Days Gone Remastered Review: A Solid Remaster of a Good Game

Days Gone Remastered is a remaster of the 2019 game with slight graphical improvements and new modes. The basic mechanics remain the same, but over time it has not aged a bit. But does the project deserve your attention? Our article is dedicated to the answer to this question.

In recent years, Sony has been actively releasing games from PlayStation 4 to PS5. Almost all major projects from the previous console have received remasters, with the exception of Bloodborne and commercial failures in the spirit of The Order: 1886. This strategy causes discontent among many players, because the new versions of their favorite games have too few changes. But they are not needed — the second The Last of Us and Horizon Zero Dawn are perfectly acceptable even today. And if a person missed them or wants to replay them, they will get a more modern picture and support for the DualSence gamepad functions — trigger resistance and advanced vibrations.

The problem is that we hardly see work on full-fledged sequels. Neil Druckmann openly states that he does not plan to make The Last of Us Part Three, a sequel to Days Gone is clearly not in Sony's plans, and there is no new God of War or third Horizon among the announcements. Of the PS5 timed exclusives, only Ghost of Yotei and Death Stranding 2: On The Beach can be noted. By the standards of platform holders, this is weak.

If you already have the original Days Gone on your PlayStation account, then the remaster for PS5 will cost you ten dollars. Owners of the PC version will get all the graphical improvements without additional costs. But those who want the modes that are included in the re-release will have to pay. The price is the same — ten bucks. However, it is still a big question whether they are worth the money. And if you do not have Days Gone in digital form, then the re-release can be purchased for $50.

An interesting situation has developed with Days Gone. It was criticized by journalists — the average rating from the specialized press was 71 points out of 100. But at the same time, the project was liked by players. Due to the fact that the action takes place in a post-apocalyptic setting, the game is often compared to The Last of Us. And the developers from Bend Studios, known for Syphon Filter and Uncharted spin-offs for PlayStation Vita, clearly cannot compete with the mastodons from Naughty Dog. But Days Gone is completely different.

For example, it has a well-developed open world and a good plot that unfolds closer to the end of the story. It is based on banal cliches, but it works due to competent presentation, creating intrigue, characters that can evoke emotions, and well-chosen music. And in general, the Days Gone universe looks natural, so it makes you believe in what is happening.

The main character, Deacon St. John, deserves special mention. Even before the epidemic, he had been through a lot — for example, he served in Afghanistan, developed post-traumatic stress disorder there, and hatred of other people's orders. He is even called broken. But the guy has retained a piece of kindness in himself, for example, warm feelings for his missing wife Sarah and his native motorcycle club. Depending on the circumstances, he can show both compassion and cruelty to others.

It is important to note that the game is far from flawless. It has a frankly drawn-out beginning, which you have to endure. And many of the dialogues in the side quests sound strange, as if we are dealing with the work of neural networks, and not professional scriptwriters.

Ambiguous decisions include the fact that the main character and his allies are constantly chatting about something. This is a very specific feature of the game, which makes you think of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy. But if there the dialogues were based on jokes and jibes, then here they, in theory, should reveal the lore and show how people live after the apocalypse. But this does not always work — at a certain point, the irrelevant lines begin to irritate.

The gameplay can hardly be called outstanding — we have seen almost every element of it before. It combines standard third-person action with shootouts and hand-to-hand combat, bike rides, skill upgrades like in an RPG, and a simple survival game. Even the widely advertised motorcycle, which you will upgrade, repair, and constantly refuel, brings to mind the underrated Mad Max. There, the main character also spent most of his time on his own transport. At the same time, driving in Days Gone is really interesting -the bike behaves differently depending on the road surface, and some details that will be opened during the game slightly change the physics of control.

But the most interesting thing in the game is the battles with hordes of mutants, which are called freakers here. They often attack in a huge crowd. The main character Deacon does not have heavy weapons and power armor, like Lieutenant Titus from Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, so a frontal attack is guaranteed to lead to the hero's death. If he is surrounded, he will not be able to get out alive. You have to constantly retreat and try to improvise as you go. You can use traps with explosives, bear traps, Molotov cocktails, regular firearms and much more. If there is a marauder camp nearby, no one is stopping you from trying to pit the bandits against the infected. Encounters with hordes of monsters are a real challenge, because in addition to ordinary opponents, there are often mini-bosses, as well as surprisingly fast wolves, which you won’t be able to escape even on a motorcycle. All this is really interesting. At least the first five times.

Unfortunately, the gameplay does not justify its duration of several dozen hours. Once you get used to the basic mechanics, it will stop surprising you. At the same time, the story campaign will last absurdly long, and at some point you risk losing interest in what is happening. In fairness, it should be recognized that sagging happens in highly rated projects, for example, Red Dead Redemption 2.

It is not for nothing that we paid so much attention to the shortcomings of Days Gone. In our opinion, this is a mixed bag of a game that can either be fun or boring. Your final impression will depend on whether the gameplay and storyline captivate you enough to want to play through the single-player mode to the end.

Days Gone was originally released on PlayStation 4, and two years later it was ported to PC. The computer version received a number of graphical improvements that were not available on the Sony console. However, the remaster offers an even more advanced image with increased detail, increased draw distance, improved lighting, and sharper textures. The remaster's appearance is not mind-blowing, but Days Gone now looks like a modern game.

The remaster on PS5 and the paid add-on on PC include additional content in the form of unique modes. The most interesting of them is "Horde Assault". You are invited to fight waves of freakers, and with each new attack there will be more and more of them. During breaks, you can explore the area, collect first aid kits, ammo and valuable items from which you can make explosives. You can play not only for Deacon, but also for other characters — Sarah, Ricky, Eddie, Carlos and many others. New heroes, maps, cosmetic improvements and special modifiers are unlocked for the points earned. They can both simplify and complicate the process of destroying a crowd of zombies. Something similar was in the Halo series.

Such competitions are designed for those who have already completed the entire game and want new challenges with similar mechanics. But whether such battles will be able to captivate you in isolation from the main plot is a big question. To us, they seemed like entertainment for a couple of times, nothing more.

And if you want to return to the single-player campaign, but complete it under special conditions, pay attention to the "Permanent Death" mode. It does not allow mistakes — if Deacon dies, then the game (or act, at your choice) will have to be started over.

There is also "Speedrunning", which offers to take part in a speedrunner competition. Special timers will mark how quickly you move along the plot and compare your result with the achievements of other players.

Frankly speaking, such competitions could have been added with the next patch, instead of selling them for money, albeit small. As an example, we can cite major updates for Baldur's Gate 3, which were distributed completely free of charge.

If you missed Days Gone at the time and now want to catch up, feel free to get the remaster. It can also be recommended to those who for some reason want to replay the original game. Everyone else can pass by — there are too few changes, and the new modes are clearly not worth your attention.

It is important to note that the remaster improved the game and did not spoil anything. There have been cases in the industry when pre-releases turned out to be worse than the original. Something similar happened with the shooter XIII, the picture of which resembles a comic book.

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Days Gone Remastered is a high-quality re-release of the 2019 game on the current generation of Sony consoles and PC. Don't expect any surprises — this is about the same project as six years ago, but with improved graphics and new content. Spring 2025 turned out to be full of high-profile releases, which are worth paying attention to first of all. Perhaps, a repeat playthrough of the Bend Studios project should be postponed for the future.