At times like this, I cast my mind back to Counter-Strike Global Offensive. For months, alongside the rest of the fanbase for Valve’s FPS, I was keeping a close eye on the backend of Steam, tracking every single update, tweak, and new data depot. The cynical part of me said it was all just nothing. The (admittedly much smaller) hopeful part of me wanted to believe. And lo and behold, after all that tinfoil-hat speculation, eventually, Counter-Strike 2 was confirmed – sometimes, the most optimistic theories are true. Days Gone 2 might never happen. The open-world survival game may be doomed to the annals of overlooked, underloved cult hits. But with The Game Awards about to start, some mysterious updates on Steam could – just could – point to a Days Gone remaster.
Earlier this year, Bend Studio community manager Kevin McAllister made a pretty emphatic statement, saying that the developer was working on an entirely new project, and urging anyone eager for Days Gone 2 to “move on.” It’s a tremendous shame. Over on Steam, Days Gone still has a ‘very positive’ rating from players – a huge 92% of the 65,000 user reviews are favorable. Originally released back in 2019, and ported to PC in 2021, Bend’s open-world survival game is an underappreciated rival to the likes of State of Decay, Dying Light, and Dead Island; a zombie sandbox but with a bleaker aesthetic and tone.
But although a full sequel is seemingly off the table, something else could be in the works. On Friday December 6, a variety of new depots appeared in the Steam backend for Days Gone. One is labeled ‘staging.’ The other is called ‘specializedqa.’ Assuming QA stands for ‘quality assurance,’ you might extrapolate that some kind of new version, build, or variation of Days Gone is being tested.
That on its own is maybe a little thin, but there are two other things to keep in mind. First, it’s The Game Awards this week, and you can expect a lot of announcements for either new games, remasters, or remakes. Second, The Game Awards take place on Thursday December 12. At the moment, Days Gone is on sale on Steam at its lowest price ever – and that sale ends on December 12.
So, you’ve got these updates in the backend, an awards show coming up where new releases are announced, and a sale that ends on the same day. Is Sony trying to sell as many copies of the original version of Days Gone before announcing a remaster? Is it giving people a final chance to get this edition of Days Gone before it’s replaced by something newer? We’ll have to see – it could all be nothing. Either way, if you want to try one of the best zombie games out there, it’s now $12.49 / £9.99. Just go here.
Otherwise, try some of the other best open-world games, or maybe the best sandbox games on PC.
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