Day’s Gone — An Open-World “Zombie” Game

Day’s Gone is a game that I am quietly optimistic for later this year. This is an “open-world” game, meaning that there is a large map that you the player can explore. It is also a “zombie” game–the reason there are quotes around zombie is that technically they aren’t “zombies,” but “freakers.” In the game’s fiction, these enemies are alive, they eat, and they sleep. However, functionally, they act as zombies would–they shamble/run after you, they exhibit “horde” mentality, and they are extremely hard to “kill.”

I’m a Fan

So, I’ve been a fan of this game every since it was announced and demoed at Sony’s Press Conference a couple of years back. Many of the reactors were disappointed as the trailer was shown towards the beginning of the show and then the gameplay was revealed in the “last slot” of the show. Too many commentators, both journalists and fans, ALWAYS want that last slot to be a Steve Jobs’ “One More Thing” Iphone moment–whether or not that makes sense for the particular company (and/or moment). When they didn’t get their “new” thing that blew them out of the water, they turned on this game (Knack for the PS4 had a similar reaction, including people who should probably know better–“Knack is kack” proclaimed a former editor of OPM on the podcast covering original announcement of the PS4–knowing full well that he wasn’t the target audience for the game).

I, however, feel that (like Knack) this is a game that is worthy of my time (& money) as it does many of the things that I want from a “zombie” game. Like my favorite movie in the genre, World War Z, this game puts one character against a swarm of zombie-like creatures. While I’m not completely sold on the “biker” world of the game, I am sold on the character and the “freakers.”

A World War Z Biker Game

I may be putting words in the game designers’ mouths, but to me, this game is much like World War Z, but with a biker twist. Although it isn’t in the above trailer, your bike is an essential component to the game and you need to maintain it or else it could leave you stranded in the wilds.

I also like the focus on various types of “freaker” groupings (in this trailer), along with little bit about the weapons (also in this trailer). While I probably have too many games already, although I managed to finish one earlier this year (did I tell you that I got a Platinum Trophy on Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands? I did, well let me tell you all about it one more time . . . no, don’t leave, I’ll save it for another time.)