After finishing Days Gone this week, I find myself reflecting on the game and how my thoughts have changed as the game evolved. I like how the game presented some of its storylines and I thought a few of them were quite compelling. I also liked how rewarding it felt to upgrade Deacon’s bike and how fun it was to ride around Oregon in different terrain and weather conditions. Unfortunately, I wasn’t a fan of the performance issues and glitches that plagued the game, particularly in the second half. I also didn’t love how the story progressed towards the end, where I think it ultimately fell off. I liked Days Gone, but my experiences and feelings on the game could not have been more different between the first and second act of the game.

*Story spoilers below*

The Hits:

Regarding its story, I think Days Gone had some interesting stories to tell, most notably between protagonist Deacon St. John and James O’Brian, a NERO researcher. In the beginning of the game when the world has gone to shit, Deacon puts his wife, Sarah, on a NERO (National Emergency Restoration Organization) helicopter with the young O’Brian after Sarah is stabbed and needs medical assistance. Two years pass from this event and it’s been assumed that Deacon’s wife and everyone on the helicopter died shortly after evacuating. But this isn’t the case as Deacon overhears people talking about O’Brian in the present. 

After stealing a NERO radio and tracking their movements, Deacon finally finds the man who helped Sarah leave Farewell, Oregon that night. Their first meeting, two years later, illustrates why this was one of my favorite storylines. Seeing Deacon find the man who just might know what happened to his wife was emotional. The voice acting was really well done and after Deacon and O’Brian’s first encounter I was immediately hooked and wanted more from this story and these characters. I think it was well-paced, where O’Brian would contact you when it was convenient for him. The next thread in the storyline would come when you’re occupied elsewhere but you haven’t forgotten about O’Brian and what he might know about Sarah. And once he’d radio Deacon, I’d drop everything to see where the story goes next.

The other thing I love about Days Gone is its bike. When playing a game, I like the idea of starting from scratch and having to work your way up to something better. Riding around Oregon never got boring for me, and even though I could fast travel to a camp or near the next mission, I preferred to take the scenic route. When I’d arrive at a new camp, the first vendor I’d go to would be the mechanic to see if I can upgrade my bike further. Piece by piece, my bike would have a larger tank for fuel, or the amount of ammo I could carry on the back grew larger, so I was able to stay out and explore longer. Drifting around was so much fun and I love how natural it felt to ride in wet or snowy terrain, where the roads and trails are more slick. The game also does a really good job of making the bike feel like your own, with unique skins and decals to customize how your hog looks.

Lastly, I have to quickly talk about how amazing the photo mode in this game is. I’ve dabbled in the photo mode in other games before, occasionally taking a cool action shot or a picture of the locale, but I was determined to find worthwhile photos in Days Gone. And there are plenty. I loved stopping my bike on a random trail and finding the right camera position, and meticulously finding where the lighting and colors meet to create photos that look so good, you could believe that they were taken in real life. It’s a credit to Bend’s art team, because some of the photos you can take are breaktaking.

The Misses:

For me, the worst part about Days Gone was its plethora of performance issues. It’s saddening to write this though, because I didn’t have any major issues for the majority of the game. The frame rate would occasionally dip whenever I left a camp to trek out into the wilderness, but the issues were nothing drastic beyond that. It wasn’t until I reached the second major area and its camps, Wizard Island and Diamond Lake, that the game started to perform poorly. After this point, the frame rate would drop very frequently, the game would freeze for 10 seconds and textures in the environment and on clothes would pop in and out. I don’t know why the game suddenly had major issues at this point, but it was especially annoying because it affected the entire game from that point forward. Even when I returned to the first major area these performance issues persisted.

To circle back to the story, while I liked the specific storyline I mentioned before, I think most of the stories in this game felt unnecessary. The idea of Bend trying to cohesively weave numerous stories together to tell one big story is cool and ambitious, but ultimately I think they could have cut most of it. And if not cut the stories themselves, at least cut how many missions and tasks were needed to fully see each storyline. For example, every camp you work with has its own story; taking out marauder camps is its own story; destroying freaker hordes is its own story; the rippers have their own story. It’s just a lot, and I think if they trimmed the fat by cutting down on the length of stories, and had fewer stories in general, I think Days Gone could have been a more interesting game. 

Another issue I had with Days Gone’s story is that I think it should have ended much sooner than it does. After finally completing the Ripper storyline, I thought to myself that this feels like a satisfying place to end the main story. But once I had to venture south to the second major area, I said, “Wait, there’s more?!” So in the second area, off I went to do more marauder camps, destroy more hordes, etc. It’s in Diamond Lake where you meet forgettable Colonel Matthew Garret, who runs a military-style camp and treats everything like The Bible. It was here that I think the story lost momentum. 

To wrap up, I had some great moments in Days Gone. Sony Bend crafted an interesting world with some truly beautiful locales. Again, I think some of the storylines were really interesting and well acted, but I think it could have been shortened. Upgrading the bike and drifting around Oregon like an idiot was mindless fun. But I found Days Gone to be two different games. The first was a fun game with a compelling journey surrounding Deacon St. John. The second was a messy, forgettable game that I wish was as interesting as the first. Unfortunately, it was marred with significant performance issues that really killed much of my drive (Pun intended) to keep playing. I hope we’ll be able to get a sequel to Days Gone because I want to see more of the world and more from Deacon, Boozer and other characters.