It feels like a lifetime ago. Honestly, looking back at the mid-2010s, the hype for Sony's first-party exclusives was hitting a fever pitch. We had God of War and Spider-Man tearing up the charts, and then there was this gritty, motorcycle-heavy zombie game lurking in the shadows. Everyone wanted to know: when did Days Gone come out?
The short answer is April 26, 2019.
But that date doesn't tell the whole story. Not even close. It was a Friday. I remember it clearly because the gaming community was deeply divided before they even touched the controller. Some people saw a generic zombie shooter. Others saw the next The Last of Us. The reality, as it usually does, fell somewhere in the messy middle. Developed by Bend Studio—the folks famous for Syphon Filter—this was their first massive AAA console project in years. They had been stuck doing handheld games like Uncharted: Golden Abyss for a while. This was their big shot at the big leagues.
The Long Road to April 26, 2019
The game didn't just appear out of thin air. It was actually announced way back at E3 2016. Remember that demo? The one where Deacon St. John is running through an old sawmill and literally hundreds of "Freakers" are pouring over the railings like a wave of water? It was terrifying. It looked impossible. People thought it was scripted or fake. It took nearly three years from that reveal to actually get the game into players' hands.
Development was... let's call it "challenging."
Bend Studio isn't a massive 500-person team like Naughty Dog or Rockstar. They are a smaller crew based in Oregon, which is actually where the game is set. They wanted to capture the specific vibe of the High Desert. The rain. The pine trees. The way the mud looks after a storm. But building an open-world game with a physics-based motorcycle and AI that can handle 500 enemies on screen at once is a nightmare.
The game was originally supposed to launch in 2018. Then it got pushed to February 2019. Then it got pushed again to its final date in April. Why? Mostly polish. Or at least, that’s what we were told. When Days Gone finally came out, it still had some serious bugs.
What People Actually Found in the Box
When you finally booted it up on your PS4, you weren't just playing a shooter. You were managing a bike. If you ran out of gas in the middle of a Ripper territory, you were dead. Period. That survival element caught a lot of people off guard. It wasn't Grand Theft Auto with zombies. It was much more methodical.
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Sam Witwer, the actor who played Deacon, put in a hell of a performance. You might know him as Starkiller from Star Wars or Darth Maul. He brought this weird, twitchy, traumatized energy to the role. It wasn't your standard "macho hero" vibe. Deacon talks to himself. He screams at the radio. He’s kind of a mess.
Why the Initial Reviews Were So Brutal
Look, I’ll be real with you. The critics weren't kind when Days Gone came out in April 2019. If you look at Metacritic, it sits in the low 70s. For a Sony exclusive, that's basically a failure in the eyes of the internet.
But why?
- Technical Glitches: The frame rate on the base PS4 was rough. Sometimes it felt like a slideshow when you were riding the bike fast.
- Slow Start: The first 10 hours are slow. Really slow. You're just doing chores for camps.
- The Narrative Pace: It’s a 40-hour game that probably should have been 25.
There was also this weird cultural fatigue. People were "zombied out." We had years of The Walking Dead and every other indie dev making a survival game. Critics were looking for something revolutionary, and Days Gone felt, at first glance, like a "greatest hits" of other games. It took a few years for the "cult classic" status to really kick in.
The PC Port and the Second Life
Fast forward to May 18, 2021. That’s when the game got a massive second chance. Sony started bringing their exclusives to PC, and Days Gone was one of the first in line. This is where the game finally breathed.
On a powerful PC, those frame rate issues disappeared. You could actually see the individual textures on Deacon’s leather vest. The hordes didn't stutter. It looked gorgeous. More importantly, the Steam reviews started rolling in, and they were "Very Positive." It turns out, when people paid $20 or $30 for it a year later rather than $60 at launch, they loved it.
The "hidden gem" narrative started to take hold. People realized that the story actually gets quite good once you reach the southern part of the map. The relationship between Deacon and Boozer is genuinely touching. It’s a story about brotherhood and grief disguised as a game about shooting monsters.
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The Sequel That Never Happened (And Probably Won't)
This is the part that bums everyone out. Despite selling millions of copies—roughly the same as Ghost of Tsushima according to some reports from the directors—Sony decided not to greenlight a sequel.
There was a lot of drama about this. Jeff Ross and John Garvin, the creative leads, have been very vocal about it on podcasts and Twitter. Garvin famously said that if you love a game, you should "buy it at f***ing full price," which didn't go over well with the public. But his frustration came from a real place: the game found its audience too late.
By the time everyone realized Days Gone was actually a solid 8/10 or 9/10 experience, the decision-makers at PlayStation had already moved on. They wanted titles that were critical darlings right out of the gate.
Comparing it to Other 2019 Releases
To give you some context of what Days Gone was up against in 2019:
- Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice had just come out in March and was melting everyone's brains.
- Resident Evil 2 Remake had already set the bar for horror earlier that year.
- Death Stranding was the "weird" Sony game everyone was talking about for the fall.
It was a crowded year. Being a "good" game wasn't enough; you had to be "transcendent." Days Gone was just a really fun, well-made adventure that needed another six months of bug-squashing before it hit shelves.
Is it Still Worth Playing Today?
Absolutely. If you have a PS5, it’s often included in various deals, and it runs at a silky smooth 60 frames per second. The haptic feedback isn't as intense as a native PS5 title, but the world still holds up.
The horde mechanic is still the best in the business. No other game quite captures that feeling of panic when you turn a corner and see 300 enemies sleeping in a dark cave. Your heart drops. You check your ammo. You realize you forgot to craft Molotovs. It’s peak emergent gameplay.
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If you're jumping in now, just know that the "real" game starts once you get your bike upgraded. The early game is a struggle because your bike is a piece of junk and your guns have the accuracy of a Super Soaker. Stick with it.
How to Get the Most Out of Days Gone Now
If you are just now discovering when this game dropped and want to dive in, don't play it like a completionist.
- Focus on the Hordes: They are the star of the show. Don't avoid them; plan for them.
- Upgrade your Tank: The game is 50% "Gas Station Simulator" until you get the large fuel tank.
- Listen to the Lore: The NERO recordings actually explain the science of the virus in a way that’s surprisingly grounded.
The legacy of Days Gone is a strange one. It’s a reminder that a "bad" launch can haunt a game forever, even if the developers eventually fix everything. It’s a cautionary tale for the industry but a win for players who love a good underdog story.
Whether you’re playing on a Steam Deck or a PS5, the Oregon wilderness is still waiting. It’s brutal, it’s bloody, and it’s way better than the 2019 reviews led you to believe.
To see how the game has evolved, check out the latest community mods on PC which add everything from better lighting to "impossible" horde sizes. If you want the raw data on its sales performance, the leaked Insomniac documents from a few years back actually shed some light on how Days Gone performed compared to other Sony hits. It did better than you’d think.
Go play it. Just make sure you keep the tank full.
Next Steps for Players
If you've already finished the main story, your next move is to tackle the "Challenge Mode" found in the main menu. These aren't just simple combat trials; they offer unique rewards like patches for Deacon's vest that actually provide permanent stat boosts in the main campaign. It’s one of the few ways to keep the gameplay fresh after the credits roll. Additionally, for those on PC, look into the "Debug Menu" mods to experiment with the horde AI—it’s fascinating to see how the game handles that many entities at once without crashing your rig.