Days Gone Developer Offers Brief Update on New PS5 Game

Hard as it might be to believe, it's been nearly five years since Days Gone released on PlayStation 4. Developed by Bend Studio, the survival-horror game proved somewhat divisive upon release. In the years since, Bend Studio has been working on a new franchise for Sony, but details have been very slim. On Twitter, the studio was recently asked about its next project, resulting in a brief reply. "We cooking," the studio responded, offering no additional details. It's unclear how much longer fans will have to wait before a full reveal, but hopefully it will prove worth the wait!

The Tweet from Bend Studio can be found embedded below. 

We cooking

— Bend Studio (@BendStudio) January 2, 2024

Everything We Know About Bend Studio's Next Game

While the latest update from Bend Studio didn't offer much in the way of detail, there are a few things that we already know about the game. In a Q&A with the official PlayStation Blog in 2021, PlayStation Studios head Hermen Hulst noted that Bend Studio is "building on the deep open-world systems that they developed with Days Gone." In 2022, another PlayStation Blog post by Bend Studio Community Manager Kevin McAllister noted that this mystery title "includes multiplayer." McAllister also told readers that they can expect "a whole new world that we are extremely excited to craft for you." 

Hopefully 2024 will be the year that we learn a lot more about this project! PlayStation's plans for 2024 are a bit of a mystery at the moment, but that should change as we get deeper into the year. 

Days Gone

One thing that we know for sure about the next game from Bend Studio is that it won't be a sequel to Days Gone. The game sold fairly well on both PlayStation and PC, and director Jeff Ross noted on Twitter that he wanted to build "on top of the original for a kick-ass sequel." Unfortunately, PlayStation felt differently, and there was some speculation that the company was unhappy with the game's Metacritic score (which is currently at 71). In 2022, creative director John Garvin had some choice words about the game's critical reception. In a since-deleted Tweet, Garvin blamed "woke reviewers" for the poor critical reception to Days Gone. That prompted an official response from Bend Studio, which denounced Garvin's words, while also stating that it "is immensely proud of the work we accomplished on Days Gone and are thankful to every developer who poured their heart and soul into it."

Given the controversy that has surrounded Days Gone, it seems highly unlikely we'll ever see a sequel. However, it will be interesting to see how Bend Studio applies what it learned on the game in its next project. 

Are you excited to see what's next for Bend Studio? Do you think reviewers were too hard on Days Gone when it released? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!

[H/T: Gaming Bolt]