GOING VIRAL?

AFTER UNDERWHELMING FIRST TIME OUT, THIS APOCALYPTIC POST-PANDEMIC TALE GETS SECOND CHANCE TO CATCH ON

- CHERYL MULLIN

I GUESS I'm showing my age, but the games being remastered seem to be getting younger and younger these days.

Last year, 2017's Horizon Zero Dawn was remastered, as was 2020's The Last of Us Part 2, so I was not entirely shocked when it was announced a six-year-old PlayStation exclusive was about to get the same treatment.

What did surprise me was that it was Days Gone.

Before its release on the PS4 in 2019, this post-apocalyptic open worlder had been in development for a number of years, and when it finally landed its reception was tepid to say the least.

There were criticisms that the side quests were simply filler, the plot was thin and that the open world was lacking content.

Then there were the bugs that required substantial patches, but by the time the holes were plugged the damage had been done - which is a shame, because the game that emerged from that work was really rather good.

Like many, I'm afraid to say I gave up on Days Gone early on, it was only when I picked it back up a few years later that I began to truly appreciate it.

So while I was surprised that it was being remastered, I was also pleased that it was getting a second shot for players to rediscover it.