Days Gone - 9/10
Wow. Just wow.
I started Days Gone as a casual game to tide me over until the release of RE3 Remake and The Last of Us Part II. Having recently played Red Dead Redemption, I also didn't plan to get into a huge game again anytime soon. I booted up the game.... and I got hooked.
I'm not going to spoil too much in this review and I'm going to keep it quite brief, but man, this game is incredible. It takes inspiration from so many different games (Red Dead Redemption, The Last of Us, I even got Tomb Raider vibes), and yet is it's own entity entirely. I think the fact that I only expected to have a casual interest in this game made it all the better, because it was so unexpected to be completely immersed in this rich, vibrant world.
There are a wide range of enemies, infected and not, and some very interesting groups of people that have banded together to fight to survive. There are so many characters that stand out in this world and each is as intriguing and unique as the next. The story is a rollercoaster ride, with multiple strand interweaving around each other, and small things that happen early on in the game come to the forefront later on. In my opinion, it's extremely well written, thought out and paced. Traversing the open world never got dull to me, and there was plenty to do and collect outside of the main story as well.
With everything that there is to do in this game, it's no surprise that it's so incredibly long, but yet it doesn't feel like it dragged. I loved every second of it, and I'm so happy that I still have some things to finish off so that I can spend a little bit longer in this world. Of course, the game wasn't perfect - there are some glitches that are a little jarring at times. But honestly, if anyone asked me if they should play this game, I would absolutely recommend it with utmost enthusiasm. It's amazing.
I can sum up my feelings about this game quite simply - I loved it as much as I loved The Last of Us. Anyone who knows me knows that that is one of my all-time favourite games, so that is high praise indeed. I want more people to play this game so that I can
freak out about it with them! (And yes, that Days Gone related pun was totally intended :wink
. Seriously, if you like open world, zombie apocalypse games, you should play Days Gone. It's awesome.