While the original presentations were given flack for being very similar to another zombie based Sony IP, Days Gone is beginning to present itself in far more of a Metal Gear Solid V light, with lots of emergent systems and open environments. Creative Director for Sony Bend, John Garvin would go on record speaking to Game Informer that “It’s not the zombie game [people] think”
The interview was part of a larger month of coverage with the magazine, and while Garvin understands that Zombies are getting rather passé now, he is still a genre fan and believes there are many like him out there. Garvin stressed that the danger that inhabits the open world of the game is what makes it different, suggesting that the studio is really going for the kind of emergent experiences we’ve seen done so well from titles like Breath of the Wild.
“The golden path is going to take you about 30 hours, but it’s going to take you a lot longer than that because things are going to happen to you along the way depending on how careful you are and how much you pay attention,” said Garvin. They expect that the exact way that the game unfolds will be very different between every player.
