Despite an initial mixed reception upon its original launch, the critical response toDays Gone Remasteredsees the game inching ever closer to its proportionally higher Steam user scores. SinceDays Gone Remastered’s release, a lot of the conversation surrounding the game has centered around how it feels both familiar and fresh years after its initial release, in large part thanks to how it blends the open-world gameplay that practically dominated the 8th console generation with some unique twists that have proven to be ahead of their time. The most notable of these isDays Gone’s inclusion of a surprising amount of survival game elements, whichDays Gone Remasteredonly serves to underscore as being one of the game’s definitive elements.
One of the largest knocks against theoriginalDays Goneat the time of its release was the sense that the game was too formulaic to separate itself from other open-world games it was competing with, but the survival and crafting mechanics that play such an important role inDays Gone’s gameplay give it an edge that few other games of the era had. Further,Days Gone’s implementation of survival game elements predates the sandbox survival “gold rush” of the last few years, which, when viewed through the retrospective lens ofDays Gone Remastered, solidifies the game’s survival elements as the secret weapon in its arsenal.
Days Gone Remastered Rewards Players Who Engage With Its Survival Mechanics
Criticisms ofDays Gone’s combat and recognizable open-world trappings are arguably fair given how closely it sticks to well-established conventions of open-world game design. But the silver lining that helps make the moment-to-moment gameplay more interesting is the game’s implementation ofsurvival mechanicsvia scavenging for supplies and using them to craft valuable healing items and weapons or repair Deacon’s bike. The early hours ofDays Gonecan be quite unforgiving if players choose to play the game like a typical open-world action-adventure title, which necessitates engaging with the game’s resource collecting and crafting to survive.
In doing so,Days Gonepresents its survival game elements as both one of the game’s highlights and the key to not just survival, but gaining the upper hand against the many threats wandering the game’s post-apocalyptic vision of the Pacific Northwest. It doesn’t hurt that the game makes it very clear thatDeacon’s bikeis his lifeline out in the wilderness, and the moments of tension that the game can evoke during times when the bike is almost out of gas and a building or place to search for supplies is nowhere in sight help to elevate what’s otherwise a very familiar open-world experience. Searching and scavenging everything inDays Gone Remasteredremains of paramount importance, and the game actively rewards players for purposefully engaging with those systems.
Days Gone’s Survival Mechanics Become Pivotal in Days Gone Remastered’s New Permadeath Mode
In addition to its many visual enhancements and inclusion of all post-launch updates to the original game,Days Gone Remasteredincludes several new ways to play the game. When it comes to highlightingDays Gone’s survival mechanics, the most significant of these is the newPermadeath mode, which is only further enhanced by playing the game on either the Survival difficulty or the much more challenging Survival II. Together, Permadeath and the Survival difficulty transformDays Gone Remasteredinto something that has more in common with a tough-as-nails sandbox survival game than an open-world action-adventure title.
It’s a wise decision forDays Gone Remasteredto provide a variety of ways for players, both old and new, to experience what’s ostensibly the definitive edition of a cult-classicPlayStation exclusive. Those who have never playedDays Gonebefore can go intoDays Gone Remasteredand tailor the experience to their liking, while returning players have a laundry list of new modes and modifiers to apply that can make a second or third playthrough more challenging. In both scenarios,Days Gone’s survival mechanics remain the signature gameplay element that differentiates the title as an outlier of its time.
