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Not a sequel

Days Gone is one of Sony owned IPs. It had some controversy at launch back in 2019. The game got mixed reviews, but manage to grab a big following and many players wanted a sequel but for a reason or other it never saw light of the day. What we got instead was a remastered version of the original PS4 game for PS5. Days Gone Remastered was released on April 25, 2025. What new this remastered can offer?

I played Days Gone Remastered using PS5 Pro.

Plot

Days Gone Remastered takes place two years after a horrific virus outbreak that tunred people into crazy zombies. Deacon St. John “Deek” and his friend Boozer are working as mercenaries in this post-apocalyptic world. The two men embark on a journey north, hoping to find a more promising future. As Deacon catches sight of a helicopter, he decides to pursue it, leading him to encounter James O’Brian, the researcher who managed to evacuate Sarah—Deek’s presumed deceased girlfriend—during the onset of the outbreak. James discloses the possibility that she may still be alive, a notion that overwhelms Deek’s thoughts. I she still alive? Should I go after her?

The plot is what I liked the most in Days Gone Remastered. Some liked the gameplay and killing zombies, but I truly enjoyed the whole plot from start to finish. It had highs and lows, and plot twists. I could see this game to be turned into a movie easily as it was very movie-like.

Gameplay, controls, audio and visuals

Days Gone Remastered is a third-person action-adventure game set in a post-apocalyptic open world. Players control Deek a biker who is a drifter, as they call them in this post-apocalyptic world. What players must do in Days Gone Remastered is to go on missions usually given from someone in the camps (safe zones). Players ride the motorcycle to get from place to place, but easy it is not as the world is full of crazy and fast zombies, known as Freakers. There are different types os zombies as they evolve and some are kinda difficult to beat. For me it was when I had to deal with Swarmers, that are a huge group of zombies together and they will kill instantly. Those has to be dealt with planning. I had to watch some walkthrough YouTube videos how to deal with them, no shame in that. Also other dangers lurks in the world such as bandits and other evil people, and of course, wild animals.

The gameplay is typical open-world setup. Which I mean that there is a lot to do. Even the game mechanics are quite elaborated. Players have guns with them and other objects such as grenades, molotov coctails, melee weapons (that breaks after a while) and so on. The bike also needs some tendering, it will run out gas pretty soon and needs fixing often.

Deek can be upgraded as well. The game offers players upgrade points after getting certain amounts of experience points (after finishing missions), so he can gain new moves. With finding injectors players can upgrade health, stamina or focus, that is an ability to slow time when aiming. Talking about slowing time, the time also slows when using the item wheel. It helps when you have a little time to think next move or which weapon to choose in dire situation.

Controlling Deek is pretty easy, but it has a learning curve for sure to get everything flow nicely in your hands. At least for me, as I like to call myself “an average everyday player”, but for more experienced players they will find this game pretty easy to handle. The controls also has full Dual Sense support.

Days Gone Remastered has very good audio overall. The voice acting is good, all the sounds in environment, the unsettling noises the enemies keep to the music, it was all great. At the beginning I used the new accessibility features such as the audio cues. I must admit that the audio cue for items/collectables being near was getting on my nerves pretty fast. It was a high pitch whistle sound that was kinda annoying to listen all the time, but it is there if someone needs it.

About the visuals. The original game did look fantastic already and Days Gone Remastered look excepcional. The game offers for base PS5 two graphical options: Performance: 1440p/Target 60FPS and Quality: Native 4K/ Target 30FPS. I played this using PS5 Pro and there are three options for that:

Performance: 1800p/Target 60FPS

Quality: 2880p/Target 30FPS

Enhanced: 1584p/Target 60 FPS with PSSR

I opted for Enhanced as it felt the best way to go. It felt like the balance was just right with the resolution, fps and PS5 Pro using its PSSR. But there were some issues with the visuals, I must say. Even though the game looked lifelike there were tons of pop-ups in the distance, issues with shadows and other graphical bugs. None of the being game-breaking or anything, but just annoying to see.

Days Gone Remastered introduces exciting features such as Horde Assault, a gameplay mode that presents fresh challenges designed to test your abilities. Your objective is to achieve the highest score possible while enduring against progressively larger hordes and a variety of formidable enemies. And permadeath mode, speedrun mode and enhanced photo mode 

Verdict

Days Gone Remastered is a great game, but I don’t fully understand why it needed a remastered version? Especially when there still was some issues with graphics. The story was good, the characters fully-fledged, audio design superb, the gameplay smooth and intriguing. Well, if you are fan of the game and want to play this again, or a newbie, I’d say this is a game you should try out.

Days Gone Remastered is available on PS5 and an update to Days Gone on PC.

(Review copy kindly provided by the publisher)

SCORE:

4/5

“Days Gone Remastered is a third-person action-adventure game set in a post-apocalyptic open world”

RELEASE DATE: April 25, 2025
GENRE: Action / adventure
DEVELOPER: Bend Studio
PUBLISHER: Sony
PLATFORMS: PS5 (reviewed using PS5 Pro)
PC

 

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