Days Gone is only days away from releasing on the PlayStation 4 and, thanks to some leaked footage, we may have an idea of how it’s going to play.
Days Gone is an open-world zombie survival game from SIE Bend Studio and is published by Sony. It also releases this week, which is strange, as there doesn’t seem to be a lot of hype behind it. Previous footage of the game has left many people feeling rather ambivalent towards the game since it seems to cover the same ground as the phenomenal The Last Of Us.
It’s hard to say whether or not this footage will sway people one way or the other, but at least we now know a little more of what to expect from Days Gone.
The leaked footage originally appeared on Reddit, but it has since been deleted. More footage then showed up on YouTube and seems to present a lot of what the original leak showed.
One of the most notable aspects of the video seems to be stealth, which appears to be incredibly important. The main character, Deacon, spends a lot of time sneaking around and stabbing zombies in the back of the head. It’s hard to determine exactly how the stealth mechanics will work from this footage, but it seems to involve a lot of crouching, hiding behind walls, and then sneaking up on zombies for the stealth kill.
The zombies are also called “Freakers,” which might be the worse alternative name for zombies in quite some time.
The rest of the video shows Deacon driving around on his motorcycle, talking to himself in that way that only video game protagonists seem to do, starting fires, and getting into many awkward looking melee fights with the various Freakers around the world. Deacon also has a gun, but judging by the emphasis on stealth, it looks like gunplay will be discouraged due to fear of rousing a roaming horde of Freakers.
If there’s one true negative to this footage, it’s that the game still looks like something trying its best to rip off The Last Of Us, which is bizarre since it’s coming from Sony, the company that put out The Last Of Us. It seems odd that Sony would put so much money into developing a game that looks like it does little more than try to ape one of its existing franchises (even if the director of the game really wants you to stop making that connection).
Sony has been absolutely killing it in terms of games this generation. A few of its biggest hits so far have been the newest God Of War, Marvel’s Spider-Man, and Horizon Zero Dawn. Looking into the future, Sony still has The Last Of Us Part II, Ghost Of Tsushima, the somewhat-unannounced-but-totally-in-development Horizon Zero Dawn 2, and Death Stranding. Based on its tremendous track record, it’s not hard to see why people get excited over a new game from Sony Interactive Entertainment.
However, for some reason, Days Gone has mostly flown under the radar of most gamers. You would assume that its imminent release would draw some attention, but if you asked most gamers about it, they’d probably shrug and say they’re either not interested or they’re going to wait for it to go on sale. This could either be due to the lackluster early gameplay footage shown off before or it might be a result of Sony releasing yet another zombie game. It’s just amazing that a game coming from a company that’s created multiple incredible games has inspired so much apathy.
Days Gone will release on PS4 this Friday, April 26, 2019. Hopefully, it offers something that will make it stand out. Otherwise, you’re likely to see it sitting in the bargain bin of your local Gamestop for years to come.
