We all have games that we love, but we know aren't all that great. Those solid, dependable 7/10 games that we love despite their flaws, maybe even because of them. My favourite Saints Row is 4, sue me. X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Fable 3, Tomb Raider: Underworld, Mad Max, Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex... none of them are classics, but they are beloved by me and, quite possibly, me alone. I understand that these misfits aren't for everyone, and I can see where they're janky, shallow, derivative, and even bland. I'm perfectly fine with liking something that I know isn't all that great. But many Days Gone fans seem incapable of this understanding, and as talk of a sequel yet again rears its head, it's time to dig into why.
Days Gone is fine. It's okay. It's decent. It's also fun, and I can see why it's someone else's Saints Row 4, someone else's Fable 3, someone else's Mad Max. But unlike Fable 3 or Mad Max fans, there are a sizeable number of Days Gone fans who do not see it this way, who believe it to be one of PlayStation's most prestige titles, an accomplished exclusive on the level of Uncharted 4 or God of War. These fans are constantly egged on by several of the team who worked on the game, who know the true reason Days Gone is not recognised as a masterpiece: wokeness.
Days Gone disappointed both commercially and critically, and for a while the tactic was to blame players and critics alike. When the chance of a sequel was dwindling, creative director John Garvin blamed fans, telling them they should buy games at "full fucking price". As you might expect, telling fans it's their fault is not a popular move, so they turned it around. He then said journalists delighted in scoring the game low because they were too woke to want to play as a guy like Deacon St. John. Famously, PlayStation's biggest hits avoid gruff and aggressive men, instead opting for tender soyboys like Joel Miller, Jin Sakai, Nathan Drake, and Kratos. Sam Witwer, the actor behind unique tough guy Deacon, claimed the reviewers didn't even play it at all - he then echoed the call that fans needed to buy the game more.
Despite how the creative team feels, I'm not against the idea of more Days Gone. It had some interesting ideas, particularly around its clever use of the motorcycle, and it was an enjoyable enough experience. I think a sequel would have done it good, and I think it's bad for creativity that Sony has such a tight template for its games to follow that an exclusive that falls below prestige levels is cut from the team. I would have liked to see what Days Gone 2 looked like. But I would have liked Mad Max 2 as well. It's not the end of the world that we're not getting it. Given everything that has been said since, we can't rule out toxicity behind the scenes as being a factor either.
Garvin, along with fellow director Jeff Ross, both exited Bend Studio in early 2022, with Ross joining Crystal Dynamics. Garvin kept up his complaints about the attitude the world had to Days Gone, eventually resulting in Bend Studio putting out a statement distancing itself from his comments. It feels like there's something more dysfunctional there than woke reviews going on for there to be such a distance created between Garvin and his former team.
Jeff Ross has been back in the headlines this week, telling fans they'd have a sequel now if Band had "stuck to its guns". In a way, he's correct. Days Gone launched in 2019, one year after God of War. Given that God of War's sequel Ragnarok launched last year, it's reasonable to think that Days Gone 2 could have followed it out this year. However, Ross also erroneously claimed the game sold eight million copies, using Trophy data as proof, so he's not always the most reliable.
I understand why it must be hard for the people who worked on it, especially those in senior roles like Garvin and Ross, to see it get middling reviews. I understand their disappointment at the sequel not being greenlit, and that of the fans who want more of the world. But at a certain point, you have to let it go. It was an okay game and now the studio is making something else - an open world multiplayer title that builds on the systems designed for Days Gone, in fact.
Sometimes the beauty of loving a 7/10 game comes from knowing it's a 7/10. From seeing the jank, the flaws, the derivative design and saying 'I love it anyway'. That's a very pure experience, and key to what makes gaming such a powerful artform. It becomes toxic and tainted when it meets a refusal to surrender, an inability to acknowledge that this experience is not perfect. I know it's difficult when key figures won't let the idea go, but we all need to move on from Days Gone. We've got Untitled Bend Studios Open World Multiplayer IP on the horizon, and with a name like that, it can't fail.