In my review for The Last Of Us Part II I concluded it with a snotty comment about the latest game I was playing, Days Gone. Well, let’s just that that comment hasn’t aged well…

When I saw those early trailers for Days Gone I was, like many people, really enthusiastic about it. But then came the bug reports and the average reviews. I turned my attention to other games. Giving it another look in 2021, I noticed a lot of comments all saying the same thing; it’s an amazing game… once you get past those first few hours.

This proved to be true. The first 15-20% of the game is meh, but it gets better the deeper you go, in every way; the weapons, the combat, the missions, the plot, the map. It grew on me in a way few games have ever done.

Make no mistake, this game has rough edges. Here’s just a few examples. When you rescue strangers, they all look the same and have the same dialogue. Characters will speak to you on the radio even when you’re stood next to them. A lot of the missions follow a standard rescue or assassination formula. And despite being able to handle hundreds of zombies on-screen at the same time, human-on-human conflicts are never more than minor skirmishes.

If Days Gone had come out five years ago, a lot of this wouldn’t have raised an eyebrow. But we live in an age where the the top tier AAA games are polished to near-perfection.

And yet, and yet… I ended up not caring about any of that. There’s something great about Days Gone that I can’t articulate. Maybe it’s the grounded characters. Maybe it’s the good ol' fashioned love story plot. Maybe it’s the whole Walking Dead vibe. All I know is, I ended up loving this game and would wholeheartedly recommend it.