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Days Gone Lead Devs Have Left Sony Bend Studio

Concern

Member
Days Gone is solid but nowhere near perfect. Maybe it can actually be improved to be a true AAA blockbuster series?


Definitely not perfect. But I would definitely love to see what they could improve in a sequel on much better hardware. Plus how the story unfolds.
 

Humdinger

Member
Initially, I thought the news meant Days Gone 2 was a goner. Garvin and Ross are central figures, the two guys most responsible for the game. However, it seems that Garvin actually left a year ago (didn't realize that). Ross' departure is the only news here.

I wouldn't mind if the studio tried a new IP instead of revisiting Days Gone. I thought DG was fine. It was better than I expected. It just didn't fire my imagination much. I'm tired of the zombie apocalypse.
 

Rest

All these years later I still chuckle at what a fucking moron that guy is.
Not when you are properly tooled up to handle them.

As per usual people complaining about not enough hordes early on aren't really thinking it through. Taking down a horde requires a lot of resources, so until late game where your ability to use/craft the strongest weapons and acquire resources is maxed or close to, its a really bad idea to take on any of the bigger hordes.
I killed three hordes, because doing it was boring. Grinding to get resources to build all the stuff to take one out took forever, then running in circles chipping away at the crowd was unsatisfying. I saved them for last, to wait until I had all the upgrades, but once that was all that was left I just let them be because they still weren't fun to do.
 

BlackM1st

Banned
Story was bad. Not tlou 2 "horrible nightmare tier" but characters was so annoying...Killed it for me. It also was VERY repetitive.
 
T

The New Guy

Unconfirmed Member
Days Gone is solid but nowhere near perfect. Maybe it can actually be improved to be a true AAA blockbuster series?

I enjoyed Days Gone, but definitely a lot of areas for improvement. It had a lot of neat ideas, and I'm a sucker for that type of setting. There was a great game hiding inside there. It should have been so much more. Either way, I had a good time with it, and I wish had a PS5 because the framerate improvements I saw are really welcomed, wish I had the chance to play it that way first.

I'd be totally down for another entry in the series.
 

yurinka

Member
I wish them the best on whatever they do now. Loved Days Gone, Syphon Filter games or Uncharted Golden Abyss. Now I can't wait to see Days Gone 2 made by Sony Bend even if it's without them.

Two Devs out of what 100-150(one is a writer right?) have left Sony Bend and yes they were Senior and involved with Days Gone creation... hence the completely genuine “concern creation headline” thread subject (and OP). Job done ✅... ;).
Two devs out of 1679 people listed on Days Gone credits (1533 developers, 146 thanks):

John was the director/creative director and writer of all the games of the studio, Jeff was co-director on Days Gone and designer or writer in many other games. Yes, they had an important role, but everybody can be replaced, specially on these kind of huge projects that are backed by a giant like Sony, and having released recently a very succesful game.
 
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Nester99

Member
The story in this game annoyed the shit out of me more so then any other game in years.

I liked the gameplay, the bike and the hordes were really fun,

But that wife of his.... Ruined the whole game for me.
 

Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
I wish them the best on whatever they do now. Loved Days Gone, Syphon Filter games or Uncharted Golden Abyss. Now I can't wait to see Days Gone 2 made by Sony Bend even if it's without them.


Two devs out of 1679 people listed on Days Gone credits (1533 developers, 146 thanks):
One of the two apparently left a year ago or so.
 

yurinka

Member
One of the two apparently left a year ago or so.
Yes, he did. And will take a rest after 20 years in the studio, won't work in videogames for a while. He will paint and do stuff like that. I assume he will have earned a ton of money with Days Gone, and the studio grew a lot and now has a new office.

The other one will leave this week, and mentioned on twitter he's moving to Chicago and 'will go multiplatform'. So maybe NetherRealms, Iron Galaxy or Wargaming hired him.
 
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Kerlurk

Banned
 
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Kerlurk

Banned
 
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Nester99

Member
I posted this in another thread on Gaf when this game came out


Super tough biker killing 1000's of people and zombies, looking for the love of his life, his wife Sarah. Finds her and its the biggest "MEH" in video games, Sees some dude wearing his Biker ring and just says "ok i guess i am just a huge cuck now" Decided its best to just keep being an errand boy bitch rather than fight for his wife and his life. Does not even ask her "hey whats up, are we still married and shit" It's a full character switch, and 100% bullshit. What happened to our tough biker?"]
 
I actually thought the story was fine and the characters became endearing as the game went on. which is weird because in all the previews I just assume that aspect was going to be terrible and anyone else who is assuming that would just continue to do so due to this thread but I figured I should be one of the people who comes out and says no it's actually pretty well done for what it is. Best game of 2019, eat me.
 

Gamerguy84

Member
I thought DG was an amazing game. It takes a long time to open up but it's really phenomenal.

I'm sure they will be missed but one thing I've learned is everyone is replaceable.
 
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reektann

Member
Reading about Days Gone makes me want to play it all over again on PS5. The motorbike was sublime and the weight of the handling was so right.

I loved having to plan my route a little and pulling up to a garage to fill up was oddly satisfying.

I only got to it last year on PS4 Pro so it was patched to the nines.
 
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Majmun

Member
Bought the game day 1. But stopped playing because of the annoying bugs and glitches. I was constantly losing my weapons after cutscenes and it drove me nuts.
 

GymWolf

Member
Bought the game day 1. But stopped playing because of the annoying bugs and glitches. I was constantly losing my weapons after cutscenes and it drove me nuts.
You can try the game on ps5, the bugs are probably all ironed out and the game seems to run pretty good in bc mode.
 

CamHostage

Member
Holy crap John was there since the start. Hopefully the studio can recover.

Yeah, I hope this is just a string of coincidental personal changes and not a sign of trouble at SIE Bend.

I always hope for good things for them, I've been a follower of that studio forever. (Well, not all the way back to Bubsy 3D, but I loved Eidetic/Bend Studio's three Syphon Filter PS1 games and really enjoyed their PSP/Vita work, the demo of SF PS2 turned me off of that one but I own and will some day play through Days Gone.)

Folks like John Garvin leaving seems to mark the end of an era, but Days Gone seemed to mark the beginning of its era for Bend Studio, so I'm not sure what their future is. (I will always feel they were at their best as an underdog studio doing amazing work on a lesser console like PSP, but there's no "Second Pillar" for PlayStation right now unless VR comes back, and a tragic number of those smaller studios have suffered and/or disappeared in recent PlayStation history.)
 
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