Welcome–or welcome back–to Days Gone, Bend Studio’s sprawling open-world adventure-survival epic. In this PlayStation 5 remaster launching April 25, you’ll once again be able to enjoy Deacon St. John’s journey across the gorgeous natural beauty of the Oregon wilderness–provided you can deal with the mind-boggling amount of mutant Freaker monstrosities that want to shred you into tiny little chunks.
We reached out to Kevin McAllister, Creative and Product Lead at Bend Studio, for some additional details about the anticipated remaster, including its notable new additions. So grab your survival gear, gas up your bike, and read on to hear about how Days Gone is better than ever on the PlayStation 5.
Back in the days
We first asked how Bend Studio feels about revisiting their flagship game, “Days Gone is a special game for us,” says McAllister. “It’s a special game to our players, too. We got the opportunity to remaster a game that we released originally on the PS4 in 2019 and ported to the PC in 2021. Six years after the original, technology has improved–we have the power of the PS5 now. There was a lot more we could do to showcase the game’s potential.”
We then asked about how the PlayStation 5’s capabilities are enhancing the Days Gone experience. “The graphical improvements we’ve made–you’ll see the difference,” McAllister explains. “There’s increased lighting, increased shadow quality ,increased fog depth. For example, night time is now darker; the moon is more natural-looking. The blue sky is more natural, too–Days Gone is a very realistic-looking game. And we’ve taken that to a new level with the PS5.” Sounds like a great fit for the remaster’s new-and-improved Photo Mode, with more lighting options and instant day-and-night switches for beautiful environmental photography.
McAllister continues: “Gameplay-wise, right off the top of my head is increased horde sizes. That’s very specific to our new gameplay mode, Horde Assault. And these hordes, they get big. Like, how big? So, for example, the biggest horde in the story is the old sawmill horde, which is a mission that has 500 Freakers. In Horde Assault, we have hordes that range up to 800 Freakers. They cover the screen, that’s for sure.”
Crowd control
McAllister bringing up these huge hordes felt like the perfect time to ask him to dig deeper into the remaster’s new Horde Assault mode. “It’s our new survival arcade mode, a fresh, unique take on the core Days Gone gameplay loop. We took everything you had in the story mode, built upon that, and took the challenges that we released post-launch and evolved the concept. So, now you have these big open regions, you’re facing a bunch of hordes, and they’re coming from different angles on you. You’re seeing hordes at totally new locations than what you saw in the story, and the hordes at familiar locations are even bigger.
“Horde Assault gives you all the tools at your disposal from the start. New players can jump in and play it right away, and they can experience the core, open world gameplay of Days Gone, but now you’re having the maxed out motorcycle with you, and some new weapons, too. There’s also human enemies alongside evolved Freakers like breakers, reachers, and screamers. It’s a lot more chaotic, but it’s the true Days Gone gameplay experience. It’s a really cool and fun mode, and I think fans are really going to enjoy it.”
Another new mode coming to the remaster is a Speedrun mode. “Speedrun mode is separated from the other modes,” he explains. “When you go into speedrun mode, you can play it on any of the difficulties. There’s an always-on-screen timer that will pause during cinematics. Each time you go through, it records your time next to that difficulty. At the very end of your speed run, you get a special graphic showing your detailed stats to share.”
We asked McAllister about the thought process behind this addition. “With Days Gone, there are players that have tried and done speed runs, but it wasn’t a big thing. So giving new players who may not have tried the game before a speed running mode–maybe that’s exactly what they wanted. Now they’re able to jump in, have fun, and use their expertise to finish the game as quickly as possible. I respect those players, because that’s something I can’t do, and it’s really impressive to see.”
High-stakes survival
Another major addition–and perhaps the most intimidating–is permadeath mode, which is exactly what it sounds like: If Deacon dies, the run’s over, no saving. Harsh, but also very fitting for Days Gone’s world.
According to McAllister, the players are to thank for helping the team cook this up. “Permadeath mode was implemented because of community feedback. It’s actually something we wanted as far back as 2019, so this was the perfect opportunity to add it. We’ve seen players create videos doing things like trying to go through a whole run taking no damage at all, only using the very weak boot knife. Well, what’s the ultimate challenge? Deathless. So now, you’re really getting that true survival experience. I think players are going to dig it.”
“You can play the mode on any difficulty, and there’s two settings to choose from. If you choose whole game, wherever you die in the story, you have to start from the very beginning–your save file gets deleted. If you choose per act, so say, if you die at the old saw mill horde again, you only return to that beginning of the act. That’s going to save you hours of gameplay in this mode. But for the players who do play the whole game: we salute you. We also think trees are going to be the biggest cause of death in this mode. I may be speaking from experience,” he laughs.
Finally, what sort of advice does McAllister have for people who want to take on this challenge? “You must be more cautious this time around,” he points out. “Scavenge supplies every chance you get and be more methodical with your approach. When you’re going through an ambush camp, you want to make sure you’re prepared before you leave, because you can run into a horde or a bear. If you don’t have the ammo, the run’s over. Also, there’s an early point in the story where you have to make a decision on which camp to give a stash to. Choose Tucker’s camp–you have access to better weapons quicker, which makes a huge difference in the early game.”
Days Gone Remastered will be available for PlayStation 5 on April 25.
