov. Crafting can get creative though, as a certain arrow shaft for a bow will turn Freakers against each other (which is a good way to amp up the chaos when fighting a horde). 

And there is a vast arsenal at a player's disposal. Items have different rarity tiers as well, which dictate how the stats roll and perform. This never feels like a negative, but rather rewards the player with unlocks at vendors for performing side tasks for each camp. 

As the story progresses, hordes increase and players will start to learn more about Freakers' behavior based on the day-night cycle. Different types of Freakers emerge too. Newts are children Freakers who mostly occupy rooftops and are a jarring breath of fresh air for the genre. Animals themselves such as wolves and Bears can turn into Freakers as well, which makes them even more ferocious, believe it or not. 

Truly, beauty is in the details when it comes to immersion. After going out on a hunt and bringing back some meat, people in camp mentioned someone brought in venison and how it would last months. St. John is thoughtful in his open-world commentary, even responding out loud to radio broadcasts and giving depth to his character. 

And there, we'd be remiss not to hammer more on the superb character work with Deacon St. John. He makes a bad first impression. He's a biker dude with a backward hat and early on he's doing some of the expected cliches (beating up the dead zombie until his friend pulls him off to show how upset he is!). 

But wading past the first impression quickly throws players into the deep end of some brilliant character building the best of games would struggle to meet. St. John quickly becomes relatable. He's much more than what the surface seems to suggest and it doesn't take long for him to be involved in some touching moments players won't forget anytime soon. 

Which is a good metaphor for the game as a whole, really. The systems in place, for the most part, aren't new. But the combination makes an inescapable experience worth investing in for the necessary hours.

Speedrunning Tips

As a bigger release with ample different play styles leaving the player free to put their own mark on the experience, Days Gone is sure to attract a speedrunning crowd. 

That crowd will stick around for the long haul to see how some of the globe's best speedrunners tackle a weighty experience like this. The open-world nature means those runners are not only left to their own devices in how to approach things, but also the randomness of the world around the runners can make or break each run. 

It will be interesting to see how runners digest the experience and go about it. When it comes to the rare permanent stat upgrades, stamina is probably the best bet as opposed to health or the Focus meter. Careful players are going to find plenty of health and won't be leaning on gunplay that much—an extra bit of stamina could be the difference between getting enough distance from an enemy and having enough time to slowly prop up the bike, get on and speed away. 

And from a character build standpoint, early skill unlock points are probably best used in the melee tree. Upgrading the damage and durability of melee weapons the player stumbles across is a safe bet. And speaking of resource management, dumping earned credits into the bike, not weapons, is ideal. The bike is the centerpiece to a good run. Upping fuel capacity, damage it can take, traction and more are things that will make the biggest difference. 

Fast travel via bike is another element to consider. Early on, a runner might find it best to blaze through as many infestations as possible to free up fast travel for the long haul. It will still require some thinking each time the fast travel function is performed, as it eats the current fuel tank, but simply having the ability open across the map is critical. 

Besides that, players will be up to their own discretion as to whether they address side content. Cutscenes are skippable, too. An any-percent run will benefit in that area. There are a massive number of collectibles in the game though, so the 100 percent runs will get lengthy in time quickly. 

As a whole, Days Gone wasn't strictly built for speedrunning by any means. But those run attempts should always have healthy numbers given the nature of the game. 

Conclusion

Days Gone seems to have a big hurdle in terms of first impressions. It waltzes over some pretty well-worn territory in many ways, though the fact it does shouldn't overshadow some of the unique ways it tackles common tropes. Maybe the biggest compliment someone can pay it is that players will find themselves itching to get back to it when they can't play. 

At its heart, Days Gone tells an outright fascinating story about complex people stuck in a terrible situation. It accomplishes this through a little bit of superb storytelling in everything, from cutscenes to conversations and seemingly muttered quips. 

That Days Gone does this while weaving in an engrossing, meaningful open world and character-investment systems with strong innovations is a bonus. Deacon St. John is one of those characters who will stick with players for a long time, and based on the foundation here, his world is probably just getting started with this release.