Days Gone Remastered Review – A Second Ride Worth Taking

Days Gone Remastered Review

I enjoyed 2019’s open world zombie-apocalypse Days Gone for a very specific reason. It’s set in my literal back yard. Fictionalized or not, Bend, Crater Lake and Lost Lake are all at most a couple of hours drive away. The game’s environments and graphics really nailed the Pacific Northwest vibe. Like many folks, I bounced off certain elements of Days Gone, like aspects of the narrative and leading characters. At the time, Days Gone felt a bit derivative of other games and movies too. Spending time with Days Gone Remastered both reminded me why I enjoyed the original, and maybe even made me appreciate it a little more.

Don’t Call them Zombies

Days Gone Remastered doesn’t much mess with the game’s narrative. You play as biker-turned-survivor Deacon St. John, trekking around the Oregon wilderness in search of his presumed-dead wife Sarah. Your main tasks remain surviving hordes of freakers (i.e. zombies) and human enemies like the savage Rippers, helping survivors reach safety, and performing tasks for a long cast of NPCs. There’s a pretty hefty survival/crafting element, too. The biggest challenge is maintaining and upgrading your motorcycle, which is as much a companion as any human character.

Days Gone sticks pretty close to the standard open world playbook. But lack of originality doesn’t mean absence of fun. Being surrounded by hordes of freakers and gangs of Rippers — both with pretty decent AI — is no joke. While the narrative never quite tugs at the heartstrings at The Last of Us level, Deacon’s emotional arc is effective. Just like with The Last of Us Part 2, it could be argued that Days Gone would benefit from a more compact story. It’s rare when an open world game doesn’t outstay its welcome, and Days Gone doesn’t entirely escape some repetitive missions or mechanics.

Those negatives asides, six years of distance from its first release Days Gone feels a little more original and effective than I remembered. Overall, I really enjoyed re-engaging with the characters and world.

Good Feedback

Part of that new-found enjoyment comes from playing it on PS5, where the already-good visuals look even better. Solid framerates at 60fps in Performance Mode and 30fps in Quality Mode partner with significant upgrades to lighting, shadows and environments. There are a few graphical quirks here and there, but on the whole the game feels smoother, runs better and the world is richer. The game’s implementation of the PS5s DualSense controllers adds to the immersion, with excellent use of the adaptive triggers and haptic feedback features.

In addition to the technical improvements, Days Gone Remastered packs in three new ways to play the game. Speedrun challenges the player to mainline the story as fast as possible, minus cutscenes. Horde Assault is just what it sounds like. The task is to survive ever-larger waves of enemies, while adding roguelike elements like game-modifying Injectors and unlockable characters and maps. If you thought that the best part of Days Gone was the combat, Horde Assault will definitely be your jam. Permadeath mode sounds as brutal as it is, given the already significant challenge of late-game encounters. Talk about tension.

No Excuses

There’s a common misconception that the original Days Gone was a failure. It wasn’t at all. It sold a respectable number of copies and generated a solid following. However, it did fall off the radar pretty quickly and gamers moved on. Happens all the time. For anyone who missed it back in 2019, Days Gone Remastered is the best version of a game that’s definitely better than its reputation suggests. Its implementation on PS5 is very well done, and the new game modes are interesting to spend time with. With a haunting open world to explore, a substantial narrative and excellent combat, Days Gone Remastered is a solid action adventure and easy to recommend for fans of the genre.

***PS5 code provided by the publisher for review***