Days Gone tested on PC
Let's talk right now about the initial stages of the campaign, which we played after refreshing our memory with the improved version of the title on PS5, and how in the end it was right to wait a little longer to have such a product. Yes, because we can say this without turning too much around: in light of our preliminary experience, the developers of Bend Studio have done a great job, and this being the case it makes perfect sense that the agonizing adventure of Deacon St. John has passed the the boundaries of the exclusive PS4 to push into new, exciting territories.
The story: a quick recap
Days Gone, Deacon on his bike. The story of Days Gone takes place in the near future where a mysterious pandemic has brought the whole world to its knees. Does it remind you of anything? Unfortunately in the game the infected do not limit themselves to contracting a dangerous viral pneumonia, but literally transform into something different: Furious, zombie-like creatures that conceptually appear very close to those of the film I am legend.In the background, the protagonist of the adventure, Deacon St. John, is forced to separate from his wife Sarah who, seriously injured, manages to get on a rescue helicopter. Two years later, however, the two have not yet reunited, Deacon is left alone with his friend Boozer and tries to get by by preying on what remains of a company cleared on behalf of the various factions of survivors, always riding the bike of he. It is there that we find him at the beginning of the game, engaged in a frantic chase that clarifies some narrative assumptions very well.
Technical realization: first impact
Days Gone, a combat sequence . The Days Gone page on Steam reads that "the new features on PC include support for ultra-wide monitors, unlocked frame rate and various graphic improvements (increased level of detail, extension of field of view and distance). of foliage display), and in the options screen all these items obviously find their place, together with many other adjustments that give the clear feeling of a widely scalable experience.We found a small glitch related to the icons of the commands, which on the screen continuously alternate references to the keyboard and the controller, but beyond this very slight uncertainty (which will certainly be fixed already on day one) there is very little to complain about. We have basically set everything to the maximum and selected the 2160p resolution and then enjoy a frame rate perfectly anchored to 60 fps in vertical sync.
Days Gone, a sessio driving at night. Easy with an RTX 3070, you say? It is clear that everything must be contextualized and that the game was designed from the start for substantially less powerful hardware than this, yet many episodes teach us that such results, especially at the debut, are actually anything but obvious. However, in this case the developers have also included additional options related to accessibility, and this can only please.
From mouse sensitivity values to key bindings, from controller customizations to audio levels, from size of any subtitles to the settings related to the difficulty, finally passing through the support icons, the interface colors and the operation of the buttons, a great freedom of movement is given and it is therefore possible to modify many items to meet most needs .
Direct confrontation with PS5
Days Gone, the protagonist pursued by enemies. We remember more or less all those that were the technical limitations of Days Gone on PS4, in particular the base model of the console, and therefore it makes no sense to point out the substantial distance between the PC edition and the original. On the other hand, it certainly makes sense to look for any points of contact and differences with the PS5 version, introduced with a free upgrade last November.On the next-gen Sony platform, the Bend Studio title runs at dynamic 4K and 60 fps, although not always very stable, with loading times practically halved: a notable improvement, especially if we think about how much effort the game was doing during the sections in which the protagonist rides a motorcycle within the large open world that is the scenario for the adventure .
Days Gone, a look at the beautiful landscapes. As mentioned we are still at the beginning and we have not carried out "stress tests" with the hordes in order to verify any drops or critical issues similar to those we talked about in the Resident Evil Village review for PC, but we can repeat ourselves: strong of real 4K the graphics are perfectly clear, the game world appears full of elements that do not seem to suffer from pop-ups and the fluidity is very stable, probably thanks to a large gap over 60 frames that we will be able to verify.
All this by setting each preset to the maximum: there are many and they allow you to change resolution, refresh rate and vertical synchronization, limit the frames or keep them completely unlocked, adjust the field of view (FOV), use a scaler to decrease or increase the effective resolution, then intervene on individual items such as lighting, geometry, foliage, shadows, clouds and fog, as well as textures and their filter. There are also specific options for HDR.
Questions and answers
Bend Studio has seen fit to create some official FAQ to describe in detail the news of the PC version of Days Gone. We read that the game includes all the downloadable content already released on the console, specifically Survival Mode, Challenge Mode and the skins for the bike, as well as the New Game Plus mode. There is support for ultra-wide monitors, as already said, and it is possible to play at 60 fps or with the frame rate unlocked according to your configuration.As for the controls, Days Gone can be played with mouse and keyboard, in the latter case with also the ability to change the keys, or with any supported controller, including of course DualShock, DualSense and the Xbox joypad. This version does not introduce ray tracing, which is not present on PS5 either, and for the moment it does not support DLSS, but the developers are hinting that it will come with an update. It is not possible to transfer the saves from PS4 or PS5.
We are still in the initial stages, but the PC version of Days Gone is very promising, and for the moment it seems that the patience shown so far by users will be rewarded by Bend Studio with excellent conversion. Any differences with the improved edition for PS5 will certainly require in-depth analysis, but the amount of adjustments present and the performance we have encountered so far speak very clearly. If these are the results, the time seems ripe for the concept of exclusivity to finally be re-discussed at Sony too.
