Game Informer: The first hour of Days Gone (Alpha Build & Dev Commentary) [Update: 40 more minutes]

[Frag Waffles]

Ive caught up on all footage now. This game looks so awesome, but I'm pretty concerned about one thing: the up-close combat with freakers.

It needs a lot of focus and a lot of attention and polish. A lot. The part at the end at the warehouse when the player was surrounded was tough to watch. Camera was all over the place, freakers just stood there, and it just looked like a mess. Then at one point he was surrounded again, the camera lost the player, and a freaker actually grabbed him and it was nearly impossible to see what was happening. (39:40). Also, the "freakers jumping and latching on to the player" mechanic might need to be axed or heavily tuned. It's completely immersion breaking to get grabbed, mash a button while 10 other freakers stand there for the long sequence to end. What happens if you're fighting a horde and you're grabbed? Do the other 300 freakers patiently wait for the animation to finish? It needs some serious re-working and re-consideration as to what value that mechanic actually adds to the gameplay. Suggestion: replace it with a jump attack that simply does more damage to the player. It keeps the combat fast paced without taking control away from the player and breaking immersion.

Sounds harsh but I'm really loving everything else I see so I feel it's important to be critical of this.

 

[N.Domixis]

There is definitely concern for this game over at Sony, no reason we should be seeing this much gameplay so soon. Will probably teach Sony a lesson on making sure their games are different enough to develop. Being too lenient results in things like gts and this game.

 

[henhowc]

There is definitely concern for this game over at Sony, no reason we should be seeing this much gameplay so soon. Will probably teach Sony a lesson on making sure their games are different enough to develop. Being too lenient results in things like gts and this game.

Click to shrink...

there's concern over the game so they do a blow-out? wouldn't it be the opposite like with The Order 1886 where we got nothing.

 

[Loudninja]

There is definitely concern for this game over at Sony, no reason we should be seeing this much gameplay so soon. Will probably teach Sony a lesson on making sure their games are different enough to develop. Being too lenient results in things like gts and this game.

Click to shrink...

Lol so the opposite of GOW where people were concern hey were not showing much even months before release.

This is so silly.

 

[BradGrenz]

A bit off topic but I think you might be misremembering RDR's intro...I just started another playthrough on my X and it's just a cutscene of John Marston on the train and arriving in Armadillo with little to no fanfare. The first hour is really just running some basic chores on Bonnie's ranch. Game doesn't get amazing until hours later.

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Yeah, RDR starts really slow. You spend most of the first hour on a horse getting exposition. Then you shoot some rabbits and herd cattle for a while.

 

[Kaako]

There is definitely concern for this game over at Sony, no reason we should be seeing this much gameplay so soon. Will probably teach Sony a lesson on making sure their games are different enough to develop. Being too lenient results in things like gts and this game.

Click to shrink...

What the what.
There seems to be great concern over this game, yes.

 

[Loudninja]

All the info I got from the vids


-You can turn off the XP pop up in the options
-You find maps to reveal fog of war of a area
-You can melee while on the bike
-You can switch shoulders while aiming.
-Radio towers are just that towers they dont have a special function.
-You can turn the bike headlight on and off.
-If you head shot freakers you cant get their ears which is a type of currency.
-You unlock fast travel areas by burning nesting zones.
-99% of the buildings are enterable
-Newts only attacks you if you wounded or climb up to where they are.
-You can find other melee weapons in he world and upgrade them and repair them.
-You can purchase weapons at the encampments
-Your inventory is limited but you can upgrade it
-You can perform a steal attack on unaware armed enemies
-No difficulty settings
-Later on you can craft stuff that gives you health buffs and such
-30 important npcs on the level of Boozer
-Dynamic ambush system, you can be ambush anytime anywhere.
-If you take out ambush camps more infected when move in because they are not being challenge anymore.
-Doing stunt jumps will damage your bike
-If you land your bike a certain way after a jump it will take less damage.
-Big branching decisions that seem to be character focus.
-You can get you purchase weapons from Weapon lockers which are in safe areas
-The game takes place 2 years after the apocalypse
-You discover hordes as you explore the map
-The game has a bullet time like function

 

[Deleted member 36493]

All the info I got from the vids

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Thanks for this. Love everything they're doing to make the bike more realistic. I hope it has weighty physics, haven't watched the videos.

 

[SJRB]

There is definitely concern for this game over at Sony, no reason we should be seeing this much gameplay so soon. Will probably teach Sony a lesson on making sure their games are different enough to develop. Being too lenient results in things like gts and this game.

Click to shrink...

...can't help but chuckle reading posts like this.

DEFINATELY CONCERN, give me a break.

 

[Hellshy]

There is definitely concern for this game over at Sony, no reason we should be seeing this much gameplay so soon. Will probably teach Sony a lesson on making sure their games are different enough to develop. Being too lenient results in things like gts and this game.

Click to shrink...

Why do you assume this game would be recieved better if it was a different publisher?

Only people that will shit on this game b/c sony is publishing it are fanboys. If the game was launching in the same window as last of us than you might have a point but it is not so as a ps4 owner I look forward to both games since I cant play last of us when this game launches. It also is going to be q different experience despite the similarities.

 

[flaxknuckles]

-Doing stunt jumps will damage your bike

Why would they put that in there? That's lame.

 

[Loudninja]

-Doing stunt jumps will damage your bike

Why would they put that in there? That's lame.

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It would be more odd if it did not.

It would go against the idea that you have to maintain your bike.

 

[flaxknuckles]

It would be more odd if it did not.

It would go against the idea that you have to maintain your bike.

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Just sounds like the bad kind of realism to me. A motorcycle game that encourages you not to hit big ass ramps just sounds like a bother.

 

[LifeBrandRobot]

I gotta say, I'm really liking Deacon's VA. They way he talks in a kinda breathless way sounds great.

There is definitely concern for this game over at Sony, no reason we should be seeing this much gameplay so soon. Will probably teach Sony a lesson on making sure their games are different enough to develop. Being too lenient results in things like gts and this game.

Click to shrink...

Wouldn't they be showing LESS gameplay if they were concerned? Showing excessive amounts of gameplay doesn't make any sense if they were worried about the game...

 

[Necromorph]

Melee combat and IA needs a lot of work, the good thing Bend's has a lot of time to work on this.

 

[Anthony Hopkins]

Looks good, this games overall quality will depend how creative the missions are and how good the story is.
Theres been enough zombie and survival games that if its mostly generic zombie shooting it could prove tiresome.

 

[Callibretto]

-Doing stunt jumps will damage your bike

Why would they put that in there? That's lame.

Click to shrink...

you can control the angle of how your bike lands and landing at good angle minimize or neglect the damage. so you had that little bit of minigame for you everytime you do a stunt jump

 

[shinobi602]

There is definitely concern for this game over at Sony, no reason we should be seeing this much gameplay so soon. Will probably teach Sony a lesson on making sure their games are different enough to develop. Being too lenient results in things like gts and this game.

Click to shrink...

They're concerned so the solution is to show a ton of footage?

 

[Loudninja]

Looks good, this games overall quality will depend how creative the missions are and how good the story is.
Theres been enough zombie and survival games that if its mostly generic zombie shooting it could prove tiresome.

Click to shrink...

Missions seem varied atleast from what I seen.

 

[KORNdog]

Watched this last night. The lead character design has always put me off since the reveal and it is worsened by the dialog, delivery, and direction. The world is beautiful and I like how seamless it is. It seems to be borrowing from a lot of games: Mad Max (rebuilding the Magnum Opus), TellTale Adventure games (so-and-so will remember that), and TLOU (combat, scavenging, crafting). I hate to be reductive, but it doesn't seem to set itself apart. I wish they would have shown off some of the zombie hordes and gameplay around that. Is that still a focal point in the game?

Click to shrink...

What other game combines those elements Into an open world though? If there isnt an answer to that, then surely that alone sets it apart from any other game on the market?

I mean, if I want to play an "open world zombie game" theres already a pretty limited amount of choice on that menu as it is...dying light...erm...dead rising and? Now combine the branching narratives of telltales walking dead and last of us level writing. And third person shooter combat. And maintenance and survival aspects, and crafting. And a huge horde of enemies on screen?

That list of alternatives just disappears entirely.

Games are more than a sum of their parts. Horizon zero dawn did very fre new things when you break it down into its individual components. Neither did last of us. And yet they still stand out as unique experiences if you look at them as a whole.

I have no doubt in my mind days gone will be similarly unique come release. The blanket statement i'm.reading from people of "oh, it's just another zombie game" isn't really valid criticism in my mind. Not unless you're some weirdo who thinks cod zombies, dead rising, left 4 dead, resident evil 7 and dying light are all exactly the same game and play identically?

 

[Loudninja]

What other game combines those elements Into an open world though? If there isnt an answer to that, then surely that alone sets it apart from any other game on the market?

I mean, if I want to play an "open world zombie game" theres already a pretty limited amount of choice on that menu as it is...dying light...erm...dead rising and? Now combine the branching narratives of telltales walking dead and last of us level writing. And third person shooter combat. And maintenance and survival aspects, and crafting. And a huge horde of enemies on screen?

That list of alternatives just disappears entirely.

Games are more than a sum of their parts. Horizon zero dawn did very fre new things when you break it down into its individual components. Neither did last of us. And yet they still stand out as unique experiences if you look at them as a whole.

I have no doubt in my mind days gone will be similarly unique come release. The blanket statement i'm.reading from people of "oh, it's just another zombie game" isn't really valid criticism in my mind. Not unless you're some weirdo who thinks cod zombies, dead rising, left 4 dead, resident evil 7 and dying light are all exactly the same game and play identically?

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Yep its about the devs adding their on flavor like I mention earlier

 

[tiebreaker]

All the info I got from the vids


-You can turn off the XP pop up in the options
-You find maps to reveal fog of war of a area
-You can melee while on the bike
-You can switch shoulders while aiming.
-Radio towers are just that towers they dont have a special function.
-You can turn the bike headlight on and off.
-If you head shot freakers you cant get their ears which is a type of currency.
-You unlock fast travel areas by burning nesting zones.
-99% of the buildings are enterable
-Newts only attacks you if you wounded or climb up to where they are.
-You can find other melee weapons in he world and upgrade them and repair them.
-You can purchase weapons at the encampments
-Your inventory is limited but you can upgrade it
-You can perform a steal attack on unaware armed enemies
-No difficulty settings
-Later on you can craft stuff that gives you health buffs and such
-30 important npcs on the level of Boozer
-Dynamic ambush system, you can be ambush anytime anywhere.
-If you take out ambush camps more infected when move in because they are not being challenge anymore.
-Doing stunt jumps will damage your bike
-If you land your bike a certain way after a jump it will take less damage.
-Big branching decisions that seem to be character focus.
-You can get you purchase weapons from Weapon lockers which are in safe areas
-The game takes place 2 years after the apocalypse
-You discover hordes as you explore the map
-The game has a bullet time like function

Click to shrink...

That sounds promising. I prefer my zombie game to be less linear, where you do survivor stuffs rather than moving from chapter to chapter, so something like State of Decay but with higher production quality.

Give the bike a better physic and I'm in.

Do we know if there is something like a settlement or town building mechanic?

 

[Loudninja]

That sounds promising. I prefer my zombie game to be less linear, where you do survivor stuffs rather than moving from chapter to chapter, so something like State of Decay but with higher production quality.

Give the bike a better physic and I'm in.

Do we know if there is something like a settlement or town building mechanic?

Click to shrink...

No nothing like that, you improve the 5 encampments in the game by help the leader of the area which give you better stuff to buy and such.

 

[Deleted member 5727]

Just sounds like the bad kind of realism to me. A motorcycle game that encourages you not to hit big ass ramps just sounds like a bother.

Click to shrink...

It's not a motorcycle game. It's a zombie freaker apocalypse narrative driven open-world game where your vehicle is a motorcycle. Damage taken to the motorcycle is part of the dynamics and tension of the game.

 

[MegaBeefBowl]

Don't know how much I care about the "grumpy protagonist that's grumpy because his wife is dead" premise.

Also "Freakers" is the dumbest zombie stand-in name on Earth. It's almost as bad as "Deacon St John."

Fade to black cutscene transitions are not nice to look at after God of War.

 

[Imitation Of Life]

I think it looks great. The lighting, graphics and atmosphere are amazing. I don't like how it shows you points while shooting enemies, that looks bad and also the 3d flashback stuff

they need to take those things out

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You can turn the XP numbers off.

 

[Imitation Of Life]

When they are showing 40mns portions of the game: I wonder, how long they expect the game to be? I watched the first few mins but I'm going to stay away from watching more. It looks great. Day one.

Click to shrink...

30 hours if you just follow the main path.

There is definitely concern for this game over at Sony, no reason we should be seeing this much gameplay so soon. Will probably teach Sony a lesson on making sure their games are different enough to develop. Being too lenient results in things like gts and this game.

Click to shrink...

They are so concerned that a massive info and content drop with GameInformer a year ahead of release was approved?

 

[bender]

What other game combines those elements Into an open world though? If there isnt an answer to that, then surely that alone sets it apart from any other game on the market?

I mean, if I want to play an "open world zombie game" theres already a pretty limited amount of choice on that menu as it is...dying light...erm...dead rising and? Now combine the branching narratives of telltales walking dead and last of us level writing. And third person shooter combat. And maintenance and survival aspects, and crafting. And a huge horde of enemies on screen?

That list of alternatives just disappears entirely.

Click to shrink...

You can combine as many elements as you want in a game but what does it do better or to raise the bar of the elements it is borrowing? That's why I mentioned the need for them to show off the zombie horde elements of the game. That's not something that's been done well since L4D. I don't know about you, but saying your game is open world or zombie themed works against my curiosity due to fatigue in that game genre and theme.

I'll also strongly disagree with the notion of TLOU level writing based on that first hour.

I'd add Undead Nightmare, State of Decay (soon to have a sequel), 7 Days To Die, and Metal Gear Survive to your list for of open world Zombie games.

 

[E.T.]

The extra 40 minute video was excellent, it seems like it is going to be a good game. Just need to polish it up.

 

[Imitation Of Life]

You can combine as many elements as you want in a game but what does it do better or to raise the bar of the elements it is borrowing? That's why I mentioned the need for them to show off the zombie horde elements of the game. That's not something that's been done well since L4D. I don't know about you, but saying your game is open world or zombie themed works against my curiosity due to fatigue in that game genre and theme.

I'll also strongly disagree with the notion of TLOU level writing based on that first hour.

I'd add Undead Nightmare, State of Decay (soon to have a sequel), 7 Days To Die, and Metal Gear Survive to your list for of open world Zombie games.

Click to shrink...

Still a small list especially when have to go back and include an expansion. None of those additions you listed are AAA retail games either.

 

[Loudninja]

You can combine as many elements as you want in a game but what does it do better or to raise the bar of the elements it is borrowing? That's why I mentioned the need for them to show off the zombie horde elements of the game. That's not something that's been done well since L4D. I don't know about you, but saying your game is open world or zombie themed works against my curiosity due to fatigue in that game genre and theme.

I'll also strongly disagree with the notion of TLOU level writing based on that first hour.

I'd add Undead Nightmare, State of Decay (soon to have a sequel), 7 Days To Die, and Metal Gear Survive to your list for of open world Zombie games.

Click to shrink...

You seem to have missed the entire point of his post also you really stretchering with those examples.

 

[Blackleg-sanji1]

Y'all be trying toooooo hard to fit y'all zombie fatigue narrative. Here's this last gen game and two current gen game o and these expansions. Get outta here. Say u personally are done with zombies write the game off and move on. There are so many games out there I can't imagine being stuck on one. Although you might be fatigued on a lot of things the way y'all be trying

 

[5Twist]

Some people are focusing too much on the 'what' and not enough on the 'how'.

 

[bender]

You seem to have missed the entire point of his post also you really stretchering with those examples.

Click to shrink...

I don't think I did? His point, if I understand correctly, is that what it sets it apart is all the elements it brings to the table from other games, throws them into an open world and adds a bag of chips (zombie horde). I just don't agree with that premise, at least as far as delivering an appealing concept. And how is it stretching to list other open-world zombie games? Maybe try to add to the conversation instead of snipping?

To be clear, I'm not hating on the game aside from the characters which I find unappealing, but that's purely subjective. All the systems they've shown look competent. The world is beautiful and I'm really interested in seeing more of the horde mechanics.

Y'all be trying toooooo hard to fit y'all zombie fatigue narrative. Here's this last gen game and two current gen game o and these expansions. Get outta here. Say u personally are done with zombies write the game off and move on. There are so many games out there I can't imagine being stuck on one. Although you might be fatigued on a lot of things the way y'all be trying

Click to shrink...

I'd personally list open world and crafting/survival much higher on my fatigue list than a Zombie theme.

 

[DriftingSpirit]

 

[MattAces]

Oh no, huge downgrade again.

Spoiler

Yes, it's the same guy again, doing these comparison.

 

[Bioshocker]

It looks OK. More than OK. I don't think we should expect a new TLOU regarding characters and story, but if it's a decent third person action game in a zombie (freaker, whatever) world, I'm perfectly fine with that. Just hope it does something new.

 

[LoudMouse]

There is definitely concern for this game over at Sony, no reason we should be seeing this much gameplay so soon. Will probably teach Sony a lesson on making sure their games are different enough to develop. Being too lenient results in things like gts and this game.

Click to shrink...

So what we need is a company that stops developing so many story driven singleplayer games and is less lenient on their devs ...

I think I have the company for you! GOW really did nail it home, didn't it.

 

[chaosaeon]

Also "Freakers" is the dumbest zombie stand-in name on Earth. It's almost as bad as "Deacon St John."

Click to shrink...

Yeah, almost all the names in the game make me cringe a little. Deacon St John, Boozer, Freaker, Ripper ...

I do like what I've heard of Sam's performance as Deacon but I'm not sure about the writing and everyone else's VO sounds real PS360 gamey and not much like a convincing person.

 

[Deleted member 19721]

woof. this looks incredibly generic. they've somehow managed to make a worse looking less fun version of dying light.

 

[chandoog]

There is definitely concern for this game over at Sony, no reason we should be seeing this much gameplay so soon. Will probably teach Sony a lesson on making sure their games are different enough to develop. Being too lenient results in things like gts and this game.

Click to shrink...

There is concern for the game .. which is why they're confidently releasing hours of footage ..

what ?

 

[DeathyG]

woof. this looks incredibly generic. they've somehow managed to make a worse looking less fun version of dying light.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, the gameplay is so similar to that first-person parkour game...

 

[Deleted member 19721]

There is concern for the game .. which is why they're confidently releasing hours of footage ..

what ?

Click to shrink...

are we just going to pretend the gameplay and animations dont look incredibly rough?

 

[chandoog]

are we just going to pretend the gameplay and animations dont look incredibly rough?

Click to shrink...

Sure, as long as we don't ignore the big ass Alpha tag.

 

[Syranth]

Oh no, huge downgrade again.

Spoiler

Yes, it's the same guy again, doing these comparison.

Click to shrink...

I think as a gaming community we need to get past the "downgrade" talk as a negative. I'd rather put it more as "hey, they are working to make it a more stable game". If anything I'm happy that Sony is putting this much footage out to let me gauge my interest in the game (which has always been mild, because zombies... again). Maybe that's why it's out there so we can level set our expectations after the first showing.

If there is anything we should have learned in the past few years its that what we see from game devs evolves as so: Early showings are to generate interest > mid showings are to see what's changed > late showings (including by reviewers) are to put the final word in. Sadly, we would be naive to think the game industry is the only one that does this. This happens in cars, movies, politics, college, relationships, just about everything (ever heard the term first impressions are important?). Even last year's GOTY Zelda changed and had some downgrades (not much though because cell shaders are sophisticated in their own way.) I bet if we took our favorite game from 10 years ago it would have looked different from the middle of it's development.

Basically what I'm saying is I'll judge this game, like most games, when it's a month from launch. Until then it's nice to see this stuff but otherwise it's just there to remind us it exists.

 

[LoudMouse]

Edit: I'm not sure whether this is an official trailer. I just noticed they have another one and it appears to be taken from the Game Informer footage.

 

[Estarossa]

I don't understand why they're having an info blowout 6+ months before the game's release

 

[HussiZooT]

Ive caught up on all footage now. This game looks so awesome, but I'm pretty concerned about one thing: the up-close combat with freakers.

It needs a lot of focus and a lot of attention and polish. A lot. The part at the end at the warehouse when the player was surrounded was tough to watch. Camera was all over the place, freakers just stood there, and it just looked like a mess. Then at one point he was surrounded again, the camera lost the player, and a freaker actually grabbed him and it was nearly impossible to see what was happening. (39:40). Also, the "freakers jumping and latching on to the player" mechanic might need to be axed or heavily tuned. It's completely immersion breaking to get grabbed, mash a button while 10 other freakers stand there for the long sequence to end. What happens if you're fighting a horde and you're grabbed? Do the other 300 freakers patiently wait for the animation to finish? It needs some serious re-working and re-consideration as to what value that mechanic actually adds to the gameplay. Suggestion: replace it with a jump attack that simply does more damage to the player. It keeps the combat fast paced without taking control away from the player and breaking immersion.

Sounds harsh but I'm really loving everything else I see so I feel it's important to be critical of this.

Click to shrink...

This is my only concern with this game.

I like everything else I see in it. This and maybe the gunplay... the guns lack feedback/sound/impact.

Bend has a lot of time to improve upon these things. It's good they've done a blow-out so far away from release. Gives them time to address legit concerns and feedback.

 

[Xelan]

The gameplay shown has some neat ideas in place that I find interesting, my only problem is that I really don't want to play another game with a gruff sadsack protagonist with a chip on his shoulder from a past tragedy, hell I'd rather play as Boozer than the guy they have now as the main character.

 

[TLZ]

Just watched the HD version. Looks good.