A demand for Days Gone 2 is a demand for mediocrity – Reader’s Feature

A reader implores fans not to harass Sony for a sequel to Days Gone and argues that players should expect more from their games.

I read with interest GC’s recent review of the PC version of Days Gone, noting two things in particular: that I agreed with pretty much everything that was said and, as usual, there were lots of angry comments about how the review was a travesty and everyone involved was an idiot. This happens a lot with video games, where any criticism of a game is taken as a personal insult, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen this level of anger for anything quite so mediocre as Days Gone.

Like many people in lockdown, I ended up not only burning through my backlog but having to borrow extra games on top, to get myself through the tedium. Days Gone was one of those games. It certainly wasn’t the worst game I’ve played over the last 12 month though, not considering I also ended up enduring Detroit: Become Human.

It was, however, almost aggressively uninteresting and seemingly desperate to sabotage itself with banal characters and wasting its few interesting features (most obviously the zombie hordes but also the potential of the bike running out of petrol and the story set-up in the final act). For hours I waited for it to do something interesting, until I realised this was all it was: an open world version of The Last Of Us but without anywhere near as good storytelling or set pieces.

I’m not suggesting the game’s terrible, it’s just very average. That’s what mediocre means. (I often wonder if some internet trolls realise this, as some seem to treat the word as if it implies a game is bad – or is that just another example of the refusal to classify games as anything other than the best or worst thing ever?).

Days Gone is clearly not very good but neither is it completely awful. I did complete it after all, although that was basically a mix of not having anything else to do and feeling that I’d already wasted so much time on it I might as well see it to the end. I wasn’t angry when I finished it, I didn’t hate it. It was OK. But OK is not good enough and I really wish gamers would realise that.

Under normal circumstances, which we are hopefully now beginning to see return, something being OK is not reason enough to waste your time or money on it. Especially since if there is a Days Gone 2 then Sony is going to charge you £70 for it. £70! For more Days Gone? When you think how much other video game entertainment you could get for that it seems madness.

Some people like to complain about publishers never doing anything new or original, but this is a prime example of why: because no-one really wants it. All publishers hear is constant demands for sequels, reboots, and remasters – even for completely unremarkable timewasters like Days Gone.

There’s a significant proportion of the general public that seem terrified of experiencing anything that isn’t already very similar to something else they’ve seen or heard before. Days Gone is technically a new IP but it’s not really because it would only take a name change and a few different textures for it to just be The Last Of Us: Deacon’s Tale.

We have got to aim higher. As gamers we need to be reward imagination and creativity not the speed with which a sequel can be churned out. As a society, we embrace mediocrity for the sake of familiarity and fear difference in all its forms. Days Gone is completely forgettable and so should be forgotten, but if fans have their way Sony will never be allowed to…

By reader Royston

The reader’s feature does not necessary represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.

You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. As always, email gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk and follow us on Twitter.

MORE : Days Gone PC review – good port, bad game

MORE : Days Gone 2 fan petition reaches 100,000 signatures

MORE : ‘If you love a game, buy it at f***ing full price’, says Days Gone writer

Follow Metro Gaming on Twitter and email us at gamecentral@metro.co.uk

For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.