Days Gone Will Offer a Dynamic, Living Open World

Based on a previous news story that we published, Sony's forthcoming zombie survival game Days Gone will benefit from a huge open world where trouble lurks around every corner. But now we've got a pretty good idea of what we can expect while exploring this troublesome place.

GameReactor recently spoke with Bend Studio's Eric Jensen about what players can expect from the Days Gone setting, and it'll definitely be on a lifelike scale. "[The freakers are] part of the ecosystem, just like everything else," he explained. "And so you can be just driving around and stumble upon them and if you're not quite ready for it you're options are to try to take it on and risk losing, or you can just take off and come back later when you have more supplies and you've upgraded some of your weapons."

But the "Freakers" are just part of the equation, as humans will pop up as well in non-playable form, sometimes offering Deacon a hand and other times prepared to get in his way. "There's different camp leaders that have different motivations, and there's different jobs and job types that you can get from camps. That's some of the more […] static stuff," Jensen continued. "The rest of the world is dynamic and living and reacts to Deacon, so as you take out what we call 'infestations' – these are kind of hotspots of the freakers where they can nest – you'll see the environment and an area start to change and adapt. So where previously where it was infested with freakers, you might start to see humans showing up."

Sony's no stranger to presenting amazing open worlds for players to explore within their games, including the majestic Horizon Zero Dawn from Guerrilla Games; God of War from Sony Santa Monica; and the forthcoming Spider-Man from Insomniac Games. It sounds like Days Gone will fit just fine into this setting, although it wouldn't hurt to keep a weapon on hand just in case something tries to sneak up on you.

We'll see how well this new open world adventure comes together when Days Gone ships this February for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 4 Pro.