John, hiding behind a pue in a chapel and blasting a man with a shotgun. Released the day before Valentine’s Day, this trailer focused on the juxtaposition of Days Gone’s gratuitous violence and its emotional narrative by showing the main character, Deacon St. Leading up to the game’s release in 2019, Bend Studio would only release two other trailers, the first of which debuted two months before the game’s release. Apparently, Bend Studio needed more time to work on the game, or Sony wanted to give Days Gone a chance, as its February date would have pitted the game against Anthem – a highly-anticipated game that flopped but might have had Sony worried. First, pushed to February 2019 and later kicked down the road to April 2019. Initially slated to release in 2018, the game saw a series of delays. They offered an alternate playthrough of the same mission but with changes to the weather, dynamic events, and developer commentary. Bend Studio also wanted to show how dynamic Days Gone’s missions could be. This trailer showcased more motorcycle riding, investigative techniques, stealth mechanics, traps, environmental interactivity and ended with a colossal zombie bear. These features seemed to be what would set Days Gone apart from the other post-apocalyptic zombie games on the market.Ĭut to 2017, and Days Gone made another appearance at E3. I remember watching this demo and being in awe of how many zombies were on screen and the destructible environments. While on the run, the gameplay demo displays the environmental tactics used to kill what the trusty assault rifle can’t. The zombie hordes elicit a World War Z-like panic as they stampede toward the main character. The demo briefly showed off some of the game’s motorcycle riding, wildlife, crafting, but mainly the hordes of zombies. The studio showed an emotional announcement trailer for the post-apocalyptic biker game and later a ten-minute gameplay demo. Bend Studio called in that favor to stop making portable versions of other studios’ games and create a new Intellectual Property for the PlayStation 4.įast forward to E3 2016’s PlayStation showcase, and Bend Studio debuted their new game, Days Gone. In 2009, they released Resistance Retribution – a fresh take on the Insomniac Games franchise for the PSP handheld console- and then, in 2011, they released Uncharted: Golden Abyss for the PlayStation Vita.Īfter the success of Golden Abyss, then President of Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios, Shuhei Yoshida told the creative director at Bend Studio, John Garvin, that they essentially had one favor they could call in whenever they wanted. After Bubsy 3D flopped, Bend Studio worked on Syphon Filter from 1999 through 2007. The Oregon-based studio we know as Bend Studio cut its teeth developing games like Bubsy 3D and Syphon Filter for Sony’s PlayStation consoles and handheld devices. While deep-diving into the history of the game I reviewed its launch, its sales over time and revisited the game on my PlayStation 5 to play it in its current state. I decided to stop thinking about it and perform a post-mortem with a Days Gone retrospective. What is it about Days Gone that resulted in the lack of admiration from Sony? Was it the buggy launch and the poor review scores that resulted? Do lifetime sales mean less than first month sales? Is it an optics problem? What does Sony want? Perception of Days Gone has seemingly changed for the better, but Sony shot down the pitch for a sequel. With most of the bugs squashed, I enjoyed the game a lot. I originally played Days Gone in January 2020, well after its launch, on an original PlayStation 4. This comparison caused my mind to wander. Ross compared Days Gone’s sales and lack of praise to Sony’s admiration of Sucker Punch’s latest title, Ghost of Tsushima. The game’s director, Jeff Ross, made headlines with a recent tweet about the lack of enthusiasm Sony showed to Bend Studio after the game’s release. I’ve been thinking about Days Gone a lot lately.
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