Days Gone Remastered - Review
Days Gone Remastered is an interesting release. Of all the first-party PlayStation titles, Days Gone is one of the more divisive. The initial release saw a critically panned narrative, technical issues and a world similar to that of The Last of Us. Many at the time wondered where it fit in the grand schemes of Sony’s franchises, and those people are likely wondering why they have remastered it at all.
Six years after the initial release, perhaps we have seen a long enough gap that people have forgotten the divisive conversations that took place online, or perhaps we have six-years’ worth of potential audience numbers that Sony have taken into consideration. As it stands as a PlayStation 5 release (with Pro features), it was an opportunity to fix some of the issues and release a more compelling package.
The game follows a biker named Deacon St. John, as he has dealt with the now-tired notion that there has been a severe worldwide outbreak that have turned people into violent creatures called Freakers (you would not be wrong calling them zombies). Deacon and his best friend Boozer find themselves separated from Deacon’s wife, who Deacon discovers has perished due to Freakers overrunning the medical facility to which she was sent.
Fast forward three years, Deacon and Boozer are still working together to survive, working for different camps and people to get by, and planning to move north from Oregon in search of a better life for themselves. Throughout the game, Deacon receives tidbits of news that lead him and Boozer in various twists and turns. For anyone who has seen or played a zombie themed TV show or game, you will likely pick up what the twists will be before they happen, as the game’s narrative is rather stereotypical of the genre.
I do commend the idea of not trying to make another game where you play a lost dad, though many will unlikely find Deacon or Boozer relatable. Most of Deacon’s personality comes through to him via his long-lost wife and motorcycle, while he does not come across as having any distinguishing personality traits of his own. Boozer is at least a little likeable, showing humour despite the awfulness surrounding the duo. The most relatable characters lay in basically anyone who is not a brooding biker.
The gameplay is mostly solid, in comparison. Traversing the open world involves a lot of riding your motorcycle. As the game progresses and you upgrade your vehicle, the game becomes more enjoyable. There are a lot of pandering to your bike, including scavenging petrol and finding parts which offers a slice of realism, but when playing a videogame, becomes monotonous after a few hours.
Combat works for the most part, using the thumb sticks and shoulder buttons to aim and shoot feels as it should for this type of game. The type of gun you use triggers different effects with the haptic feedback of the DualSense controller as well as the resistance in the shoulder buttons. It actually feels pretty cool how they’ve utilised the controller in this way. My only real issue is when faced with multiple enemies, the aiming has not really improved since the original game, and I have found myself pointing and just hoping that my shot was going to hit. It is not a dealbreaker, but could have been improved a lot.
The original game pushed the PlayStation 4 to its limits, and as a result there were many technical issues that plagued the game. Between objects popping into vision suddenly and a jittery framerate, the game begged for something more powerful to run it. With the remaster, I did not run into a single issue playing through the game. Even with huge hordes of Freakers chasing me, the PlayStation 5 Pro did not miss a beat. You can do your normal choices of performance, visuals, or with the PS5 Pro, 1584p aiming for 60fps with PSSR. I spent most of the time running it with the PS5 Pro mode, and it looked gorgeous and smooth in all aspects of the game.
As well as all the original content has seen enhancements, the remaster also comes with a variety of new modes to keep you invested. The most fun I had with the game (even more so than the single player component) was the Horde Assault mode. You pick a character from the game and spend your time gunning down waves of Freaker hordes while simultaneously scavenging for weapons and ammunition. You can level up over time to customise your characters as well as positive or negatives buffs for more insane horde destroying fun.
There are also standard additions that would often come from regular game updates such as speedrun mode and permadeath mode. These are obviously for people who have played through the game and would like a different challenge. There really is not a lot to report back other than they do exactly what they say on the label.
Other upgrades include some wonderful accessibility improvements, you can change the speed of the game, so it does not run as fast. You can also adjust subtitle size and colour, as well as how buttons behave so you do not have to button-mash or do quick-time events if you are not a fan of them/find them difficult. There are also various colour-blind modes and high contrast modes. As a disability advocate, I am extremely pleased to see the robust suite of accessibility inclusions that they have put in the game.
Days Gone, even with the remastered elements and additional modes, will not be the best narrative driven game out there, but there is something extremely enjoyable in exploring post-pandemic Oregon on the PlayStation 5. The new Horde Assault mode is the new mainstay, and proves to be stressful in a good way. If you wanted to experience the game and just could not get past some of the technical issues, this fixes all of that. If you were not a fan of the narrative, this will not change your opinion. If you are new to Days Gone, I recommend checking it out.
The Score
7.0
Review code provided by PlayStation
The Pros
Smooth, beautiful graphics
Sets the standard for accessibility
Horde Assault is incredibly good fun
The Cons
The main characters kind of suck
Predictable narrative
Motorcycle maintenance can get annoying
