Quick Look: Days Gone

Whoa Debbie Downer! To lump Horizen, God of War, Spider-Man, and Days Gone into the same bucket as just "3rd person action games" with no variety seems pretty reductive, as they couldn't feel more different from one another... I mean these are some amazing games - with more to come like Last of Us 2, Judgement, Shenmue 3, the Medieval Remake, and Ghost of Tsushima which will be "more 3rd person games"; but again couldn't be more different from each other.

I would point out you are missing a whole slew of games from Dreams to MLB, Spelunky 2, Detroit, Concrete Genie... Plus all the indie titles/PSN stuff, and VR titles like Tetris Effect, Moss, Astro-Bot, etc... Lots of variety in fact.

-- I mean I guess I see that shooters are missing here -- but besides Killzone Sony was never really in the "shooter genre" business. They've done fairly well with RPGs like FFVII Remake, Ni No Kuni 2, and got some exclusivity on Persona, Nier and DQXI -- I wouldn't mind some wacky stuff like Ape Escape and Parappa myself. But I'm not going to slight them at what they've provided the past few years.

Funnily enough Vinny and the others are really down on this game on this week's Beastcast, gave me whiplash.

This protagonist isn't even the best video game character with a name that sounds like "Deacon."

@squidracerx: I didn't say the games have no variety. I'm saying there's almost no variety in genres in Sony exclusives. I only have a PS4 to play the games that don't come to PC and this generation has been pretty boring.

Some the other games you mention are not exclusives. I'm with you on Dreams and Astro Bot though. Dreams is the only upcoming PS4 game I'm excited about. Persona and Tetris will eventually find their way to PC.

I guess I just miss the wacky stuff Sony used to publish.

Alex's Full House reference was hilarious for a certain reason...

The leader of The Rippers faction is named Jesse

Tuesday's Gone.

Turns out we were the real freakers all along.

(I think Vinny tried to really give it a fair shot since it got bagged on so much up to release)

The ear taking/selling part has historical basis. It occurred with scalps.

@stephen_von_cloud: Pretty sure it happened with actual ears as well.

The first time you are poking around and accidentally go zombie bashing just a little too close to a cave and suddenly three hundred zombies come running at you is a really cool moment. I like this game and despite the 'meh' reception or fatigue people have, it's actually pretty fun. That horde moment I actually thought was a marketing ploy, but nah, it's organic around the world, and the first time, it surprised the sh*t out of me and I am so glad I got footage of it. (I was turning zombies against each other with the crossbow, and eventually one ran too close to the cave and pulled one, then two, then ten, then 20, etc....I guess I was playing with fire and karma's a bitch)

I was thinking to myself what I was saying to myself around the time Dead Rising and or State of Decay 1 came out, which is that a less arcadey, more highly produced and open narrative experience would be awesome. This happened with the last of us but as fantastic as that game was, the linearity of it after the first or second play-through, kind of killed the suspense or enthusiasm to explore, with areas where you know you're scripted to be safe, and zombie 'types' which like in several other zombie games, announce their presence and you immediately know what you're up against as fast as you can spin the camera and have faced it once. This is not the case with Days Gone with fluctuating and randomized zombies who will wander around the woods and roads and be inside houses which keeps you almost always on your toes when you're out of a camp. And I really love that.

Days gone has so much less scripted safe as an open world structure, and while there's some jank and some generic design, it's a game I think I've been unknowingly waiting for since Dead Rising. I like bikes also, so being able to customize that hog is A-OK. You can also upgrade the bike which actually does improve the experience, which is what an upgrade should do, as does earning weapon upgrades, which is a little harder to do than your typical open world progression game, and doesn't require 8 different currencies or a ton of crafting components. Simple, and to the point, and the gameplay is back in focus. Feels good and rewarding without diminishing the threat of being mowed over by a horde.

The ability tree also similarly affects the gameplay positively as well, and I really like that the choices you pick on that are slim, and consequently, since you get them fairly infrequently, you really have to think about what will benefit you most for how you play.

This is the kind of game i would be dissapointed to buy myself, but if it was a gift i would feel compelled to go all the way through.