GAME ON: You, too, can be a motorcycle ruffian in yet another world overrun by zombies

SIE Bend Studio
SIE Bend Studio

Days Gone feels a bit like a hybrid of The Last of Us combined with Red Dead Redemption 2 — only without the epic storytelling and character development that made those two games world-class.

Days Gone is a single-player, open-world survival horror game. But rather than being a Wild-West outlaw on a horse, as is Arthur Morgan, you play as Deacon St. John, motorcycle ruffian in a world overrun by the undead.

I generally like the idea of the protagonist being someone we wouldn't normally consider heroic. A good person always doing the right thing typically doesn't make for an exciting storyline. And Deke, as he's known, certainly lives by a moral code that actually seems appropriate for the end of the world.

The main plotline is that Deke is trying to find out if his wife is still alive. They were separated two years earlier. She's probably, likely, dead, but he just has to know for sure. And to achieve his goals he'll have to stay alive, protect his friends, work with even more unsavory types than himself and sometimes make choices that go against his moral code to get there.

In Days Gone, your motorcycle is your lifeline. It's almost like another character, you'll spend so much time with it and on it. It's the only way to quickly travel, and it also works as a save point, and can be upgraded by mechanics.

And since no self-respecting road hog is quiet, it makes lots of noise and attracts zombies, which is a blessing and a curse (although usually the latter).

There are other humans alive in the world, and much of the game revolves around finding settlements of survivors and doing odd jobs and errands for them to earn money and improve your reputation. Jobs include tasks such as bringing in meat and medicine, bounty-hunting, rescue missions and clearing areas of zombie hordes or a doomsday cult called the Rippers.

There's a mix of zombie types to fight — called "Freakers"— and while there are several varieties, the most common are a frenzied, fast type similar to those in 28 Days Later, called "Swarmers." Then there are "Screamers," which can incapacitate with a banshee-like yell and draw in more zombies.

"Breakers" are huge and muscular and can withstand lots of damage. "Newts" are adolescent Freakers that at first seem harmless and just hang around and make noise — but if you get low on health, they'll use that opportunity to swarm and attack unexpectedly.

There are also some animals that have been infected.

Later in the game, Deke will encounter hordes filled with hundreds of zombies that will require copious amounts of full-auto firepower and Molotov cocktails.

There are even some traditional role-playing-game elements in Days Gone. Killing zombies — or escaping from them — rewards experience and lets Deke level up. Levelling up unlocks points to be used in a skill tree, with options being survival skills, melee abilities or ranged combat.

At any moment you can see how much progress you've made toward completing various story missions and what steps are needed next.

Deke is voiced well by veteran sci-fi actor Sam Witwer, and graphically there are few complaints. The soundtrack is also excellent and fits the setting well. The game takes place in some unspecified region of the Pacific Northwest; I'm guessing somewhere in Oregon, since that's where the developer, Bend Studio, is.

There are some criticisms to be made, however. There have been a few technical glitches, although the developer has been rolling out patches to fix bugs on a regular basis so far. And originality is a bit of a concern — it's not like there's any shortage of zombie games these days.

All told, Days Gone offers close to 50 hours of gameplay, although some of the combat is pretty repetitive after a while.

Days Gone gets a lot of things right. The world is huge, and beautifully created. Humans look, well, human, despite being computer-generated creations. There are a number of storylines to unpack — finding out what happened to your wife, unraveling a government conspiracy theory, humans relearning what it means to be human again.

The game is not really navigating any uncharted waters, though, and even the fanciest graphics, best soundtrack and most realistic combat can't overcome tepid writing. It's not a bad game — just a bit bland in some of the most important areas.

Title: Days Gone

Platform: PlayStation 4

Cost: 59.99

Rating: Mature for blood, gore, drug reference, violence, sexual themes and language

Score: 7 out of 10

Style on 05/06/2019

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