Read This Before Buying Days Gone

In April 2018, Sony hit the jackpot when it released the Santa Monica Studio-developed God of War, a reboot/sequel to the popular button-mashing action series. For the Sony brand, this PlayStation 4 exclusive was one of the year's best sellers and also generated a lot of praise during awards season, winning the coveted Game of the Year honor at The Game Awards. Now, almost exactly one year later, the powerhouse company hopes to have another exclusive hit on its hands.

Days Gone, a new, single-player survival-action IP, is scheduled to release on April 26, 2019. Revealed back at E3 2016, the SIE Sony Bend title has gone through a rigorous development cycle, including a short delay that pushed it back two months from its original February release date. Now, with the worldwide release imminent, it's time to get an understanding of what this game has to offer. Here's a rundown of everything you need to know about Days Gone before buying it.

Set in a post-apocalyptic version of the Pacific Northwest, Days Gone is an open-world, third-person survival horror game centered around protagonist Deacon St. John. St. John, a bounty hunter and drifter, navigates the world as it deals with the fallout from the global pandemic that took his significant other from him. While much of his character motivation has been kept under wraps, it's known that he was once an outlaw and now travels in search of something to live for.

Throughout the game, you'll control Deacon as he fights off hordes of freakers — zombie-like humans infected by a virus — and traverses the beautiful Pacific Northwest on his motorcycle. Along the way, you'll upgrade Deacon as well as his bike, craft weapon mods, and manage resources in order to survive the dangerous world. Speaking of the world, Days Gone offers a huge map full of interactive environments, side quests, and outposts with shopping and trading options. This is a full-fledged open-world experience that could take you upwards of 30 hours to finish.

This isn't your typical survival horror game. Unlike something like the recently released Resident Evil 2 remake, Days Gone doesn't confine you to dark, creepy areas infested with zombies. You'll navigate picturesque terrain, traveling through forested areas, as well as dank caves, lava fields, and frozen tundras. You'll happen upon small towns, mountains, steep cliffs, and river basins. On its surface, the game's world looks like it's perfect for sightseeing. However, there won't be time for that, because survival is all that matters. And you'll have to deal with freakers, bandits, and wild animals throughout your travels just to stay alive.

Throughout the varied open world, you'll happen upon interactive environments that can help you fight off the gigantic hordes of freakers. For example, in the E3 2016 gameplay trailer, the devs showed off a lumber yard sequence, where Deacon can interact with conveyor belts and mechanical doors, as well as blow up barrels and piles of timber, to slow down the oncoming masses of enemies.

If you remember The Last of Us — a game that people incorrectly compared Days Gone to in its early days — you weren't just up against those cannibalistic, mutated creatures. You also had to deal with human enemies, desperate people trying to survive and thrive in a post-apocalyptic world. In Days Gone, you'll have similar diversity in the foes you come up against. Sure, Sony has mostly shown off the freakers, those infected humans that run and hunt in giant packs. However, you'll also run into other enemies along your lengthy journey.

One huge enemy that Bend Studio highlighted was the infected bear. Black bears are often found in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, and Days Gone take that fact and makes it a thousand times more frightening by turning a bear into a menacing "zombified" version of itself called a Rager. You'll also find Runners: giant wolves that mutated after the virus. They often travel in packs and can actually keep pace with Deacon's bike.

Finally, you'll find multiple human enemies that serve as threats to Deacon. You'll encounter Rippers, fearless cultists that revere the infection and the freakers that came about because of it. They'll stop at nothing to kill those that threaten them. Finally, there are good old-fashioned bad guys who will kill you just to survive this brutal world; they're called Marauders.

Recently, the Days Gone embargo lifted and publications started to release their impressions based on about four-to-five hours' worth of hands-on gameplay. For the most part, it looks as though critics were encouraged by those first few hours. TechRadar made a point of highlighting the game's high production value as well as its fantastic motion capture and voice acting.

Kotaku, somewhat hilariously, pointed out just how much of a AAA game Days Gone really is. Open world, upgrade system, skill wheel, crafting, side missions — the game has it all. Yet, with the jokes came a lot of positivity surrounding the game. That said, the site's Jason Schreier did express his dislike of the shooting, stating that the aiming felt "very weird and soft and imprecise."

IGN's Jon Ryan wrote about his first few hours with the game, expressing his enjoyment but ultimately wondering if the gameplay could hold his attention for 30-plus hours. He mentioned that the game didn't add anything revolutionary to the open-world genre, but still provided a lot of impressive moments early on.