Days Gone

Sony Bend’s Days Gone is a huge game- not just because of its large open world environments, but also because of how many systems it constantly has in play. The game does a good enough job of familiarizing players with the fundamentals in its early hours, but with these fifteen basic tips and tricks, surviving its harsh post-apocalyptic wasteland will be a little easier.

First, let’s talk about some of the most useful skills in Days Gone that you can and should unlock as early as possible.

FOCUSED SHOT AND CROWD CONTROL

Ammo is scarce in Days Gone, relatively speaking, as it should be too, given its setting and backdrop. As such, making every shot count is more important here than it usually is in most other open world titles. Unlocking the Focused Shot skill, as such, is exceedingly important, because it allows you to temporarily slow down time and aim at your enemies with much greater accuracy. Following that, also make sure to invest in Crowd Control, which reduces the time your Focus requires to regenerate.

HAWKEYED AND GREEN THUMB

Collecting plants scattered about the environments is quite important in Days Gone. From using these to craft crossbow bolts (which are very useful in stealth) to trading them in at camps, they serve a lot of purposes. As such, getting the Hawkeyed skill can be very useful, since it marks plants on your mini-map, and makes sure you don’t miss out on any in your vicinity. The Green Thumb skill is useful, because with that you get double the amount of plants when collecting them.

THIORN IN YOUR SIDE

Speaking of crossbow bolts- stealth is key in Days Gone (more on this in a bit), and as a silent, stealthy weapon with decent range and plenty of damage ability, the crossbow will often be your best friend. To save resources (and the time requires to craft bolts), the Thorn In Your Side skill will come in very handy, as it allows you to retrieve the crossbow bolts you’ve used.

EAR TO THE GROUND

The Ear to the Ground skill is also incredibly useful, and will help you out both in combat and during stealth. Using it, you can activate Survival Vision to see enemies even through walls, regardless of whether or not you’ve tagged them. Not only will this help you out during combat or stealth encounters, it will also help you avoid several ambushes (of which there can be quite a few).

ESCAPE ARTIST

Escape Artist is a skill that will be particularly useful if you ever find yourself surrounded by surrounded by a pack of enemies, Freakers or otherwise. If you’re ever grabbed by an enemy, thanks to this skill, after breaking free of the grab, with the press of a button with the right timing, you can also immediately kill that enemy.

FIELD REPAIR

Weapons in Days Gone are breakable, and any melee weapons you might find lying around in the world are especially low on durability. The Field Repair skill allows you to use scrap material that you’ve gathered to repair your weapons, which can be very useful if you ever chance upon a particularly strong melee weapon.

STEALTH KILLS

As we’ve discussed, stealth is more often than not the best course of action in Days Gone, and the game makes sure to make that clear in a variety of ways. For instance, you get more XP from stealth than you do from any other kind- so utilize stealth kills wherever and whenever possible.

FREAKER NESTS

The world of Days Gone is littered with Freaker nests- burn these and clear them out every chance you get. There’s multiple benefits to it- for starters, you get plenty of XP and Freaker ears (which you can trade in at camps to get credits). Clearing out Freaker nests also means the area in question has less undead activity than before, which can be especially useful at night (more on this in just a bit). Finally, once you clear out Freaker nests, you also unlock a fast travel point on the map.

NERO CHECKPOINTS

There are also quite a few NERO checkpoints scattered throughout the world of Days Gone- any time you see one, make sure you restore power to them. Not only do they too act as fast travel options, NERO checkpoints also usually have NERO boxes, which you can use to permanently increase either one of your max stealth, stamina, or Focus.

CAMP MISSIONS

The few survivors that are left in the world after the Freaker epidemic have mostly clustered together and live in separate camps, many of which you will come across during your playthrough of Days Gone. Make sure you do as many Camp Missions as possible- other than giving you XP and credits (obviously), these also increase your Trust level at the Camp in question, which in turn leads to better options for purchasing items or upgrades.

RANDOM EVENTS

There are several random events happening in the world of Days Gone as well, which you might chance upon while you ride the broken road. A lot of the times, these are survivors in need of aid, either against Freakers, or other not-so-friendly humans. Helping them out helps increase your Trust level with whatever Camp they belong to. Sure, sometimes these can be ambushes, but it’s usually worth the risk.

COPELAND’S CAMP

The camp you’ll want to focus on the most, especially in the beginning, is Copeland’s camp- which is convenient, because it’s also the very first camp you encounter in the game. Building Trust with Copeland’s camp is particularly useful, because it leads to better upgrades for your bike- and upgrading your bike early on is something you’re definitely going to want to do.

TIME AND WEATHER

Like many other open world games that employ similar systems, the day and night cycle of Days Gone, as well as its weather mechanics, have an actual impact on gameplay. Freakers are stronger and more active when its dark, while rain also makes them also come out in greater numbers, and makes it harder to drive your motorcycle. So take stock of the weather and the time of day, and play your missions accordingly.

CAR ALARMS

You’ll find a lot of vehicles lying around haphazardly in Days Gone, and quite a few of them – the ones with their hoods or boots completely shut – will allow you to take a peek inside and gather scrap or resources. But make sure they don’t have car alarms, which can attract Freakers in the vicinity if they go of. Vehicles with red lights are the ones you need to look out for. These can also be used to your advantage during stealth- hit a car with red lights with a rock to either distract enemies, or to lure a pack of Freakers into an area to take on another group of enemies and do your dirty work for you.

WEAPONS LOCKER

In Days Gone, you can either purchase weapons from vendors in camps, or you can pick them up off the ground from the hands of the enemies you have killed- but don’t get too attached to the latter. While purchased weapons can always be reacquired from weapon lockers even if you drop them, if you drop a weapon you haven’t yet purchased, you won’t be able to re-equip them from your locker.