[Review] Days Gone - Nothing Special
This game developed by Bend Studio was just released April 26, 2021. First developed in 2021, Days Gone several times delayed its release. Initially, Days Gone scheduled for release in February 2021. However, because it feels not optimal, the release date Days Gone had to wait until April.
This reason made the players who had tried it on several occasions raised their expectations and thought that something was still lacking Days Gone at the beginning. Then, are the expectations of gamers realized?
To answer the question above, the Game Fever Indonesia team also tried to play the game. For the record, this review is our experience in playing Days Gone for, more or less, 10 hours.
Plot
Days Gone tells the story of a virus that attacks a large part of the human population and makes it uncontrollable. Amidst the chaos caused by the virus, Deacon St. John tried to save himself. He is accompanied by his wife (Sarah) and best friend (Boozer). When Sarah is seriously injured, Deek (as Deacon is called) takes her to a rescue helicopter belonging to an organization called NERO (National Emergency Response Organization). Since the helicopter can only accommodate two people, Deek does not join the rescue team and continues his adventure with Boozer.
After two years, Deek and Boozer are still surviving in the midst of a mysterious virus pandemic that attacks humans and turns humans into freakers. They explore the dead city and look for various ways to survive.
On the way, they saw the wreckage of the helicopter carrying Sarah to the evacuation site. Even though he still doesn’t know the fate of his wife, Deek decides to continue to survive and become a drifters and bounty hunters that helps survivor in various camp. The real adventure begins.
Presentation
A charming world is the main requirement and is the initial assessment for open world games these days. Fortunately in our opinion, Bend Studio managed to present it well in the Days Gone. Details landmarks and the surrounding natural environment is “drawn” accurately and well. Other effects such as rain or wind that makes the grass around sway make additional value from us personally. Moreover, the cycle of day and night also occurs very naturally. Days Gone certainly offers a lighting system that is accurate enough to reflect the time the player is living.
In addition to the charming nature, Bend Studio also successfully depicts the dark side of the world due to the destruction caused by the Freakers attack. Besides being able to see beautiful scenery, you can actually see the destruction of the city that was ravaged by Freakers attacks throughout the game. Starting from the number of charred and destroyed cars that were left just like that to empty and messy houses or buildings on the side of the road. Not to mention the number of human corpses or Freakers scattered about or humans who choose to commit suicide by hanging themselves because they prefer to die as humans rather than turn into Freakers. This is what makes us sure that we are in the middle of a post apocalypse situation.
Unfortunately for a good presentation for the natural surroundings, it is not matched by the human presentation. Not bad indeed, but we feel that the human graphics offered by Bend Studio are not as special as the presentation of the environment. We haven’t tried it on PS4 Pro yet (because there isn’t a console yet), but we believe Bend Studio can make the human design more satisfying.
Gameplay
As for the gameplay, in our opinion, there is nothing special about Days Gone. You can still feel the gameplay from other open world games in Days Gone which don’t really offer much new in it. In the game, players can use three types of attacks, ranging from stealth, melee and range. For melee attacks, players are provided with various weapons that can be used and can be destroyed if used frequently (there is durability). For stealth, the knife is still the standard weapon used and is always attached to the main character Deacon.
Various firearms are indeed available and can be used by players. Players can carry three kinds of firearms, main weapon, side arm weapon and special weapon. But again, there is nothing special that Days Gone can offer.
In Days Gone you can also find an instant crafting system that you can still find. Using existing resources such as beer bottles, scraps and more into useful items. The combination of a beer bottle with cloth and kerosene can be a Molotov cocktail or combine several items to make a more lethal melee weapon. Although nothing new, Days Gone provides something that will make it easier for players to find resources, such as a police car that always provides ammunition items, an ambulance that provides healing items or other cars that provide scrap items that are useful for repairing motorbikes. the damaged one.
It’s a shame that Bend Studio has not been able to offer anything special for this open world game.
Freakers, Rippers and Humans
As explained earlier, the virus that spreads makes most of the human population turn into Freakers. To provide variety in it, these Freakers are divided into various classes with specific abilities. There are Swarmers who move individually, Screamers who will scream and summon other Swarmers if they meet players or Newt who are infected children who can end up stealing things.
In Days Gone, Freakers aren’t the only enemies that players have to face. The humans who are still alive in the end create their own faction and try to kill you to just take the things they brought. There are other Rippers who are a cult of Freakers and try to live like them. Throughout the game, players can witness confrontations between humans and humans, humans with Freakers to Freakers with Freakers. The thing that makes the gameplay feel tense every time you meet all of them.
Another selling point offered by Days Gone is the Horde, a horde of Freakers who are very numerous and ready to attack you. Players are indeed tasked with clearing the Horde from an area, which makes us inevitably face and kill all of them. Exciting and tense that requires us to have to think about how to finish off the Horde with limited ammo.
The Role of Motorcycles
Motorcycles are the main and only mode of transportation in Days Gone. Looks simple indeed, but what we feel is not so. Just like in the real world, Bend Studio presents an interesting mechanism for motorcycles, namely durability and fuel. If you often crash a motorcycle into a tree, fall from a high place or beat Freakers by hitting it will reduce its durability and make it damaged. If it is completely damaged, the player cannot use it at all and must repair it at camp or in place of using scrap which can be found in the game.
The fuel mechanism also makes us have to save or predict when it runs out. Because it is quite inconvenient when suddenly the fuel runs out in the middle of the road, because we have to push it to the gas station or until we find a jerry can of fuel which is quite rare and difficult to find. Not to mention the Fast Travel system which consumes a lot of fuel, so we have to make sure we have enough fuel to get home.
Of course, Bend Studio includes customization features for motorcycles. Players can upgrade the abilities of the motorcycle by changing the fuel tank to a bigger capacity, engine with more power or adding nitro to make it go faster.
Again, there’s nothing special about this feature, but Bend Studio tries to include enough mechanics to make us think about tackling fuel issues for example.
Conclusion
Indeed, our game time is still very far from what Bend Studio offers, which is 30 hours of game time to complete the story. Even though we had to struggle to finish it, we were able to provide a “little” experience playing Days Gone. Bend Studio does not provide many new things in it, but we still give our appreciation to Bend Studio.
Not a perfect game, but Days Gone can still offer entertaining and thrilling gameplay. The visual appearance and side of the story are our great value for Days Gone, but not for the gameplay which doesn’t offer anything special. That’s how we feel.
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