Really glad that they stuck to their guns with this one and kept it true to the genre of survival horror. I'm glad they placed easier difficulties because I do think it would scare off casual players who wanna experience this game without the need to search for an ink ribbon for saving. However, if you're willing to struggle a bit, hardcore is the best way to play this game. Each time you open a door and encounter a zombie, you have to decide wether you should conserve the bullets you have or try evading them.

A big source of tension from the community of this game is that zombies are bullet sponges that take too long to kill. I love this mechanic. The tension whenever you encounter a zombie and wondering if you can evade them or have to use your limited supply of bullets, is one of the reasons I love this game. I also heard people didn't enjoy Mr. X and again I differ from those views, I love Mr. X and what he brings to the game. The anxiety his footsteps create is palpable, and the fact he is always looming makes the already terrifying atmosphere that more scary.

Wished Claire and Leon interacted more throughout the game and maybe cooperated a little. The bosses' situations are rough due to how they put you in tight areas with a giant boss and your character is also very slow, so the bosses I feel mixed about.

Looks great, horrifying atmosphere, intense soundtrack, great tension, and is much more forgiving with the typewriter locations and ink ribbons scarcity. I also kinda miss the door cutscenes from the first game but also not really at all.

This is precisely what I want from a zombie open-world game, I just felt like it needed more. The story was a cheesy flick with stereotypical character tropes, however not every game needs to revolutionize its story.

The story and characters were done in a way that I found endearing and made me root for them, especially for the wife guy, even if Deacon isn't the best character sometimes.

The game fidelity and setting were fantastic, however, I do feel like it lacked variety and a reason to go to all of them besides just putting myself in risky scenarios for the sake of it.

The atmosphere and soundtrack go hand in hand in being great, and the scenarios you find yourself in are fantastic. It's really just cool when you're driving around and in need of gas, so you have to sneak into an infested area and hope you don't wake the locals.

I think the game should honestly lose some of the difficulty options and just have 3 set ones. 1 easy mode for narrative reasons, 1 difficulty that should be the best way to play it, and 1 for hardcore players. I say this because playing days gone for the first time and not being able to go back in difficulty kinda sucked, I played on hard mode because I thought maybe survival will be too much for a beginner however hard mode just made me feel like the game lacked intensity.

I didn't want to restart to change my game because I didn't want to start from the quite poorly paced and boring start of the game. So I just implemented mods that made the game harder for me and features I thought should be in the base game anyway.

This lead to my last point and it is the enemies. Rippers and marauders etc not too much to care about, just shoot them and steal their shit I guess. The zombies and hordes are what this game really is about. There were too few zombies and hordes for my taste, maybe it is due to me choosing hard instead of more difficult modes but the allure of days gone is the zombies, so I don't get why it takes a long time to reach the fun parts. If this setting is truly infested with thousands of them, I should feel it.

I want the fear of a horde breathing down my neck a constant possibility instead of just being set to certain locations and events. Finally reaching a horde fulfilled exactly why I installed this game. The adrenaline rush of a giant crowd of zombies coming at you in every direction and you rushing to conserve stamina and keep the distance is anxiety-fueled and exciting. I need a sequel badly.

A little bit more I think there should be more settings like Why can't I turn off survival hints, I am 50 hours in why am I still learning how to crouch? And settings to hide HUD because Jesus the UI in this game especially the gun/health/stamina design is horrendous to look at. Need more special types and more customization and reason to help the outpost besides more guns. Also for fuck sake let me mute Copeland radio.
TLDR: Cheesy story but done in a good way, great soundtrack and gun sounds, hordes are fantastic and the bike is great, needs better pacing and more zombies in the variety sense and just the amount sense. A sequel can do wonders for this game, I really hope it happens.

Played this game completely blind, with no understanding of what type of game this is or its reputation. However, just opening the game and being greeted by the main menu's music instantly sold me. So I open the game and immediately got eaten by dogs.

The atmosphere this game gets to give off is grueling and cruel, the enemy designs disgusting macabre, and the music intense. I understand why the difficulty could bother people however I found that the constant dying was the point of the game, to exhibit a sense of helplessness in the dungeons your character goes through. I love this game hella a lot. Found myself enamored by the story and the lore surrounding everything. I also found myself always going back to my last save file no matter how far back it is, just to save one of my characters. Except for Enki, I hate him.

It had potential but ultimately was lackluster in its delivery. I enjoyed how over-the-top the character was when usually games that try going for this vibe fail miserably. I heard the gore was the selling point however it also disappointed me. I felt like they could have gone even harder with the impressive dismemberment and how zombies' bodies responded to each blow, however, it felt weak sometimes and lacked that extra punch.

Ok, story. ok bosses, ok almost everything. Also why tf did the zombies have levels to them, Man, why not make them easier to smash and shred apart but fill the island with loads of them? This is a zombie game yet there was a significant lack of zombies.