Days Gone

There are some things that hold it back from full greatness, but Days Gone is pretty good.

I seem to remember hearing unflattering things about melee and/or shooting mechanics, but it was fine. The latter is something I prefer to use a mouse with, but for being controller-based, I never really had any complaints. Similarly, the motorcycle-handling worked fine for me.

The setting is a little on the bleak side - post-zombie-apocalypses sort of do that. The biggest turn-off for me along the way was that most of the characters kind of suck. That too, however, is sort of a given in the setting/genre, so even as my main "con" to the game, it still didn't take me out of it.
It's been out long enough that I don't mind veering into spoiler territory...

The main character, Deacon, is a bit of a dick himself, at least through much of the game. It's understandable - when things went down, he sent his injured wife away on a government helicopter to find out later the camp she was bound for was overrun and wiped out. He's been living for two years with only his friend "Boozer," as a trusted companion. He's had disagreements and fallings out with various people in the region, so the two of them are sort of freelancers in the area, occasionally doing jobs for and trading with camps, but not really caring about anyone but each other.

As I say, understandable, but it still doesn't garner a lot of sympathy from the player.

Of course, those camps have their flaws too. One is run by an ex-prison employee who treats residents as worker-resources more than people and the guards there have their guns aimed inward as much as out. Another treats its people arguably better, but they're running low on resources, they parted out Deacon's bike when it was unattended (suspecting/knowing it was his), and they're run by a prepper/truther who goes on about who the government is behind the whole mess (which may be true in this case, but is kind of silly to go on about after the fact).

What may be the best camp and most central to the story is run by a compassionate man, but even he suffers from excessive naivete when it comes to others, believing a nihilistic cult will observe a truce they break regularly.

Then Deacon gets to the militia camps - a bit heavy on the discipline, but doing pretty well. The first one is even run by a guy who seems pretty good and grounded. Then he introduces Deacon to the Colonel in charge who turns out to be a Bible-thumping nutcase with a "join us or die" approach to everyone else.

So, yeah, plenty of bad people to deal with and Deacon isn't exactly great himself for much of the game. He frequently lies holds his cards close when dealing with others. He does start to soften, though, as the story progresses - particularly after the very awkward reunion with his wife (as they're trying not to reveal they know each other). He works with camps and starts to care about a little bit beyond the couple people he holds dear. It isn't a massive, dramatic change, but it's there and I appreciate that narratively as I was wondering if there would be an arc or just a straight line.

And speaking of narrative, the game is sort of broken up into Acts, with new regions unlocking and new threats apparent. And after the main ending showdown with the militia, there are some stories that have follow-up missions/scenes that serve as denouement that is often lacking. And there's some sequel-baiting with the government scientist saying his superiors "are coming."

As the story goes, I found the involvement of the company Sarah previously worked for in the outbreak a little unnecessary. It doesn't really go anywhere, and is left a hanging thread for possible future exploration as she makes an effort toward a "cure," but never gets there.

Overall, not a bad motorcycle ride through an open-world zombie apocalypse in rural Oregon.