Days Gone Remastered Review

It's been almost six years since Bend Studio's Days Gone launched for the PS4. While the initial critical reaction wasn't the best, the action-adventure title has sold millions of copies and gained a strong following. PC players will get their hands on it in 2021, but a sequel remains one of the biggest requests from fans, even if there is little to no hope.

On the bright side, it's finally bringing the game to PS5 with Days Gone Remastered launching on April 25th. It includes new modes, improvements, exclusive PS5 features, and more. PC players can also enjoy the content via a separate paid DLC, Broken Roads, which goes live on the same day.

Days Gone Remastered unfolds in Oregon following a zombie outbreak, with the creatures later termed freaks. Though there's a brief introduction during the outbreak, most of the story unfolds two years later, with protagonist Deacon St John becoming a mercenary. While there are different factions, including hostile groups like the Rippers, to deal with, Deacon is also on a mission to find his wife, Sarah, who may still be alive.

The open world of Days Gone Remastered is intriguing because it offers the usual tropes: enemy camps, bounties, NERO checkpoints, freaker nests, faction missions, and much more. The Pacific Northwest region features broad areas and extensive roads to traverse, and fortunately, as a former biker gang member, Deacon has his motorcycle to navigate the wilderness.

This leads to another distinguishing element of Days Gone Remastered's gameplay loop: maintaining your bike. You'll have to repair and refuel it regularly, and various upgrades improve its durability, reduce the noise level, increase the amount of ammo it can carry, and even provide a special boost courtesy of nitrous.

The breakers are notable since there are thousands of them, and they can attack you in a horde, literally spilling over each other in the process. Aside from the regular breakers in Days Gone Remastered, you have swarms who hunt and roam at nighttime, the hunter-like No-Eyes, screamers who alert the horde, the tanky Breakers, and much more.

In Days Gone Remastered, you'll also encounter tougher variants of certain types like the Bleacher and Reacher, which possess more health and deal more damage. If that wasn't enough, infected wildlife and other humans further add to the danger.

There are several options for defending yourself in Days Gone Remastered, including a variety of firearms like submachine guns, pistols, shotguns, sniper rifles, machine guns, assault rifles, and more. You can also equip melee weapons like axes, bats, and machetes to help save some ammo and ensure less noise is generated. You can equip four weapons at a time, though the usual Molotov cocktails, proximity mines, pipe bombs, and so on are also available.

While going loud is often an option in Days Gone Remastered—especially to attract swarms toward hostile humans and make them fight—you can sneak around with a knife and quietly assassinate foes. Later, you'll unlock suppressors for firearms and discover crossbows for even stealthier combat.

When the original Days Gone launched, its level of polish and technical state left something to be desired, but thankfully, Bend Studio stuck with it, offering extensive post-launch support. All of those updates carry over into Days Gone Remastered, including the weekly option to reset ambush camps, hordes, and infestation zones, DLC challenges, New Game Plus, survival difficulty followed by Hard Two and Survival 2, and more.

The most significant new addition in Days Gone Remastered is Horde Assault, which is described as a survival arcade mode. Players must fight an ever-changing landscape with much larger hordes and more formidable enemies.

The longer you stay alive, the more challenging enemies will become, but you can earn better gear upon leveling up. Aside from a unique experience for veteran players, it also provides rewards like new playable characters, injectors, and patches.

You've probably finished story mode in Days Gone multiple times, but have you tried to do it as fast as possible? In Days Gone Remastered, Speedrun mode is the ticket, challenging you to complete the story quickly. If it's anything like speedrun mode in The Last of Us Part One and Part Two Remastered, there should be an in-game timer and a way to distinguish legitimate times.

Alternatively, why not play through the Days Gone Remastered and attempt to complete it without dying with permadeath for the ultimate challenge and maximum suffering? Try playing on Hard Two or Survival Two difficulty. Probably, there aren't any rewards for completing it, but bragging rights are bragging rights.

What's better than trying to survive during a zombie apocalypse? Capturing pictures of gorgeous Oregon of Days Gone Remastered, whether it's the extensive forests, the mountain peaks, or the deadly hordes of freaks craving your flesh. The remaster offers a few enhancements to Photo Mode, and while new logos don't sound as exciting, you can now set the time of day and leverage a three-point lighting system for just the right atmosphere.

Thanks to the PS5's solid-state drive, loading times are reduced, which means less time spent fast traveling, respawning, or entering the game. While Days Gone Remastered should undoubtedly offer a boost over the PS4, it should also beat out the loading times afforded by backward compatibility—almost 30 seconds.

Fans can also expect visual improvements, particularly to the shadow and lighting quality and foliage draw distance, thus leveraging that extra power. Those with supported displays can also take advantage of variable refresh rates.

Quality Mode and Performance Mode are available, and we're curious to see how Days Gone Remastered matches up to the PC version's visuals. Though PS5 Pro support is confirmed, Bend Studio hasn't outlined any specific enhancements yet.

The DualSense's adaptive triggers and haptic feedback are both supported, and each adds a lot of immersion. The former provides a different feel and resistance depending on the weapon. At the same time, the latter simulates many in-game phenomena, whether the roar of the engine or the feel of different roads through the vibrations.

Days Gone Remastered retails for $49.99, but those who pre-order will receive eight PSN avatars, several items, and upgrades unlocked early. These include the Drifter crossbow, Shroud Upgrade 1, which increases the bike's overall durability, Nitrous Upgrade 1 for boosting and also increased durability, Gas Tank Upgrade 1 for slightly more fuel capacity, and the Monkey Wrench skill, which makes scrap more effective for bike repairs. Once again, all of this is included in the game; pre-ordering unlocks them early and makes the initial hours slightly more comfortable.