Days Gone

Days Gone is a third-person action-adventure game set in a post-apocalyptic open world. The player controls Deacon St. John, an outlaw-turned-drifter-bounty-hunter who prefers life on the road to wilderness encampments. The game takes place two years after a pandemic killed almost all of humanity and transformed millions of others into "Freakers", mindless, zombie-like creatures.

They hibernate during daytime but often congregate, wander around, and search for food and water at night. Players can lure them toward other enemies, causing the two groups to fight one another. Other enemies include Newts, who are infected adolescents and opportunistic hunters who only attack Deacon when he enters their territory or has poor health, as well as infected wildlife (called Runners and Ragers) and hostile human enemies. Players are easily overwhelmed by hordes and must keep their distance.

A virus has decimated the globe, turning a large portion of humanity into violently feral creatures called Freakers. In Oregon, outlaw bikers Deacon St. John (Sam Witwer) and William "Boozer" Gray (Jim Pirri), alongside Deacon's wife Sarah Whitaker (Courtnee Draper), attempt to flee to safety. They find a NERO (National Emergency Response Organization) helicopter. While Sarah boards the helicopter, Boozer is injured so Deacon stays behind to help him after promising to reunite with his wife.

Two years later, Deacon and Boozer are working in the Pacific Northwest as mercenaries. Sarah is assumed dead after the NERO refugee camp she was traveling to was overrun. The two men plan to head north in search of a better life, but they are attacked by a gang of cultists, the Rippers. Boozer's arm is burned in the attack, so Deacon searches for medical supplies to help him recover.

Days Gone was developed by Bend Studio, one of Sony's first-party developers. The game's core development team included studio director Christopher Reese, game director Jeff Ross, and creative director John Garvin, all of whom had worked at Bend Studio since the 1990s, when it was creating Syphon Filter. Days Gone is the company's first open world game, its first original intellectual property since Syphon Filter (1999), and its first game to be released for home consoles since Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow (2007). Full production of Days Gone commenced in early 2015 and the game's development cycle lasted for six years.

Bend Studio significantly expanded and the development team increased from around 50 to 130. The game's development was completed on March 10, 2019, and Bend Studio confirmed it had been declared gold, indicating the game was being prepared for duplication and release.

Days Gone received "mixed or average" reviews from critics for the PS4 version, and "generally favorable" reviews for the PC version, according to review aggregator website Metacritic. Days Gone Remastered for PS5 also received "generally favorable" reviews according to Metacritic. According to OpenCritic, 54% of critics recommended the original game, while 75% of critics recommended the remastered version.

The game's open world and design received mixed reviews. Matthew Kato from Game Informer was disappointed by the lack of content in the world; he said most side objectives were filler content that was neither engaging nor interesting. This sentiment was shared by Eurogamer's Malindy Hetfeld, who said in Days Gone, players are "doing the exact same thing, in the exact same way, for hours on end." Leon Hurley from GamesRadar said the open world design is fairly unoriginal despite being entertaining.