Sony and Bend Studio's Days Gone was an outlier in the company's first-party offerings when it originally released. Suffering from technical issues and coming across as a formulaic open-world game at a time when the cracks in the genre's foundations were beginning to show, Days Gone failed to achieve the same kind of critical praise that had become part and parcel for Sony's first-party titles. But through the strength of its gameplay and story, Days Gone achieved a bit of cult classic status, which was only enhanced by the game's place as one of the early PlayStation-exclusive PC ports. With the arrival of Days Gone Remastered, though, this underrated PS4 title is finally getting the second shot that longtime fans felt it deserved.
The most obvious improvements that Days Gone Remastered makes over the original are its noticeable visual uplift and stable performance, but there's more to it than that. Beyond the surface-level polish that Days Gone Remastered provides, its arrival sees it delivering what could only be described as the definitive edition of a once-overlooked hidden gem in the PlayStation catalog, complete with all the post-launch content Bend Studio has supported the title with throughout the years and a brand-new game mode that shows off how impressive its enemy tech is. Days Gone Remastered gives the original something most games never get — another chance to make a good first impression.
Days Gone Remastered: How to Upgrade PS4 Version
Here is how players can upgrade the PS4 version of Days Gone to the Remastered version for only $10.
Days Gone Remastered's Gameplay Still Feels Fresh in 2025
Almost paradoxically, what felt somewhat old-hat at the time of the original Days Gone's release now feels fresh in comparison just 6 years later. For context, when Days Gone first arrived in 2019, the title was just one of several open-world action games and had the unenviable position of releasing not just hot on the heels of massive hits like Marvel's Spider-Man and Red Dead Redemption 2, but also in the wake of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's paradigm-shifting open-world game design. But thanks to some aspects unique to Days Gone's gameplay, Days Gone Remastered feels at once familiar and forward-thinking in 2025.
One of the few open-world games of its time to lean heavily into survival and crafting elements, Days Gone was at the cutting edge of a veritable gold rush for the sandbox survival genre throughout the 2020s, and playing Days Gone Remastered is a reminder of how well the game blends a more traditional narrative-driven action-adventure game with an open-world survival game. Together with the plethora of gameplay modes that are available as part of the Days Gone Remastered package, the only limits making the game's campaign feel too familiar are the ones enforced by the player. Combat and traversal in Days Gone Remastered are as satisfying as they've ever been, and they're supported by an impressive amount of gameplay and difficulty modifiers that help customize the experience.
The Improvements to Days Gone Remastered Make Good on the Original's Premise
To its credit, Bend Studio continued to support and update the original Days Gone long after its initial release, eventually bringing the game to a technical state of polish more in line with what most players would expect from a first-party Sony game. Days Gone's PC port would also be another win for the property that helped it achieve a brand-new audience it wouldn't have otherwise attained. Both of these post-launch improvements now come together in Days Gone Remastered, ushering in a triumphant return to console for the title that sees it look and play better than ever before, complete with a slew of new content, modes, and balance tweaks that make it the definitive version of an underrated hidden gem of the 8th console generation.
Between the original player base on PS4 and the reported 1.7 million units of the title sold on Steam, Days Gone had a clear cult following before the release of Days Gone Remastered, which sees it positioned to make an even bigger impact a second time around. And with Days Gone Remastered presenting what's arguably the best version of the game released thus far, players are getting to experience the title in a way that more closely aligns with what its original fans and developers already saw in it.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 81 /100 Critics Rec: 75%
- Released
- April 25, 2025
- ESRB
- M For Mature: Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language
- Developer(s)
- Bend Studio
- Publisher(s)
- PlayStation Studios
