Took a break from Ghostrunner when trying to attempt Dharma City, the first outdoor level, with a no death result. The game started crashing frequently on that level for me, and I certainly hope it doesn't carry over into other levels, because prior to that I had zero crashes.
Turns out that break was time well spent, as I picked up Days Gone, which is now available on PC. It's been so long since it launched on PS that I had forgotten all about it. I do remember first thinking that was a PS exclusive, and vaguely recall someone telling me it would come out on PC, but I only remembered that after actually seeing it release on PC. So for well over a year it's been off my radar.
Days Gone is a pretty decent zombie game built on UE4, and it looks good and runs quite well. What I like about it is there's a lot of stealth, which is plenty doable, yet challenging if you don't pay attention to where the AI are and where traps are laid. At the same time there are moments, like when burning zombie nests, or escaping a horde on your bike, that all hell can break loose. If a horde is after you and you're on foot, chances are you'll be toast even on Normal difficulty mode unless you have buildings to cleverly enter/exit to lose line of sight of them. I once had my bike shot out from under me while escaping on a trail by a sniper hiding in a nearby tree. These encounters seem to be done by looters. as once he shoots you or your bike, two others come running on foot with melee weapons. As it turned out, my bike was rendered at 0% condition, and unrepairable (which you can do in the field with scrap), so I had to load a prior checkpoint.
I also like the scavenging, crafting, and upgrading system. At first I didn't like the "Trust" system, whereby you have to do jobs for camps and turn in items you find to gain trust levels high enough to buy their better gear. There's also weapon lockers in your safehouse (and any camp you clear) that link together, but you can only store the ones you buy or are given as rewards for missions. Both of these things seem more understandable to me now, as it IS an action/stealth survival type game, and as you progress, these things become available when you need them. Prior to that, early in the game, you can easily get by with weapons you find here and there.
There is also regular and zombie wildlife to deal with as well. Quite often I encounter wolves here and there, and they follow you even if on bike. I have killed several, but I wouldn't call it a piece of cake. A few times I have avoided stopping at a flashing ? that designates a new location to discover because wolves are present. I would be OK with this if that ? were then placed on the map, but it isn't. I'm hoping there's a skill to unlock that allows that. At the end of my last session, I encountered a much larger black wolf (others are grey) called a "Runner", that appears to be a zombie wolf. They are very fast and can catch you even on your bike. Fortunately I had just upgraded most components on the bike, including the engine and installing nitro, so after dying twice from that wolf, I was able to escape it with nitro. It's something that wasn't easy to do because I was on a winding trail, and they bind nitro to Left Alt. I plan on rebinding it, but there are TONS of key binds in this game, and it takes careful examination to avoid overlapping them.
As it takes place in Oregon, home of the dev team itself in Bend Oregon, much of the game is wooded terrain with trails. You play as a biker on a chopper, so at times it feels a bit odd to be riding on winding trails with such a long wheelbase bike with such relaxed fork angle and steering. The bike itself is kinda cool though. You can strap mission items you pick up on the back of it, equip it with saddlebags to carry extra ammo, and it even serves as a mobile save location when near it. The other places to save are bunks at the safehouse and camps you clear. As I used to be a mt biker, and have done rides in Bend and elsewhere in Oregon, I can really relate to the game environment, which I think they did very accurately to the feel of the locale.
The dev team, Bend Studio, I thought were a new team, but it turns out they have over 20 years experience, and are the developers of Syphon Filter, a PS exclusive that had several installments between 1999 and 2007. It's also nice to see they can pull off a PC port as well as they have, after starting out as a console developer. About the only minor tech problems I've had so far are every now and then, like on a steep section of terrain in the forest, NPCs will struggle to get up it, even though it's part of their patrol route. Some of them inch their way through it, while one other just kept walking in place. There was also one particular long cutscene that near the end of it froze video wise, but kept playing audio. It was just a flashback scene for story impact, and from the sound I could hear, I knew to hit Enter to "Continue" a few times, as it was indicating the end of that mission. I had to minimize the game and restart it due to the video having froze, but it saved the progress properly, and picked up where it was supposed to.
Bend Studio has a pretty cool website showcasing the area they're located in, as well as the many outdoor activities their team gets into. They have a philosophy of work in tech, but live analog, that seems like it keeps them very happy. I can believe this, because on big mt bike ride events I've done in that area, the locals I met there are very adventurous outdoor types that can go on and on for hours at the campfire about all the interesting and unusual outdoor activities they take part in.
There's a Bloomberg rumor that Sony supposedly canceled a planned sequel to Days Gone, but so far all I've found to verify that is Sony rejecting a dev proposal for a coop design for Days Gone 2, and Bend Studio working on another game, which is said to be a full remaster of The Last of Us. I've also seen a petition to make Days Gone 2 with 114,000 signatures, so it's hard to believe this rumor, especially since Sony haven't announced it officially. I have to say though, if there were a choice between Days Gone 2 and a remake for The Last of Us coming to PC, I'd take the latter. Not saying that will happen, but it seems like an eventual possibility now that they've brought Days Gone to PC.
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