Days Gone (2019)

This game is a masterclass act on how NOT TO ALLOCATE YOUR FUNDS to making the people look pretty in cutscenes, because despite it being the most generic take on the zombie genre (with a 1% son of anarchy inspired main character who's nice to be around at least), it's main flaw is that it makes you traverse the same locations on a bike countless times before anything new happens.

You will be highly impressed by what this game has to offer in the first hours and be like "Wow this game could potentially be even better than The Last of Us!", because the core aspects of the game which is being an open world survival game, kinda work, but the pacing is so bad that 90% of the game is just going back and forth from the 2 camps to do one of 4 repeatable missions.

I'm impressed they even wanted to tell a story with this game because had you cut all of that (and nothing of value would be lost) you'd probably have more time to make the world bigger and not make you go through a slowly repetitive series of dirt roads you've passed by numerous time, all this game has to offer is revealed to you very quickly, after that, it's just SLOWLY paced out until you can unlock better features.

This game is a mish mash of ideas that were popular during this time and they wanted to make something safe and easily digestible, and it is, nothing is too offensive about the game but nothing is too interesting to keep you hooked in the game loop either, throughout the game's main gimmick of being a biker on a motorcycle, I kept praying that there was a button I could call my bike back to me like a horse, but no, it's always the same old: leave the bike, do a lil stealth, if you fail the stealth and attract a horde (and you are early in the game so you don't have many offensive options) then you just have to run back to your bike, ride away until you don't aggro the horde anymore, and then go back to doing the meandering Far Cry-like missions.

This game had potential, it has a lot of effort in it (kind of a given considering it was funded by Sony), but it was just not properly designed with pacing in mind, unless you are really starving for something that is just a mindless completionist type of game where you get to simulate a biker doing odd jobs in the apocalypse, once you realize this is all the game has to offer a few hours in, this game might TIRE you out.

And I know there are games doing exactly what this game is doing but better, The Evil Within 2 is also repetitious and has a similar game design (aka: What if we made Survival Horror Third Person Shooter with Stealth Mechanics but Open-world!) but it has SO MUCH more to offer than this does and I actually felt the need to beat that game because it was conceptually more interesting than what feels like a forgotten canceled zombie show that went nowhere.

I went into this game with low expectations and even a few hours in I felt slightly underwhelmed. But then I started to get vested. The main character started to become more likable and I found myself enjoying its open world more. And that was key I think, once you except this particular open world for what it is, it’s actually quite remarkable. The game had some heart in its story and the mechanics complement the game nicely. I had a good time with this one.

Se le metió mucha tralla a un juego que sin ser excelente era divertido y trataba de tener personalidad propia.

Siendo un fan acérrimo de los juegos de zombies no pude evitar lanzarme a por éste. Me ha sorprendido en términos de ambientación el poco interés en los "porqués" y en el "cómo" del apocalipsis hasta prácticamente la segunda mitad. Ha sido una sopresa agradable, aunque no me gustó la explicación al brote, era innecesaria, manida y una coincidencia muy forzada. Me ha gustado esa inspiración en "Soy Leyenda" (película) caracterizando a los infectados con unos comportamientos animales y de manada. El enfoque en las relaciones personales, los lazos y la cooperación frente al fin del mundo son un acierto que necesita más desarrollo frente a los temas manidos de "luchar contra lo demás por los recursos" o "enfrentar malvadas corporaciones".

Jugablemente destacar el concepto de la moto como único vehículo, como lugar donde almacenar recursos, como un elemento más de progresión y con una conducción muy placentera. En el resto... los tiroteos no son nada loco, pero cumplen, eso si acabarás harto de dispararte con humanos porque es un muermo. Lo más interesante es luchar contra hordas utilizando el entorno y acumulando herramientas, pero llegados a un punto es muy fácil forzar las hordas más grandes sin demasiada complicación. En ese sentido, se echa de menos que le den más número y profundidad a las hordas, así como que en general le sentaría bien más elementos de supervivencia o de gestión de recursos.

Ha sido un juego que he disfrutado mucho, aunque tiene algo de repetitivo y es lo peor. Lo recomiendo tanto como para apasionados de lo "zombie" como para gente que quiera pasar un buen rato. No olvidar que el doblaje de Deacon es brutal, pero ensombrece al resto en no pocos casos.