Days Gone, Sony’s next major PlayStation 4 exclusive, is nearly upon us and before the open-world zombie shooter can even get us in its grasp, the developers are setting the stage for some free post-launch content. In a PlayStation blog post, Bend Studio dev and Days Gone game director Jess Ross revealed that the Survivor difficulty setting will start the rollout in June and players can expect more free updates every week from then on.
The Survivor mode will strip away some of the more comforting features in Days Gone’s zombie-riddled gameplay so that players can challenge themselves beyond the Hard mode that the game will feature at launch on April 26. The mode removes fast travel and Survival Vision as a means to “further immerse players and ratchet up the tension to make the definitive survival experience.” The game’s HUD will also no longer show the map or indicators, making the player feel lost in the 30-plus hour campaign. Players who finish the Survivor will also earn new trophies and unique bike skins.
The weekly updates will include a new bike, horde, or combat challenge for players to tackle so they can earn new items or rewards. The specifics of these weekly launches will be revealed in the near future and, hopefully, the game will enjoy enough success to warrant additional more-involved expansions to the game in the future.
Days Gone is the first original title from Bend Studios, the developers behind spinoffs of major PlayStation properties like Uncharted, Syphon Filter, and Resistance. The title has drawn comparisons to The Last of Us, Sony’s other post-apocalyptic single-player adventure, but it tells a very different tale that unfolds across an open world set in the Pacific Northwest. The “Freakers” are the type of zombie featured in Days Gone and trying to face off against the massive hordes with weapons and environmental puzzles is a key feature.
This is a pivotal moment for one of Sony’s first-party development teams as Bend Studios attempts to step out of the shadows of established titles and start forging its own path. Time will tell if the Days Gone crew has sufficiently established itself as a major player on the PlayStation team and in the gaming industry as a whole.
