Following a flood of news concerning Bend Studio’s open-world zombie game, Days Gone, the game’s director, Jeff Ross, revealed his plans for the now-canceled sequel, which include story details, technical improvements, and gameplay mechanics. Despite being set up for a sequel, Sony rejected Days Gone 2 and, instead, has Sony Bend working on an original game. Ross, who has since left the studio, was disappointed by the rejection because he saw Days Gone 2 as the “definitive version” of the game, citing the improvement from Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.
“I would add more systems. Systems are very simple. And if they’re simple, they can be elegant and very rich for the player. I knew adding one or two more layers to the systematic elements of it would have been something we could have wrapped our heads around, it would have led to a ton of richness for the players and a ton of unique open-world moments and responses that we haven’t seen before.”
During an interview with For The Win, Ross revealed how Days Gone could have been perfected through its sequel. First of all, he gave us some insight as to where the story was going. It would be narrative-heavy, revolving around the relationship between protagonist Deacon St. John and his wife, Sarah. More specifically, the couple would see cracks in their relationship and work through them in the midst of a zombie apocalypse.
From a gameplay perspective, the player would have access to high-tech weaponry thanks to NERO, a government agency in Days Gone. Further, the sequel would keep the motorcycle gameplay while adding a function Ross was disappointed wasn’t in the original game: swimming. Lastly, the open-world would have more varied animal and human interactions. Some examples he included were “allowing bears to dig through trash cans [and] wolves to roam and hunt more dynamically.”
It looks like Ross saw Days Gone 2 as a platform for improvement, but now Sony Bend is headed in another direction. We’re not sure what the studio is working on, but it may include the open-world technology from Days Gone and feature multiplayer.
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