Typically, when a video game company releases a remastered version of a game that only came out a few years earlier — as opposed to a remake of an older game — all they do is make it look and run a little better. They usually don’t add anything significant that might make it worth getting if you’ve already played the original.
But while that’s largely true for Days Gone: Remastered (PlayStation 5), a renovated version of 2019’s third-person open world zombie apocalypse action game Days Gone (PlayStation 4), Remastered has some additions that may make fans of the original consider getting this upgrade.
Well, the masochistic ones, that is.
In Days Gone,
you play as Deacon St. John, a biker who makes his way in post-apocalyptic Oregon by killing zombies, helping people, and working as a bounty hunter for some of the local human settlements. But he’s also looking for his wife, Sarah, who he hasn’t seen since the zombie outbreak started two years ago, while also taking care of his buddy Boozer.
Now, in many ways, Days Gone is like a lot of open world games. When not doing missions that move the story forward, you find yourself running errands, clearing out zombie nests and drifter encampments, and having random run-ins with enemies, all while exploring the landscape in a never-ending quest to find supplies as well as the resources needed to craft helpful items.
But, in other ways —
ways that make this feel very different — Days Gone puts its own spin on things.
For starters, there’s the zombies themselves. Or freakers, as they prefer to be called. While they’re more like the quick ones in Dying Light 2: Stay Human than the shamblers of Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6‘s “Zombies” mode, freakers are even more manic and unpredictable. Think Gollum on a week-long meth bender.
Then there’s the stealth. Though not as sneaky as The Last Of Us: Part II — neither the people nor the freakers in Days Gone have natural sonar like the clickers in Us — there are numerous missions in which being spotted means you’ve been caught, and have to start over.
But the biggest difference…
between Days Gone and other open world games is Deacon’s motorcycle. While it serves the same purpose as your horse did in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — getting you from one place to another quicker than you could walk — there are some key differences. In that game, your horse would come when you called him, and didn’t require constant care or fuel. It’s why, along with ammo and medical supplies, you’re always looking for gas as well as spare parts needed to repair your bike. Though, on the plus side, your horse works as a mobile save spot, and can be equipped with ammo storage satchels.
You also, unlike in The Witcher 3, can’t just leave your bike in a field to frolic or whatever motorcycles do when we’re not looking. Days Gone is more like Borderlands 3 in that you can’t forgo your bike and just walk everywhere. Not only are there missions that require you to ride, like when you’re trying to chase down a bounty, but it’s also a safety issue since freakers can run faster than you.
This is especially problematic — for Deacon, not for you — because freakers often travel in packs. Sometimes rather large ones. Ever see that scene in World War Z when the zombies overrun the wall in Isreal? Imagine that, but with you as the wall.
Good thing…
the mechanics of Days Gone work well. The shooting, for example, is especially solid, reminiscent of the spot-on gunplay of The Division 2, with Deacon knowing how to duck for cover and how tall grass can be a good hiding place.
It also has a nice amount of variety, be it in the missions (main and side), the locations (which include snowy mountains, industrial sites, and wooded trails), the enemies (cannibal cultists, wolves, and other jerks), and even the weapons you use on those enemies while completing those missions in those locations (a mix of guns and improvised implements).
All of which is why Days Gone, and thus Days Gone: Remastered, is an engaging zombie action game, one that’s far more exciting than such similar but less engaging (and, admittedly, infection free) games as Atomfall.
Unfortunately,
with Days Gone: Remastered being, well, a remastered version of Days Gone, and not a remake, it has some of the same issues as the original.
The biggest of which is how the difficulty can be uneven. Some zombies are disproportionately tougher than others, while the missions in which you have to clear out hordes of the infected are often more frustrating than fun, in part because the freakers can, as I said, run faster than you, so you end up having to repeatedly run for your bike, drive away, and then circle back and repeat the process.
Though even this can be a problem given how Deacon’s bike is a real gas guzzler, way worse than any motorcycle should be. A motorcycle like Deacon’s — which is more like a Harley than a Honda — should get around 50 miles to the gallon, and have a 2.2 gallon gas tank, and there is no way he’s going 100 miles every time he rides down the mountain from his hilltop base to the nearest friendly encampment.
Similarly,
melee weapons in Days Gone suffer from wear and tear, while running or using melee weapons drains Deacon’s stamina meter. Both of which, as we all know from playing other games with breakable items and stamina meters, has never made any game better…ever.
Then there’s how some of the stealth missions are unforgivingly precise. Sure, you’d hope it would be hard for someone to sneak into your encampment if you live in a world populated by freakers, violent cultists, and incorrigible drifters, but it doesn’t make for a fun time when you’re the one trying to be sneaky.
Days Gone also has issues we’ve seen in other games. Like a lot of video game characters — Aloy in Horizon Forbidden West, Lara Croft in Shadow Of The Tomb Raider… — Deacon has Survival Vision, a special vision mode that helps him survey his surroundings. He can even use it to track certain people. But he’s also like Aloy and Lara in that the highlights don’t stay on very long, even when you upgrade it, so you constantly have to hit the button.
Now, none of these issues are deal breakers.
They don’t ruin Days Gone: Remastered any more than they ruined Days Gone. But they are annoying, and make some situations more difficult than they need to be.
That said, if you don’t mind when games are a little tough on you, there are the aforementioned new parts of Days Gone: Remastered that may make you happy…even if you’ve played the previous version.
For starters, Days Gone: Remastered adds a permadeath mode, one that can send you all the way back to the beginning if you die or, if you choose the “Per Act” option, back to the middle if you’ve gotten all the way to the middle without dying.
Oh, and like the regular game,
“Permadeath Mode” has six options when it comes to its difficulty: Easy, Normal, Hard, Hard II, Survival (which is Hard without fast traveling and the HUD), and Survival II (which is Hard II without fast traveling and the HUD).
Days Gone: Remastered also adds a speed run mode, which tracks how long it takes you to beat the game (not including cutscenes). It even puts the clock right there on the screen for everyone to see. You’d be surprised how motivating that can be.
Then there’s a new mode called “Horde Assault,” which they call a “Survival Arcade Mode.” In it, you have to survive for as long as you can against an onslaught of freakers. Good thing you can find supply boxes, as well as complete side objects for other rewards. It also comes with four large maps and 18 playable characters, though the only differences with the latter are cosmetic.
There’s even a leveling up system in this mode, one that allows you to unlock such modifiers as “Slow Healing,” in which “healing items are less effective” but you get a bonus of “+20% to final score,” or “Explosives Master,” which penalizes you 15% off your final score in exchange for making explosives more powerful.
All of which…
makes for a fun diversion for people who enjoy being under constant threat of being eaten. Though it’s hard not to imagine how much fun it would be with a friend, especially one sitting next to you on the couch, or if it included such unconditional options as “unlimited ammo” or “unbreakable melee weapons.”
Along with these modes, Days Gone: Remastered also, of course, looks better than the original. Sort of. You need a good TV to really see the difference, and even then, it’s not a lot, given that the game is set in the real world. Sure, the forests of Oregon are pretty this time of year, but with the weather often overcast or rainy, Remastered, like the original, has a somewhat muted look about it. It’s not as visually stimulating as, say, Avowed.
The thing is, if you don’t have a really good TV and a hard-on for graphical fidelity, and if none of the new modes are of interest to you, then there’s no reason to get Days Gone: Remastered if you’ve already played Days Gone. It’s basically the game you played six years ago (or, if you’re like me, six years ago, five years ago, and then again a year ago).
But if you missed the original,
and you think you’d enjoy an unflinching open world zombie apocalypse action game, you will really enjoy Days Gone: Remastered…until the horde catches up with you.
SCORE: 8.0/10
