New impressions form the newer E3 build
Easy Allies
Kinda Funny
Venturebeat
SyFy
playstationlifestyle
Stuff
Cogconnected
http://cogconnected.com/preview/the-familiar-look-and-feel-of-days-gone-is-totally-ok/
Gamesradar
Old impressions:
PS Access
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrTdEOmq7a4
Vandal
https://vandal.elespanol.com/avances/ps4/days-gone/38421/4
Eurogamer
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2018-05-21-days-gones-e3-demo-shows-scant-signs-of-life
gamepro.de
https://www.gamepro.de/artikel/days-gone,3329864.html
pcgames.de
http://www.pcgames.de/Days-Gone-Spi...vival-Spiel-in-der-Hands-on-Vorschau-1256707/
Eurogamer PT
https://www.eurogamer.pt/articles/2018-05-21-days-gone-jogamos-o-promissor-jogo-da-sony-bend
Eurogamer ES
https://www.eurogamer.es/articles/days-gone-avance
PSU
https://www.psu.com/news/days-gone-ps4-e3-2018-impressions/
Gamespot
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/ps4-zombie-game-days-gone-has-an-impressive-open-w/1100-6459096/
USgamer
https://www.usgamer.net/articles/days-gone-pre-e3-hands-on-preview
Ars
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2018...ands-on-have-you-played-a-zombie-game-before/
DailyStar
https://www./tech/gaming/704461/Day...zon-Zero-Dawn-Uncharted-4-E3-2018-PlayStation
Variety
http://variety.com/2018/gaming/features/days-gone-hands-on-1202818502/
Engadget
https://www.engadget.com/2018/05/22/days-gone-hands-on-2018/
Shacknews
http://www.shacknews.com/article/105057/days-gone-exclusive-interview-with-game-director-jeff-ross
PS Nation
http://www.psnation.com/2018/05/22/hands-on-days-gone/
Jeuxvideo
http://www.jeuxvideo.com/preview/849015/days-gone-welcome-to-zombieland.htm
Gamergen
https://gamergen.com/tests/preview-days-gone-jeu-qui-souffle-pluie-et-beau-temps-291854-1
I will add more as they come.
Easy Allies
Kinda Funny
Venturebeat
In my first attempt, I tried to toss a grenade into the midst of the freakers for starters. But from where I stood on the cliff, my aim fell short and it exploded without killing any of them. They awoke to my presence en masse, and I started running. I shot at one of the gas drums and it exploded, knocking out a good batch of them. But they didn't slow down. They were fast. The music was pounding.
Next, I ran past a truck with a load of logs. I shot the gas drum for that one and the logs rolled on to a bunch of the freakers. Then I ran through my first trap, the truck container with the proximity mine. I didn't slow down to see how many of them it took out. I kept running to the next container, where, once again, the mine blew up and I didn't look back. I turned left toward a couple of semi trucks that were formed into a "V," where my third and final proximity bomb was. But I didn't notice that a bunch of the freakers had cut a corner and were now seriously on my tail. I tried to turn and machine gun them, but some got ahead of me and I was surrounded. And that was that.
Now that was fun. It had my blood pumping. On my next attempt, I set up similar traps in the empty truck containers, but I also put one proximity mine on a log pile that was close to the freakers. It was the very first thing that they ran into. I got on the motorcycle and rode it off the cliff. But I didn't have enough speed and I simply flipped the bike over. I crashed the bike and had to run for my life. I made the run through the proximity mines again and blasted a few with my machine gun. I tossed a couple of molotov cocktails into the crowd, but they didn't seem to do much. I realized it would be great to have two people in this party, one shooting backwards and one trying to drive a motorbike away from the freakers. But I had no such luxury. They caught me again.
https://venturebeat.com/2018/06/21/days-gone-hands-on-e3/On my third and final attempt, I set the bombs in the truck containers again. I set the third one on the log pile. Then I stayed on foot. I tossed a grenade into the crowd and they all came after me. The log pile proximity mine went off and took a bunch of them out. I fired into the crowd and then turned around. I ran into the first truck container and it blew up as the freakers entered it. I ran along the edge and got to the second truck container and blew up my third and final proximity mine.
I had more grenades this time and tossed a few, and I tossed some more molotov cocktails. I came running around the corner and ran right into a batch of the freakers that were coming the other way. I was trapped, and they closed in and got me. During this run, I was happy to take out so many of them. But then I looked at the final count of how many of them I had killed. It was only about half of them.
Now that was a lot of fun. I could have stayed there all day and figured out how to take out more of them. If I had figured out how to get on the bike and run around with it and run through them with it, that would have helped. It would also have been good if I could climb on top of the trucks and make some kind of last stand with my machine gun, and then flee again when I took out a bunch of them that way.
It was sort of like being chased by a stream of enemies who were flowing like water after me, and I had to figure out how to stop that stream or slow it down and turn it into a drizzle. The game ran at a solid 30 frames per second throughout the demo. I'd actually be happy if they created a mode where clearing the horde was all you did in this game.
SyFy
In our defense, we were distracted by what a blast it is to take in the game's sprawling, post-apocalyptic world from behind the handlebars of Deacon's bike. Whether you're tearing up the blacktop at high speed or carefully navigating a backwoods' trail, the motorcycle feels fantastic. Vehicles in sandbox games are typically afterthoughts, secondary elements existing solely to get you from point A to point B. In Days Gone though, you get the sense Deacon's bike isn't so disposable, but rather an extension of his character.
Much of this comes from the fact the ride and its functions are organically woven into the gameplay in ways that go beyond transportation. During our demo, for example, we used it to escape from a pack of infected freaks. The screen swelled with hungry mutants, but the bike's intuitive controls allowed us to navigate it passed the threats with relative ease. Of course, the few we couldn't weave through satisfyingly smacked the pavement as we plowed through them.
One of our preview's most rewarding moments came when we nearly collided the bike with group of walking corpses. As we were speeding down the highway in the dead of night, our front tire came within inches of a pack of Freakers hidden beneath an overpass. With a super-satisfying, smoke-emitting skid, we turned on a dime and sped away in a fashion that'd stretch a smile across Daryl Dixon's grimacing mug.
We rode from this encounter feeling pretty badass, but a rainstorm — and that aforementioned empty fuel tank — ensured our buzz was short lived. By the time we'd realized we were on empty, Deacon was in the middle of nowhere without much ammo or medical supplies. An unexpected meeting with a pack of wolves siphoned our remaining resources, while the pouring rain and darkened sky left us desperate for shelter.
http://www.syfy.com/syfywire/playst...at-a-zombie-apocalypse-would-really-feel-likeWhile we tackled a more scripted, traditional mission during our time with the game, it was this final, emergent encounter – that all began with our failure to refuel Deacon's bike – that showed off the promise and potential of Days Gone's dynamic, dangerous world. We look forward to getting back on the bike, after topping off its tank, of course, when the game shuffles onto PlayStation 4 on February 22, 2019.
playstationlifestyle
I was able to scavenge around the area to find parts for crafting, even if I didn't do much crafting in the demo itself. It showed that there will be a deep economy in the full game, with plenty find out in the open world. The mission culminated in a big fight with the Rippers, a faction of human enemies that worship the freakers. Going back and forth between fighting infected and humans was an interesting juxtaposition, and I hope that the final game has plenty more scenarios that mix enemy types up. Movement, stealth, and combat all felt great, and the game looked fantastic too.
The next mission was taking on a massive horde of freakers, and it was unlike any other zombie game I had ever played. The freakers moved quickly and swarmed in. One wrong move and I was dead. And I was dead a couple of times before I got the hang of it. This isn't an easy world to live or fight in, and hundreds of freakers in a lumberyard proved the perfect test of that. While both of these experiences were small slices of the game, they show a ton of promise with how they will fit into the wider scope.
http://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2018/06/21/e3-2018-hands-on-days-gone-preview/#/slide/1Any doubt or apprehension I had instantly faded when I finished the demo, not that there was much doubt left to begin with. Days Gone looks great, plays great, and has some of the most unique mechanics of any zombie games out there, especially fully open-world ones. I was a little surprised it wasn't given one last public E3 hurrah before its release, but I was happy to get a chance to go hands-on with Days Gone. Sony has a great lineup of exclusives coming, and February 2019 is no exception.
Stuff
One of the more unexpected treats of our demo was protagonist Deacon St. John's main mode of transportation. The former outlaw biker is welcome to walk the land of the living dead, but it's far more fun to tool around the world on his hog.
Responsive and intuitive, the bike's nuanced controls make it a blast to ride, whether you're flying down the freeway or carefully navigating a wilderness trail.
In addition to handling great, its speed and maneuverability prove invaluable for getting out of tight spots. During one of our demo's objectives, we fired up a generator to restore power to an electronically locked door. While the mission was a success, the machine's loud grumbling attracted more attention than we could handle.
Upon being overrun by Freakers, we hopped on the bike, hit the throttle, and navigated a swarm of hungry mutants with relative ease.
https://www.stuff.tv/game-reviews/days-gone/review-0Before our play session, Bend Studio's creative director John Garvin stressed how dangerous Days Gone's open-world is. "It's a world that comes for you." he said. "It's always dangerous, so no matter what else you're trying to do, you're always trying to survive.
While we took Garvin's warning seriously, we assumed he was referring to the walking corpses that wanted to turn us into fleshy confetti. So it genuinely surprised us that one of the most terrifying things we encountered during the game was an empty gas tank. We were having so much fun tearing up the blacktop on Deacon's bike, we barely noticed its depleting fuel gauge.
Upon leaving our ride behind – in a heavy rainstorm – we encountered a horde of Freakers before finding any fuel. Thankfully, using a rag and some kerosene we'd picked up earlier, we were able to craft a Molotov cocktail and fry the foes real good.
When returning to our ride – fuel in-hand – however, we were ambushed by a disturbing woman wielding a bat. The attack caught us completely off guard, ultimately leaving us face down in a pool of our own blood.
This brief stretch of gameplay began with an empty gas tank, but ended up spawning an emergent mini-adventure that was easily as engaging as any of the more traditional missions we tackled. If this sort of dynamic encounter is representative of what happens regularly in Days Gone's dangerous sandbox, we look forward to digging in deeper.
https://ticgamesnetwork.com/e3/e3-2018-days-gone-impressions-1-vs-300/Taking on a Horde is no joke, even if you're well-prepared. They are fast and aggressive, clambering over each other even as the dead bodies pile up. Stop sprinting for even a few seconds and they'll catch up. Let the Horde break up too much and clusters of them will circle around and surround you. All the while, they're snarling and gnashing their teeth, which makes for a disturbing cacophony when you're running for your life. They jump over fences, climb over vehicles, burst open doors like a massive swarm of insects. It's an incredible (and terrifying) feat of engineering.
While I was impressed with how the Horde acted for the most part, there were some noticeable seems. One of the Freakers just straight-up glitched and flew twenty feet up after being shot. Additionally, there seems to be a noticeable delay between when they surround you and when they actually attack you. With that said, there's several months left for Sony Bend to polish any remaining physics problems.
I ended up beating the Horde on my first try through the plentiful use of bombs and machine gun fire, as well as a bit of lucky sprinting. If this Horde is on the smaller size and was faced on relatively flat terrain, I cannot imagine what a larger Horde would be like, especially if they surround a building like in the E3 2016 demo.
While I'm still not sold on the protagonist, I'm definitely convinced on the tech Days Gone is using. A lot of my fears have been laid to rest and I'll be keeping an eye on this title from here on out.
Cogconnected
https://www.newgamenetwork.com/article/1952/days-gone-preview-e3-2018/All around the site there were many explosive barrels scattered about, and it was important to memorize their locations for later. Deacon was also able to craft some molotovs and proximity bombs, and again, the best approach was to plan a path and lead the infected horde down it. That's all in retrospect though – the first two attempts, we engaged the horde without much planning, and it made for a very quick death. With so many enemies, even firing your MG (which does take them down in just a couple of hits) leads to Deacon to be overwhelmed quickly. Really quickly – if the enemies get within touching distance, it's over in literal seconds. Having failed a few times, it was time to approach the situation seriously, and a few more attempts later, with well planned routes filled with pre-placed traps, we were successful. Watching other members of the press attempt this challenge was entertaining, as people attempted different strategies to handle the onslaught (mostly, learning from their mistakes of trying to tackle the horde head-on).
after we had a chance to actually go hands-on with the game, it seemed fairly polished and entertaining. It's not exactly groundbreaking – apart from the huge horde encounters – but it seems solid and will likely please fans of the genre.
Yawwwwwwn. Another 3rd person, over the shoulder, post apocalyptic tale of gritty heroism from a Sony first party studio. Right? Up until the other day I would have agreed. Now, I'm not so sure.
Days Gone is indeed all the things I mentioned above. What I'm waffling on is whether the fact it's doing those things matters or should be held against it.
Granted, Deacon (the main guy) seems like an unthinking meathead with a very obvious character arc to work through. Also granted, there are more recent attempts at the zombie than one could shake a stick at. Despite those things, Days Gone seems like a fun and creative playground to poke at.
The sections I played through were light on story, but the few cutscenes I saw seemed well acted and written. Huge grain of salt though – 5 minutes out of a 30 hour title can hardly be considered a reasonable sample size.
What was truly interesting was the AI Sony Bend has baked into the hoards of 'Freakers' covering the landscape. The best way I can describe their behaviour is that they flow. Each individual creature acts as a particle, and together they form a stream.
So does it matter that the surface of Days Gone looks familiar? I don't think so. There's a huge amount of promise in the systems Sony Bend have built, and my 30 minutes or so with the game were intriguing. I'll be keeping a close eye on Days Gone, and I think it'd be a mistake to write it off before actually getting your hands on it.
http://cogconnected.com/preview/the-familiar-look-and-feel-of-days-gone-is-totally-ok/
Brah. That Horde is NO JOKE. I was tasked with clearing out a group of 300 freakers at a lumber yard before my pals arrived. Deacon checks out the situation and warns his pals, telling them he's got this. The demo certainly gave me every opportunity to succeed, buuuut of course I failed the first two attempts.
First time I tossed a couple molotov cocktails into the Horde, which only ticked them off. Soon they were coming right at me like a (extremely huge) pack of rabid wolves. The coolest part about it? The rush of adrenaline that took over once I realized the world of hurt those 300 bastards were about to put on me. The music grew louder and louder as they moved closer, ready to tear me apart limb from limb. It was epic. It was exhilarating. This is what Days Gone is all about. I tried to run. Yeah, that didn't work. I was slaughtered.
Thankfully they're scared of me — at full health. I try my best to sneak around the high grass avoiding Freakers. This put me in stealth mode, which helped me avoid a few of the crazies, but I messed up a couple times and had to fight back. After these injuries, the Newts started to come at me, no longer afraid of their prey. Nice touch!
https://theplaystationbrahs.com/2018/06/19/e3-2018-days-gone-hands-on-impressions/While the second demo's gameplay did remind me of The Last of Us at times, the Horde demo made me a believer in the game. It was so drastically different than any other zombie-type game that I had ever played. Another thing the demo lacked was some hands-on with the motorcycle gameplay or the ability to explore the huge open-world of Oregon. While I did take on Freakers, a Freak Horde, Newts, and Rippers, the Infected animals were absent. So there's also that to look forward to when the game releases.
Gamesradar
Plenty of people might be sleeping on Days Gone, but PlayStation's zombie RPG has genuinely threatening enemies - wait until you meet the pint-sized Freakers called 'newts' - a clever motorbike mechanic, and, it turns out, truly metal sections where you'll need to take on hundreds of freakers at once. I went up against 500 of the bastards, armed with my wits, my bike, and what turned out a very misplaced sense of confidence.
Actually, picked off isn't the right way to put it. That makes you picture our hero, the grizzled Deacon, finding a nice safe vantage point and sniping at the enemy. But there is no safe vantage point. Once the Freakers are on the move they flow around the environment like water, very quickly flooding every pathway and route, flanking you, scaling every obstacle. My first attempt lasted just minutes - my plan to stem the flow with molotov cocktails - the veteran zombie fighter choice - fell apart the minute I realised they were moving faster than I could throw, and some lizard part of my brain panicked and had me just run, aimlessly hunting for safe ground, until they overwhelmed me.
Still, I was sure there was some secret formula I was missing, and with each attempt I got a little better at predicting and managing the horde. I could blow up barrels with well aimed shots to take out a dozen Freakers here or there, I could use my bike to store extra ammo or race from one side of the area to another. The storage containers were great when my stamina was flagging, I could run into one and then squeeze through a gap in the other side, something the Freakers couldn't figure out. Log piles could be blasted to take out handfuls of enemies, and my inventory wheel was stocked with stamina boosters I could use to get an extra burst of energy when things looked really bad. It was like a very deadly logic puzzle, and I could almost feel the fireworks in my prefrontal cortex as I swapped between weapons, guns, and attempts at cunning.
https://www.gamesradar.com/500-freakers-one-man-and-a-bike-days-gones-horde-levels-are-hardcore-af/The twist in this tale? I never managed to figure out how to defeat all 500 Freakers. On my best attempt - and with a combination of luck and dedicated resource management - I culled the horde to around a third of its original size. I raged, I did that thing where I personally threatened the game - "seriously, if I don't do it this time I am done with you" - but ultimately it was an incredibly fun way to die. I can't wait to perfect my horde strategy, and to wreak terrible revenge when the game is released on February 22, 2019.
Old impressions:
PS Access
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrTdEOmq7a4
Vandal
https://vandal.elespanol.com/avances/ps4/days-gone/38421/4
Eurogamer
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2018-05-21-days-gones-e3-demo-shows-scant-signs-of-life
gamepro.de
https://www.gamepro.de/artikel/days-gone,3329864.html
pcgames.de
http://www.pcgames.de/Days-Gone-Spi...vival-Spiel-in-der-Hands-on-Vorschau-1256707/
Eurogamer PT
https://www.eurogamer.pt/articles/2018-05-21-days-gone-jogamos-o-promissor-jogo-da-sony-bend
Eurogamer ES
https://www.eurogamer.es/articles/days-gone-avance
PSU
https://www.psu.com/news/days-gone-ps4-e3-2018-impressions/
Gamespot
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/ps4-zombie-game-days-gone-has-an-impressive-open-w/1100-6459096/
USgamer
https://www.usgamer.net/articles/days-gone-pre-e3-hands-on-preview
Ars
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2018...ands-on-have-you-played-a-zombie-game-before/
DailyStar
https://www./tech/gaming/704461/Day...zon-Zero-Dawn-Uncharted-4-E3-2018-PlayStation
Variety
http://variety.com/2018/gaming/features/days-gone-hands-on-1202818502/
Engadget
https://www.engadget.com/2018/05/22/days-gone-hands-on-2018/
Shacknews
http://www.shacknews.com/article/105057/days-gone-exclusive-interview-with-game-director-jeff-ross
PS Nation
http://www.psnation.com/2018/05/22/hands-on-days-gone/
Jeuxvideo
http://www.jeuxvideo.com/preview/849015/days-gone-welcome-to-zombieland.htm
Gamergen
https://gamergen.com/tests/preview-days-gone-jeu-qui-souffle-pluie-et-beau-temps-291854-1
I will add more as they come.
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