Days Gone isn’t just a mere zombie game. Its post-apocalyptic world may be littered with zombie-looking creatures called ‘freakers,’ but they aren’t your run-of-the-mill zombie enemies. And they aren’t your only enemies, and perhaps not even your greatest. Other humans are.
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That said, here’s a rundown of the variety of enemies you will encounter as you play as bounty hunter Deacon St. John and journey your way through a chaotic world on your motorbike. The following isn’t a complete list, but rather just what we know of so far.
Freakers:
Freakers aren’t zombies, because they aren’t dead. Rather freakers have been affected by an unknown virus that turns its victims into primitive monsters who attack and feed on any creature they can.
Tidbits:
Freakers live in nests, and usually hibernate during the day, which as a result makes travelling at night more dangerous.
As you’ve probably seen in the trailers and demos, freakers have a horde mentality and tend to swarm their prey quickly and in vast numbers.
Their movement patterns aren’t aimless. They aren’t just wandering, rather they are hunting or moving between sources of food and dwelling.
They aren’t biased. They will attack and eat anything, including animals and your enemies.
While one or two are easily dealable with, when they swarm, freakers are incredibly difficult to manage.
Prolonged gunfire attracts more.
Newts:
Newts are freakers, but freakers who were infected by the virus as adolescents.
Tidbits:
Newts won’t attack head-on, and rather favor to keep their distance and strike at opportune times.
They move on all fours.
They tend to stay off the ground, remaining on rooftops and high places, and only coming down to hunt.
Adult freakers will attack them on sight.
They tend to fufill not the role of predator, but scavenger.
They will swarm when you least expect or when you’re at your most vulnerable.
Marauders:
Marauders are your common human enemy type, aka the most generic enemy in the game perhaps.
Tidbits:
They operate and run camps and settlements, which Deacon will regularly be taking over throughout the game.
Marauders will find you as often as you find them.
They’re prone to ambush you. For example, they will push cars down a hill at you as you drive by or will lay clotheslines traps that will knock you from your bike.
They come packing a variety of guns and melee weapons.
Ragers:
Ragers are exactly what they look like: bears infected with the virus
Tidbits:
Appear as both a boss fight and as a regular enemies.
They aren’t incredibly common.
Given their incredible strength, it’s not always wise to face them head-on.
Runners:
Runners are giant, rabid wolves who have suffered mutation from the virus.
Tidbits:
They can sprint at speeds that can keep up with Deacon’s motorbike.
More difficult to kill than a freaker.
They aren’t very common, and rather are used as a looming threat, a reminder to the player that even when on their bike they aren’t safe in this world.
Their attacks will often come as a surprise.
They can travel solo or in small packs.
Rippers:
Rippers are another human enemy type who look and act like they are out of a Mad Max post-apocalyptic world. More or less, Rippers have deified the freaker infection, and can be told apart from others thanks to the scars and cuts that litter their body, including the R.I.P carved into their foreheads.
Tidbits:
They are fearless, because they aren’t afraid to die. In other words, their tactics are more intense.
Victory comes by many means necessary for Rippers, who will do whatever it takes to kill and serve their leader.
They revere freakers.
As mentioned above, this isn’t and exhaustive list of enemies in Days Gone, as it has been confirmed by Sony Bend that there is AT LEAST one more to reveal. The developer also talks about how freakers will change and adapt over the course of the game, however, they are still working on this, and thus aren’t ready to share any details.
Days Gone is in development exclusively for the PS4, scheduled to release sometime next year. Apparently, a release date announcement is coming “very soon.”
Source: Game Informer
