Sam DeLongThe premise of Days Gone kinda sounds like the plot of a movie that would grace your TV late at night: Step into the shoes of a lone biker as he hunts down the forces of a zombie apocalypse in the Oregon Wilderness. If this is your first time stepping into the weird, wild world of Days Gone — either by playing the PS5 remaster or the recently updated PC port- you are in for a wild, good time. Days Gone simultaneously takes itself way too seriously, yet also has an arcadey sensibility that breaks the immersion of realism.
Deacon St. John Is Flawed, And That’s What Makes Him Relatable
Days Gone puts you in the boots of Sam Witwir’s Deacon St. John, who is one of my favorite video game protagonists. St. John is one of the last members of the Motorcycle club, The Mongrels. He is at times compassionate, while also being haunted and properly badass when he needs to be. Witwir’s performance slides between these different emotions as easily as butter, and it never feels jarring or out of place in the major story moments. During gameplay, however, is another matter entirely. Witwir’s character often talks to himself, delivering over-the-top monologues that come off way more serious than they are supposed to be. However, it’s Deacon’s humanity that elevates him above other zombie game heroes and makes him much more than a one-note hero. Many of Days Gone’s best moments are shown in the often tender and heartbreaking flashbacks as he is haunted by the memory of his dead wife, Sarah.
Just Your Bike And The Open Road
One of the things that separates Days Gone from other zombie fare is the fact that Deacon is a biker. As the son of actual bikers, I was very impressed by how well the game seems to understand motorcycle culture. The sights and sounds of Deacon’s bike are spot on, and the upgrade system in the game sees you forming a bond with your bike, akin to your horse in a certain Wild West Rockstar franchise. And you also need to keep an eye on your gas gauge — arguably the most valuable resource in the game. You can find gas cans throughout the open world that not only fuels your bike but also power generators and can be used in place of Molotov cocktails. You can also find gas in gas stations (that strangely never seem to run out of gas).
In Days Gone, you’ll find yourself doing some familiar open-world activities, and the game’s emphasis on stealth gives you some unique combat options. You can craft suppressors for your pistols and rifles right away. As you clear out bandit camps and zombie nests (aka Freakers) in Days Gone, an enemy tracker makes trophy hunting a snap.
Hunting The Hordes
The real star of the gameplay is the giant Freaker Hordes in the game. The massive hordes look fantastic and are a great showcase of the remasters upgraded visuals. One of the weaker points of the story lies in the fact that the presence of the hordes takes a bit too long to be introduced into the larger story, even though you can come across the hordes organically on your own. Even so, taking out the hordes is the highlight of the gameplay experience in Days Gone. After doing enough missions, you will unlock the ability to craft traps. With enough stealth, you can plant bombs and trigger explosions while riding away on your bike.
Horde Assault Is Fun, But Goes On Too Long
One of the new additions to Days Gone Remastered (both on PC and PS5) is the addition of Horde Assault, a new rogue-like mode where you survive against hordes of Freakers. However, unlike The Last of Us Part 2’s No Return, Horde Assault isn’t round-based; it just keeps going. And while the progression is fun, its rewards feel too spaced out to be meaningful, and it doesn’t have enough depth to be entertaining for a long period. After fighting off a horde you are given a limited period of mine for resources, which can be used for upgrades, during which time you can upgrade weapons, eventually unlocking additional characters not playable in the main story. It’s fun — if a bit long in the tooth.
A Note On PC Performance
For those of you who are playing the PC version of the game, I am pleased to report that this is an extremely optimized version of the game. I was playing Days Gone on my Samsung 49-inch super ultra-wide. Even at the max resolution of 5120×1440, the game ran at a mostly consistent 120 frames per second. I also tested it using the monitor’s side mode, running at 2560×1440, and saw a similar performance boost. I didn’t notice any noticeable dips, not even during the graphically intensive horde scenes. Days Gone Remastered is everything a remaster should be — brighter, sharper, and smoother.
Issues From The Original Still Exist
While Days Gone is a great time, it’s still essentially the same game. Glitchy gameplay issues and systems still exist. It has jarring difficulty spikes in certain places. And while the voice acting of the main cast is stellar, much of the acting of the NPCs is embarrassingly awful. These are minor gripes that doesn’t hurt your experience, just flaws that I think in 2025, should have been addressed.
In the years since Days Gone was first released back in 2019, many zombie games have come and gone. Last of Us Part 2, multiple Resident Evil remakes, and the entire Dead Island and Dying Light Franchise — to name a few. Days Gone might be inevitably compared to those games, but its vibe and aesthetic carry it through, even if some parts of it come off as cheesy or even dated. It’s a solid zombie biker trek through the wilderness and does enough differently so that it deserves better than to be relegated to a Last of Us with a motorcycle.