Days Gone

Days Gone is an action-adventure video game from 2019, created by Bend Studio and released by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The story takes place in Oregon two years after a pandemic turned much of humanity into vicious, zombie-like beings known as Freakers. Players control Deacon St. John, a former outlaw biker who learns that his wife Sarah, whom he believed was dead, might still be alive, and sets out to find her. The game uses a third-person perspective and lets players explore an open world, using firearms, melee weapons, improvised tools, and stealth to defend against enemies. A key feature is Deacon’s motorcycle, which serves as the main way to get around. Freakers can gather into large hordes that chase Deacon.

This was Bend Studio’s first open-world project, their first original property since *Syphon Filter* (1999), and their first home console development after years of making handheld spinoff games. Development took about six years, and the studio grew nearly three times its original size to handle it. Central Oregon was chosen for its varied terrain and landscapes. The storytelling style was inspired by several Netflix shows, while the narrative drew from *World War Z*, *The Walking Dead*, and *Sons of Anarchy*. The game was first shown at E3 2016, with a planned 2018 release that was delayed multiple times.

It launched for PlayStation 4 in April 2019 and for Windows in May 2021. A remastered version for PlayStation 5 came out in April 2025, along with a downloadable content pack adding new game modes for Windows. Critics gave *Days Gone* mixed reviews, praising the graphics, artificial intelligence, and Sam Witwer’s performance as Deacon, but criticizing the mission design and technical problems; the story received a mixed response. By February 2022, the game had sold 7.32 million copies. In 2021, reports said the development team had unsuccessfully pitched a sequel to Sony. A film adaptation is currently in development.

**Gameplay**

*Days Gone* is a third-person action-adventure game set in a post-apocalyptic open world. The player controls Deacon St. John, an outlaw turned drifter and bounty hunter who prefers life on the road to staying in wilderness camps. The game takes place two years after a pandemic killed nearly all of humanity and turned millions into Freakers—mindless, zombie-like creatures.