Why Days Gone Just Makes me Want The Last of Us: Part II
It’s more than just the setting…
I’ve been playing Days Gone over the past few weeks, exploring the barren and dangerous wilderness of Oregon while hordes of zombies and hostile humans chase me. Sony’s newest exclusive is a mixed bag: it does some things well but also fall short in many ways. It’s also a game with clear and obvious similarities to The Last of Us, both in setting and tone.
While Days Gone is, ultimately, fun, it constantly reminds me of how much I really want to play The Last of Us: Part II. I realize that in one sense, it’s completely unfair to compare these games, since Naughty Dog and Sony Bend are developers with vastly different backgrounds and levels of experience. On the other hand, though, it’s hard to not compare these two games because of their inherent similarities. And unfortunately for Days Gone, the first Last of Us game succeeded where the newer game fails.
To explore what separates these games, and what ties them together, I want to take a deeper look at what I like and dislike about Days Gone. I also want to specifically examine how The Last of Us — a game that came out six years ago this June — stacks up against Sony’s newest exclusive. Then, I’ll reflect on how thinking about all of these ideas makes me want The Last of Us: Part II to come out even more than I did before.
Days Gone
When Sony first announced Days Gone, I was interested. Its setting — post-apocalyptic, with zombies — mirrored The Last of Us, and it looked like the developers were putting an emphasis on plot and writing. I’ve followed the game’s development loosely until its release on April 26, and I was discouraged when review scores ranged from tepid to outright bad.
However, despite the middling reviews, I enjoy playing Days Gone. The world is fun to explore, and riding the protagonist’s motorcycle through the woods and mountains is engaging. The game also has a unique twist that it executes incredibly well: there are massive hordes of zombies just wandering around the open world, and confronting them brings a real sense of danger and excitement. Days Gone is also beautiful, just like other Sony exclusives like Uncharted 4, Horizon Zero Dawn, and God of War.
It’s also a deeply flawed game that struggles in many ways. The writing, first of all, leaves a lot to be desired. Secondly whether because the lines themselves are poorly-written or the voice actors aren’t experienced, the delivery of the moment-to-moment dialog feels forced. The presentation of story beats also feels a little off, especially since Days Gone relies much more heavily on cutscenes than games like Uncharted 4 or God of War.
The shortcoming of Days Gone that I notice the most though, is that it lacks the attention to detail that Sony games so often excel in. Uncharted games are filled with environmental storytelling and little details sprinkled into the world around the player. Last year, God of War and Spider-Man showed the same developmental polish . While Days Gone has a beautiful world with some interesting mechanics, it often feels empty and uninteresting, and there’s rarely a reason to look around the world beyond the combat or quest lines.
The Last of Us
Days Gone was always going to be compared to The Last of Us because of its setting, so it’s unfortunate that Sony’s 2013 game succeeds in all the ways that this one fails. The writing and world-building of The Last of Us are some of the best in the industry, even six years later. While dialog in Days Gone often feels forced or awkward, every moment in The Last of Us is carefully tuned and crafted.
The Last of Us is also set in a world that feels much more real and lived-in that Sony Bend’s version of Oregon. Every level has interesting details to uncover, each side character is well-written, and the conclusion of the game is one of the best in the history of the medium. Days Gone isn’t bad, but it falls well short of this high bar.
To sum it all up quickly, The Last of Us succeeds where Days Gone fails because (at least from where I’m sitting) it feels like the writers and developers at Naughty Dog put more time and energy into creating the world around the characters and players. Since one game is linear and the other is open-world, I know this is inherently an unfair criticism. But it’s undeniable that Naughty Dog’s version of the post apocalypse feels more real and engaging, drawing a stronger emotional response from everyone who goes there.
The Last of Us: Part II
Unfair or not, every time I turn on Days Gone I can’t help but think about The Last of Us: Part II. The game was announced a few years ago, and still lacks any concrete details about its release. I’ve heard rumors that it will come out sometime this fall, which would be welcome, if true.
The Last of Us is my favorite video game by far, and the wait for Part II has been excruciating. I was in college when the first one came out, and was blown away by the storytelling and gameplay. I’m older now, with more responsibilities, and I don’t know how many more games like this I’ll eagerly wait for. It’s almost like the end of an era for me.
In one sense, I feel bad comparing Days Gone to one of the highest bars ever set by a video game, ever. But I also think the developers brought this on themselves by choosing a setting and theme so close to one explored by Sony’s flagship studio. I still enjoy Days Gone and I don’t regret buying it on release weekend. I’ll probably play it a while longer, and may even reach the end. But every time I pick up my controller, I’m struck by how much it reminds me of The Last of Us, and how much more it makes me want to play Part II.
The views expressed are mine alone and do not represent the views of my employer or any other person or organization.
