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LTTP: Days Gone is an overlooked underappreciated gem of a game

Do you want a sequel to Days Gone

  • Yes, sign me up

    Votes: 204 65.8%
  • Need to play the original first

    Votes: 61 19.7%
  • I am still unable to secure a PS5 :(

    Votes: 18 5.8%
  • I want a new IP from Bend

    Votes: 34 11.0%
  • Can we have a Syphon Filter Remake from Bend Studio

    Votes: 34 11.0%

  • Total voters
    310
So this game launched exclusively on PS4 early last year and was critically panned. Some even questioned the writing in the game(which clicked and connected with me, the writing was good imo). Some criticized it for performance issues like frame rate drops here and there, frame rate hitches, texture pop ins and some audio dropping off type issues. I waited for the audio and other performance-related issues before I could play it on PS4 and then the game fell off my radar.

A little over a month ago I was lucky enough to get a PS5 and that's when and how I discovered this underrated gem. The game is a free PS Plus game as part of the PS Collection for anyone who'd buy a PS5. 57 hours later the story concluded, credits have rolled, platinum trophy got unlocked. The ending was so well rounded.

Things that clicked with me:
-The beautiful bleak world of Oregon with a stunning time of day, dynamic weather conditions, volumetric fog, and god rays.
-Voice acting by main cast was spot on in many scenes. Deek has plenty of emotional moments in the game. Rikki Paatil, Boozer and Iron Mike voice actors knocked it out of the park.
-The shooting is very satisfying and the precision you get thanks to 60fps, has to been seen and experienced.
-Melee combat is fun too, weapon craft system is quite nice.
-The characters in the world are memorable. They've got an emotional arc in them as you progress through your questline.
-Clearing out Hordes is tense and satisfying.
-Riding the bike across the vast open-world is actually quite fun and the bike physics and handling are quite good.
-Enjoyed the realism in the bike mechanics, you run out of fuel you stop and you got to continue your journey on foot until you find a gas station around or find a fuel can.
-Games audio design can lead to scary encounters with infected humans, infected and noninfected wolves, and bears.
-Skill Tree upgrade was easier to understand and without this taking out the hordes would've been extremely taxing.

What I am neutral about?
-The game is long, like really long. I approached this game from the start as somewhat of a completionist mindset. Searching everywhere, collecting items, and crafting weapons. Exploring every nook and canny from the start till the end. I never got bored, not once. My sessions with the game were 2 hours during week days and 12 hours during weekends. I enjoyed every minute of it. That being said this game could be tedious for some.

Things that were weird
-I ran into some bugs. One had Deek flying like superman tossed by Zod up in the air, he'd then go fall on the far side of the world and die
-In another bug, deek would become invisible, the mouse aim reticle would go missing along with deek. I'd to multiple restart from checkpoints to address this and then it never happened after that. This happened fairly early on in the game.
-Random NPC's whom we save from marauders and rippers, they all look the same. I'd have saved this dude and a few minutes later, it's the same dude whom I saving again despite having told him to go and stay put in one of the camps around lost lake or crater lake.
-Cleared out a crucial horde that's dependant on main mission in the end. But the dialog conversation failed to acknowledge that I'd cleared out the horde well in advance.
-Transition from cinematics to gameplay leaves a lot to be desired. Too many loading between cinematics to gameplay to cinematics (Fade to black).

So yeah I think Days Gone is a game that people need to experience it on the PS5. The higher frame rate, the sharper resolution really makes the game world pop and feel alive than ever before. The texture pop ins have greatly reduced on the PS5 and loading is reasonably fast. I wholeheartedly recommend this gem to anyone who'd missed out on. But please make sure you're first experience of this is on PS5 and not PS4. Playing this on PS5 has been so damn transformative!

Sony Bend Studio being a relatively smaller sized studio pulled this major AAA game off. Kudos to them. I now badly want a sequel to this!
 
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THEAP99

Banned
When it comes to the world of days gone, it's impressive what the pulled off on the first try compared to let's say SuckerPunch who has much more experience. I mean the game had plenty of random events and the open world was justified by the large scale hordes.

That being said, I want Bend to do a linear new IP. That would be perfect for them and Sony needs more linear games.
 
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I’m hopeful there’ll be a sequel coming down the pipe. I really enjoyed this game and revisiting it on PS5 has been a blast for me.

I still have no idea what the bad press was about with this game.

Apparently one critic in the press said they cringed at the dialogue where the character tells he will ride her like the way he rides the bike. Apparently it's a biker cultural thing to say. Heck even Sara (Deek's wife) says she will say no such absurd things at their wedding ceremony. So games writing even addresses the cringe.
 

Devonshire

Banned
Apparently one critic in the press said they cringed at the dialogue where the character tells he will ride her like the way he rides the bike. Apparently it's a biker cultural thing to say. Heck even Sara (Deek's wife) says she will say no such absurd things at their wedding ceremony. So games writing even addresses the cringe.

I think sometimes the press feels like they have to bitch about something these days.

It’s been really interesting to see the praise heaped on The Last of Us 2 whilst this game gets seemingly snubbed. I really liked the story and characters in Days Gone, cringe and all.
 
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Vick

Gold Member
One of my favourite PS Exclusives ever, i was so glad to see 90% of GAF appreciate this monumental and underrated game. Fuck reviewers.

Here lots of opinions and my personal review (one of my favourite Threads on GAF).

tenor.gif
 

Keihart

Member
I didn't enjoy the combat at all and drop it mid way, the world itself was not that bad or anything but the combat was too close to TLoU's mechanically while being worse at the same time. I won't even mention the script since it's the worst part.

I would say that Bend did prove to have the chops for a big console release at least, sandbox are hardly ever done well in every aspect so i suspect that they would do even better in something a little more focused.
 

bitbydeath

Member
I didn't enjoy the combat at all and drop it mid way, the world itself was not that bad or anything but the combat was too close to TLoU's mechanically while being worse at the same time. I won't even mention the script since it's the worst part.

I would say that Bend did prove to have the chops for a big console release at least, sandbox are hardly ever done well in every aspect so i suspect that they would do even better in something a little more focused.

The combat changes dramatically over the course of the game. Everything does really, it’s a slow burn game which is very rare.
 

ElCasual

Member
Please stop this campain of Days Gone.
The press, ResetEra and the SJW will realize that in that game YOU KILL CHILDREN AND WOMANS. I dunno if in Last 2 is the same.
Edit: Yesterday I start in Days Gone and is amazing game. Just a little bugs but nothing big.
 
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Shmunter

Member
Exceptionally unique game. And as you say, first time dev to pull off such an open world is a triumph, you’d think this is their 10th try.

On ps5 this may as well be a next gen launch title.
 

RareJordan

Member
Picked it up on release day, and I am still playing it from time to time (Platinumed and I’m on my 3rd play through). I really enjoy the world they created. Being from the PNW myself it really clicked with me.
 

theHFIC

Member
It was a fun open world game. Finished it with clearing maybe 65-70% of the game.

A lot of the mechanics of the game are solid and it has a lot of fun options that open up as the game progresses. The story is absolute biker trash not fit for the cutting room floor of the interns of Harley Davidson social media team making a video project. But there are so many fun mechanics in the game that make up for it that you slog on through to the end.

I stopped taking the story seriously after the 3rd or 4th time you are being told a major plot point of the game while you ride your bike from one location to the other except the distance you ride is so short that you won't hear the storyline unless you stop your bike and just sit and listen to it. And then when you do stop to listen to the plot line, it's your sidekick Boozer whining about how miserable his in game renegade biker life is now because of whatever biker storyline trope is affecting him at that point in the game (and he gets a lot of them to the point where you feel that death would be a sweet release for him).

But man, leading a horde through a group of bandits and having them tear them apart is so much fun. Makes my PS4 Pro sound like a turbine too.
 
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Vick

Gold Member
Hard to believe there's any objectivity here
Exactly, so many people without the platforms to run it coming in here just to downplay or hate, like for every single exclusive.

If you actually played the game you'll realize how insanely clueless your post sound. Especially considering the reason the game got bad reviews boils down to glitches, and:

Sorry for the enormous image. If there’s a better way to show this, tell me.

jurn-daysgonedlkjx.jpg

But keep hating.
 

kikii

Member
Game was buggy when it released, i waited somewhat 4months till they patched it

Zxi2TAL.jpg
 
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Allright, I thought it was absolutely mediocre. Nothing stood out except the bike riding was refreshing, but grew old on me. I thought the story was very boring and poorly written with no interesting characters to keep me invested.

The gameplay was pretty fun but not enough to keep me going past maybe 20 hours or so. Most of all, everything was so unpolished to me and like.. Almost good? But not quite there, and I also think it was very repetetive.

But I'd love to see a sequel with a lot more polish and improvements. It's certainly not a bad game, just not what I'd call good either.
 
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Self

Member
I still can't believe that Days Gone is made by a smaller studio. It has AAA blockbuster written all over it.
 

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
The setting and graphics are great but the story makes no sense, the characters are terrible and the gameplay is open world filler trash... Aside from very late hordes.
Imo it is overrated...
I disliked the characters but will remember them because they were so stupid. Boozer sits around for whole game, Mike is unrealistically stupid for a boss character, Deacon is.... Omg... At least I remember them.
And the repetition of terrible stealth missions and random open world event traps... Ugh
 
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Jada

Banned
Allright, I thought it was absolutely mediocre. Nothing stood out except the bike riding was refreshing, but grew old on me. I thought the story was very boring and poorly written with no interesting characters to keep me invested.

The gameplay was pretty fun but not enough to keep me going past maybe 20 hours or so. Most of all, everything was so unpolished to me and like.. Almost good? But not quite there, and I also think it was very repetetive.

But I'd love to see a sequel with a lot more polish and improvements. It's certainly not a bad game, just not what I'd call good either.
Doesn’t sound like you played the game. Its cast of characters was as compelling as you’ll find in an open world of its scope. The story was great, especially when he made it to the third camp, and that wasn’t even half way through the game, leaving you tons more to play. Game is amazing, but to each his own.

I think Watch Dogs: Legion and Assassins Creed: Valhalla are both fucking garbage, but some people here seem to dig it.

To each his own.
 
The setting and graphics are great but the story makes no sense, the characters are terrible and the gameplay is open world filler trash... Aside from very late hordes.
Imo it is overrated...
I disliked the characters but will remember them because they were so stupid. Boozer sits around for whole game, Mike is unrealistically stupid for a boss character, Deacon is.... Omg... At least I remember them.
And the repetition of terrible stealth missions and random open world event traps... Ugh
Fully agree with everything in your post.
 

turtlepowa

Banned
The setting and graphics are great but the story makes no sense, the characters are terrible and the gameplay is open world filler trash... Aside from very late hordes.
Imo it is overrated...
I disliked the characters but will remember them because they were so stupid. Boozer sits around for whole game, Mike is unrealistically stupid for a boss character, Deacon is.... Omg... At least I remember them.
And the repetition of terrible stealth missions and random open world event traps... Ugh
This. Also
- Reputation grinding (in singleplayer games) sucks
- Stealth missions sucked
- Performance on normal PS4 sucked while on the bike
- Getting NERO Injectors was boring and reptetive
- Getting scrap and fuel was just boring time sink, they always respawned at the exact same locations---> No apocalypse feeling
- After 40% of the the game you are already John Cena and only bigger Hordes are dangerous
- The whole military base part was just too much.
 
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Mmnow

Member
Haven't played it yet. Its one of the first games I'll be playing in the New Year, so I'm holding off on an express opinion right now.

But the idea it got critically panned is ridiculous. It got a good score - 70ish on Metacritic? Outside of the average, even harsher reviews recognised that it had very positive points.

These posts always turn into "Has anyone else ever heard of The Witcher 3?" circlejerks. This is the one Sony exclusive I see people unanimously big up almost every day on this forum, more so than Ghost even.
 

DunDunDunpachi

Patient MembeR
I don't really seek out zombie games, but I do love survival / low-resource games, and this sounds like something I'd enjoy. Gotta beat Death Stranding and Ghost of Tsushima first, though.

Is the world exploration story-driven? Is the world itself fun enough to mess around in? PS4 Spider Man was kinda boring to me because it lacked a mechanically-complex world. It was just a big map where you did story missions.
 

TintoConCasera

I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
Played it not long ago and felt it was mediocre.

Nice graphics, but everything else felt quite meh, specially the story, characters and both shooting and stealth mechanics.

I liked some things tho, like the caring for the motorbike, the world design and the crafting.

So yeah, if they improve the gameplay and make the survival aspect more deep, I still would sign up for a sequel, as the game had a lot of potential.
 

Ogbert

Member
I enjoyed it.

It was just too long. Would have been an amazing 25 hour game. Instead, I ended up tapping out at around 40 or so.
 

Matt_Fox

Member
I'm playing it at the moment on PS5 and its a great experience - I didn't play it at launch on base PS4 to compare but the extra smoothness of 60fps and no doubt patches must have had a positive impact on performance.

The skill points and grind to access higher tier gear is SLOW and inventory space is frustratingly small, but the game is addictive and compelling enough to keep me going and I fully intend to complete it.

I've already sunk at least a dozen hours into it and just opened up the camp owned by Iron Mike, so not sure how far I've got left to go.
 

GymWolf

Member
Let me put it this way.

It's an honest to god 7/10 game (when 7 was not considered a shitty score but a good game), a 6 or even a 5 if you hate zombies and sons of anarchy stuff or just burned out by open world formula, an 8 or even a 9 if you like all that stuff.

for me was an 8 but i'm biased because i love motorcycles and sam witwer the actor who do the VA for the protagonist, but the game surely is flawed and far from perfect.
 
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