Being a bit exhausted by all the open worlds, I did not think Days Gone could surprise me. I mean, at first glance, it does not stand out from the never-ending influx of similar titles, as at its core, it is more or less the same! And on top of that, there are zombies—I never was a big fan of those.

Yet, Days Gone impressed me, hitting the right notes that made me adore it from start to finish.

One of the reasons it enthralled me that much is due to its approach to the narrative, which sets its simple premises and actually sticks to them the whole time. Thus, whilst it is not original by any means, its grounded storytelling that often prefers to take its time to unveil all the plots slowly – letting you explore both characters and the world they live in – results in a much more captivating experience than it seems to be at the beginning. It adheres to its strengths and builds upon them, stopping when necessary to not overlap into something it could not deliver.

And that is the beauty of Days Gone; its honest directness.

Deacon St. John is just trying to figure out the fate of his wife, not willing to stop until he has the precise answers. It never turns into a saving-the-human-race kind of trope; it does not even give you much hope to believe so, as the world is gradually becoming worse. Hence, many just try their best to adapt and survive by organising their own distinctive communities. And St. John clashes with them often because of his conflictive – at times overly pessimistic – attitude, which frequently challenges his own views, as he is not always right, morally or otherwise. And he just does not suffer fools gladly. But despite being so opinionated, he is still so damn likeable, and the said confrontations show he can both grow and stay a bit stubborn; however, so much of that is thanks to his actor’s brilliant portrayal, which would not get lost even among Red Dead Redemption 2’s amazing cast. His performance alone became one of my favourites from this industry.

My praise is just getting started, though, as the gameplay wonderfully complements the narrative. Sure, it does not differ much with its side activities from other open worlds, as I already said. Yet, it still feels different, maybe because Deacon’s goal, whilst important, does not urge him to rush forward the next minute. So, it makes sense here to clean out some zombies‘ nests to make roads safer to ride through, unlocking fast travel in the process. And more importantly, it does not overwhelm you with these tasks; their amount is just right, which in turn makes them more memorable. But even if you would not wish to engage in them, you are welcome to ignore it all, as there are no levels or other artificial crap to lock you out from the storyline.

There are no interruptions in this journey, only sweet optional additions.

Perhaps you might have fewer weapons at your disposal due to that, but fighting enemies is still fair and square. A good ol‘ headshot will put away any bandit or zombie, but it does not make the combat primitive, as they tend to swarm on you. Thus, constant movement and solid knowledge of your surroundings, as well as keeping a check on your supplies, are usually much more crucial than your gear. Do not be afraid, though, as Days Gone is by no means a survival title; it is pretty generous with its loot, avoiding the tiresome repetition of constant searches for it, but when you do so, you might stumble upon a thrilling encounter, too.
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Since St. John is a drifter, it makes sense for him to take care of this stuff, especially his bike. After all, you will use it often, and you will love riding around the beautiful woods and hills of Oregon! The driving is so smooth and responsive, even at high speed, especially when you swiftly avoid a fallen tree or broken car; there is plenty of those, making the world look gorgeously detailed, where you can see that the whole civilisation suddenly stopped existing.
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The gunplay is perhaps even more satisfying, though, especially due to the loud sounds that make weapons feel even more powerful! And various animations go hand in hand with that, making the combat more authentic, perhaps even real. It is about those little details like humans losing balance depending on where you hit them or zombies trying to dodge your shots while they rush towards you. That also adds a little bit of exciting unpredictability that you need to count on, but not at the cost of fun. The culmination of these encounters is hordes; during the first few hours, you are not supposed – nor expected – to take on them but rather avoid them. But, as you progress further, you will get more skilful and have better weaponry, perhaps even traps, so the tides will finally turn, and you will become the hunter. It is a sweet way of providing late-game content while slowly preparing you for it throughout the whole playthrough.
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And if you would not have enough, you can hop into numerous separate challenges that test your skills, like forcing you to ride quickly in woods full of sudden turns and zombies or throwing you against an infinite hoard, counting how long you can last. Moreover, based on your performance, it rewards you with cute badges for your jacket that provide you with small bonuses that transfer to the campaign. It is just another little detail that feels nice. I am usually not fond of challenges like these in single-player titles, but I enjoyed them here, as they seem fair, and even getting all the achievements does not require an obscure time investment.

Well, so far, my text is overly positive. For a good reason! There surely were a few aspects that I would improve, but it never was something that would bother me for long or ruin my experience. So, any complaint would be about some trivial thing or detail that ultimately does not matter much, and it would feel like overblowing its importance by even mentioning it.

And that is why Days Gone swayed me over. It sets simple premises and goals, sticks to them and executes them in a grounded yet extraordinary way, never pretending to be something more or delivering half-baked aspects just for the sake of having them. Nothing more, nothing less. It is kinda a prime example of what more mainstream open-world titles should do. Because by seemingly doing less by staying to its core and building around it, the final experience is much more coherent and better than its competitors.

Thus, I am glad that my friend kinda “forced” me into giving it a try, and in return, I became similarly annoying with my praise to other friends of mine, some of which dislike the nowadays approach of open worlds. And guess what; they loved Days Gone, too! So, here I am, swooning over a zombie open-world game, even wishing for a sequel. Something I would never imagine happening!

And now, I am here to infect the rest of you.

PC Specs and Performance

I played it with an i7 12700H, GTX 3070ti 8GB, and 16GB DDR5 RAM, on SSD at ultra settings, at 70-160 frames per second, at 1920x1080 resolution. The framerate depends on location, as being inside of buildings will boost it, for example, but there are never sudden big drops, even when massive hordes attack you. Solid optimisation.

Acknowledgement

This game was gifted to me by a dear friend of mine. Thank you!

Curator link

While this was quite a positive ride, I also can bash a game or two. See for yourself at my curator, Blue Lips and their Quips!