Should You Buy Days Gone on PC? – Slow but Outstanding Open-World Zombie Game

Should you buy Days Gone on PC today? It’s a valid question, considering it’s one of the titles that’s insanely overlooked right now. It had fierce competition when it first arrived on consoles, and a lot of people ignored it when it first came out on PC. But now, almost half a year after its PC debut, Days Gone receives nothing but praise from people.

Why is that? What made people change their minds? Well, I’m here to dive deep into the game’s open world, gameplay, and story to see what makes Days Gone an excellent action-adventure open-world game with some of the most ferocious zombie hordes we’ve seen in a video game yet.

Common questions

But before we figure out should you buy Days Gone on PC, let’s cover all the common questions that people ask about the game.

When did Days Gone release on the PS4?

Days Gone launched on April 26th, 2019 for the PlayStation 4.

When did Days Gone release on the PC?

Days Gone launched on May 18, 2021, for the PC.

Is Days Gone coming to Xbox?

No, Days Gone is a Sony exclusive that only recently arrived on PC and it won’t be available on Xbox.

How much does Days Gone cost?

Days Gone costs $49.99/€49,99 on the PC and $39.99/€39.99 on the PS4.

Does Days Gone have co-op?

Days Gone doesn’t have any co-op or multiplayer modes available, it’s a purely single-player action-adventure game.

What are the system requirements for Days Gone on PC?

We’ll list the system req. for Days Gone on PC down below, both the minimum and the recommended:

MINIMUM:

• • Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
  • OS: Windows 10 64-bits
  • Processor: Intel Core [email protected] or AMD FX [email protected]
  • Memory: 8 GB RAM
  • Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 (3 GB) or AMD Radeon R9 290 (4 GB)
  • DirectX: Version 11
  • Storage: 70 GB available space
  • Additional Notes: Though not required, SSD for storage and 16 GB of memory is recommended

RECOMMENDED:

• • Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
  • OS: Windows 10 64-bits
  • Processor: Intel Core [email protected] or Ryzen 5 [email protected]
  • Memory: 16 GB RAM
  • Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 (6 GB) or AMD Radeon RX 580 (8 GB)
  • DirectX: Version 11
  • Storage: 70 GB available space
  • Additional Notes: Though not required, SSD for storage is recommended

Will we get Days Gone 2?

As of right now, we know the devs of Days Gone reached out to Sony for a sequel, but Sony shut them down. Seems like Days Gone 2 isn’t happening, at least not anytime soon.

With that out of the way, let’s start this Days Gone PC review!

Days Gone and its Open World

We explore the gigantic Cascade region as Deacon, a biker that prefers to be alone most of the time. He lost his wife when civilization collapsed, and now his only friend is mostly Boozer, his brother in arms from the days before the apocalypse.

Instead of settling in, Deacon spends his time roaming the vast but mostly empty world. What’s left in it is mostly dangerous and out for your blood. Days Gone doesn’t play around with its NPCs, especially the hostile ones, as they’re all quick to go for your throat.

Wolves are a constant threat so make sure your motorcycle is always moving. But do watch out for marauder patrols. After all, you can’t outrun bullets no matter how fast your bike goes. On the other hand, there are camps and other places with people that you can visit. You can even take jobs from them.

There’s always something to do in this open world, and all of it will be worth your time in one way or another. Plus Days Gone on PC is absolutely gorgeous. The forests, the roads, the abandoned places, everything just looks amazing on the PC.

Stunning landscapes, dangerous wilderness

It’s hard to admire the beauty of Mother Nature when insane cultists and bloodthirsty wolves try to kill you 24/7. Yet I always had time to appreciate the stunning world Bend Studio managed to create. It’s one of those games that doesn’t seem that special on screenshots, but any hill or wood you encounter just fills you with awe.

Days Gone manages to sell this peaceful, post-apocalyptic vibe quite beautifully. Ragged roads, ruined summer campgrounds, abandoned homes, all of it shines in all its wrecked glory and pulls you deeper into this cold yet captivating world.

On the technical side of things, the PC version delivers. Unlocked framerates and ultrawide monitor support make the beauty of the Pacific Northwest bloom. Even without ray-tracing and DLSS AI upscaling, some of the scenery is breathtaking. The level of detail and draw distance are greatly improved when compared to the PS4 version. Furthermore, the game’s shadows, static and dynamic objects are more detailed as well. There are some ugly models and low-quality textures here and there, but they are few and far between.

Any Days Gone review in 2021 praises the game’s graphics and now I finally understand why.

Lots of different things to do so you’ll never be bored

Everyone’s familiar with this style of open-world games by now. Do jobs for camps, increase your trust level with the camp, clear out zombie nests, rescue people from crazy Ripper cult members, and so on.

When we’re talking about Days Gone and its length, it’s a game that can take anywhere from 15 to 30 hours to complete, judging by how many side activities you want to do. Yet, what I love about completing jobs for camps in a certain area is that I’m always rewarded with something useful. Each camp offers its own bike upgrades and new weapons to unlock and all of them come in handy.

I’d even say you need some of the weapons these camps have to offer as they make life a lot easier in certain situations. On the other hand, Days Gone also has a lot of tiny pieces of backstory scattered throughout its map. Those that love finding everything about this world and how it all went to shit will love this.

Most of all, Days Gone always ends up slightly directing you towards a new plot point, even if it’s barely noticeable at times. Even if you want to explore its massive world, there’s a lot of activities that always come with a rewarding prize so your time is never wasted.

Days Gone and its Gameplay

By now you got a sense of how the gameplay loop plays out in Days Gone. After all, it’s a zombie survival game with an exceptional open world. So your time centers around scavenging for supplies. You need items, weapons, ammo, and everything else you can find to fight off the Freakers, Ripper cult members, other drifters, and so on.

Deacon’s bike, abilities, and everything else you can think of can be upgraded. These are light RPG elements, but appreciated nonetheless. And as I said, all the options have their use. Nothing is glaringly overpowered and nothing is completely useless.

What about the Freakers though? This is a zombie game after all, so when do we get to face these undead monstrosities? Well, Days Gone takes its time. You don’t see Freakers until you go through a solid chunk of the story. Not to say you’ll be waiting forever to see the undead, but don’t expect to see them right away also.

However, once you finally meet the Freakers you’ll notice something. These things aren’t your typical shambling, moving-slow-like-a-turtle zombies. Oh no, the Freakers are fast and mean sons of bitches. Some even try to leap at you while you’re riding your bike, so you’re not safe no matter what you do. You’d think Deacon’s safe once he rides off on his chopper, but freakers at night, gigantic infected wolves and snipers hidden in the trees say otherwise.

Stealth is cool and rewarding, shootouts are a drag

You already know how this goes. Sneak around, pop a couple of heads in silence. Rinse and repeat until everyone you don’t like dies. Things change a bit once Deacon gets his hands on some better weaponry, but that happens later. Most of the time your lurking in the shadows, waiting for your enemy to waddle off away from their comrades to eat a headshot and die alone.

In a straight-out shootout however, things are a bit more uninspiring. The game then goes into “cover shooter mode” and it’s just ok. There’s nothing remarkably good or bad about it, it’s just there. It works and I guess that’s fine by me. Melee weapons are cool as heck but you don’t get to use them as much as you want. Unless you want to die horribly that is.

The bane of any gamer; stealth missions with instant failure mechanics

On the other hand, this Days Gone review hit a brick wall with something that still exists in 2021 for some strange reason. Stealth missions. The kind that has instant failure triggers and sends you back to the beginning. Ah, the great minds of game development have done it again. They implemented something so annoying, boring, and completely unneeded into the gameplay mix to make us hate the game for a bit.

As all zombie games, Days Gone also has its shady government people doing shady stuff, dressed in suspicious clothes while riding black helicopters. Deacon has to spy on these people, the researchers working for NERO (the name of the organization), without getting caught. If a guard catches you, then it’s game over and you start from the beginning. Absolutely abysmal part of the game that will make you hate your life.

The zombie (Freakers) hordes are spectacularly terrifying

Ok ok. The stealth missions are over. No need to ever think about them ever again. How does the game redeem itself? Well, remember how I said you don’t meet the Freakers for a long time? Well, they’re worth the wait. I imagine they’re the main reason why people buy Days Gone on PC in the first place.

A couple of them aren’t that hard to handle no matter how fast they get. A couple more and it’s a challenge. But Days Gone has zombie hordes. A swarming mass of decaying flesh that’s rampaging towards your flesh and bones. Oh man is it a sight to behold. A bone-chillingly scary sight to be honest, but something that’s going to amaze you more than any zombie game out.

I won’t spoil your first time, as it’s special, but it all unravels so masterfully. One freaker stumbles and falls. Then you notice something. A disturbingly large number of freakers just waiting around. You can hear their whisper-like grumbling as it fills the air with dread. Night slowly approaches, and then you hear it. A shriek, like a demonic warcry tears through the air. The freakers begin to move. It’s the first time you see this wave of bodies destroying anything in its path. You can try to fight the freaker horde right now, but I couldn’t find a way to overcome this rolling death parade and escape with my life.

Zombie games rarely scare me these days. However, seeing the freaker horde move for the first time had me shaking in my boots.

Days Gone and its Story

So is Days Gone fun? Yes, it’s quite a lot of fun. Is it also everything we’ve already seen a hundred times? Also yes, and that’s what you’re going to notice in the story most of all.

Even though the world ended and there are almost no traces left of civilization, Deacon still proudly wears the colors of his motorcycle club. He came back to his small hometown after his Afghanistan tour. He then became a bike mechanic and started hanging out with the Mongrels. Unfortunately, it all fell apart rather quickly from then on.

Now Deacon roams the land with his war buddy Boozer. Their only goal? To survive as much as they can. Days Gone tries a lot of different things with its story and its storytelling. The most interesting part to me is the dialogue. See the writers of Days Gone tried to emulate how people talk in real life. You know, everyone’s awkwardly stumbling through the conversation, there’s a lot of pauses and repetition. It’s a nice change of pace from the usually cinematic conversations that other games sport, but some people won’t be a fan.

There’s also a ton of cutscenes. And I do mean a lot and I know certain people hate when their flow gets interrupted by a cutscene. Well, Days Gone has a ton of them all throughout its story. That is a problem at times, especially during the game’s insanely slow start.

A slow-burn start that’s going to be a turnoff for some

Days Gone takes its time setting up the story, showing you the world, exploring the characters. Don’t expect to see the game’s best moments until the middle point, which takes time to get to. The best parts of Days Gone are the horde fights once Deacon gets some AOE weapons, like pipebombs. Which you’re not getting early.

I appreciate the game taking a more methodical, slow-burn approach. Getting the best parts of the game early can burn you out over a longer period of time. The “save the best for last” line exists for a reason, but because a lot of people saw the promotional material for this game that featured a lot of explosions, zombie hordes, and mayhem, the slow beginning will annoy some people.

Don’t get me wrong, Days Gone is a game you will be playing all night. Some will just be slightly annoyed at the start.

Outstanding character writing

What I don’t understand is why some Days Gone reviews point out bad character writing. If anything, this game has a lot of morally gray characters and some that are extremely well-presented as good people, only for you to discover their sinister secrets. Which is how people usually are in the real world as well.

People’s hearts are hard to decipher. You can’t argue with that, and this game brilliantly shows us how a shady lieutenant, that you definitely shouldn’t trust, understands a dire issue that his kind-hearted and insanely optimist leader just can’t see. Little things like this add to the world. Complex characters need to exist and Days Gone has them in spades. Hell, you even run into a sweet and charming grandmother that’s running a slave labor operation. And there’s a ton of characters like this that I find insanely captivating in this post-apocalyptic world as you can understand why they become like this.

Conclusion: Should you buy Days Gone on PC?

We’ve reached the end. So, how good is Days Gone? Is it a revolutionary open-world game with zombies, survival, and everything else this blend of genres has to offer? No, but it’s an expertly crafted action-adventure with a well-paced gameplay loop, a stunning and immersive open-world, a standard story for this type of game, and one of the best zombie fights I’ve seen in a long time.

Yes, it has a slow start. It even has insanely awful stealth missions that are going to kill the vibe completely. Some even hate how Deacon constantly talks over everything. But considering he spends a lot of time alone, I kinda understand why he does that. But Days Gone does all its tropes well, and it delivers some of the best zombie action we’ve seen. The freaker hordes in this game are a sight to behold and I think everyone should experience battle against them.

In conclusion, you should definitely buy Days Gone on PC if you’re a fan of survival, open-worlds, and zombies. However, where do you go to buy a cheap Days Gone game key? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.

 

Where do you buy Days Gone on PC?

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Cheap Steam games are our specialty, and Days Gone is no exception. No need to pay 50 euros for this thrilling open-world zombie survival title when HRK Game lets you buy it for half that price!

What are you waiting for? Buy your copy of Days Gone on PC today!

If you’re looking for more Sony exclusives that found their way to the PC, we’re also offering killer discounts on Horizon Zero Dawn. There’s a review for that as well.