Ok, before I start let me say that I'm not a wordy type and I'm not the greatest at articulating myself, I tend to babble and I'm pretty good at confusing even myself. With that out of the way allow me to say this, my gaming history began on an Atari 2600 as a child and my first PC gaming experience was in 1988 with Mines of Titan... yes I am old.

Now with that out of the way, I rather confidently state, this game, while not perfect, by any measure (I've had more than a few bugs that made me giggle and scratch my head) is one of the greatest experiences I have ever had playing a video game and nothing anyone says will change that stance.

As I have aged, I look more for a relaxing time playing a game, I want to chill, I haven't played a PVP game in nearly a decade and avoid "Souls Like" games like the plague, I can't be doing with dying every 5 mins or games that test my patience, I no longer have the hair to pull out for a start.

Days Gone has changed all of that, I feel young again, I know that sounds daft, but it's true. Sure the game has left me a paranoid, emotionally and physically drained wreck, even just 20 hours in but, damn I feel like I'm 20 again, my love gaming is back, and I sadly know it will probably die when I finish the game, which makes me a sad bunny.

Yes you leave swathes of foes in your wake while playing Days Gone, but every combat feels like it could be your last.

Yes you will spend most of your time on foot sneaking, not because you are forced to, but rather out of fear, it doesn't feel slow, or boring like some Elder Scrolls sneak mission, it feels right, the game is immersive and it hooks you and sucks you in, it gets under your skin, not like some little fishing hook, rather a great big Texas Chainsaw Massacre meat hook.

Days Gone is raw, it's gritty, gruesome and it's uncomfortable to play at times, honestly, it's not for everyone, and I respect that.

An art critic once said that art can only be art, it must have no other function, than being art and that it must provoke a reaction, whether it is positive or negative. I disagree, art can be something more than a piece of art, I believe there are many buildings and even cars that are art, and I also believe this game is a piece of visual and literary art.

Days Gone, isn't perfect, but that doesn't stop it being a masterpeice.

***EDIT @ around the 70 hour mark***
Ok, so I thought after a further 50 hours of gameplay, it would be a good idea to update my review.

At this point I think I'm approaching the beginning of the end of the game, that said, I think that's going to equate to another 15-20 hours, and that's just the missions and side quests. On top of that there's still collectables to mop up, hordes to wipe out and then the challenges to complete and then if so inclined, NG+.

One thing is for sure Days Gone is exceptional value in terms of gameplay and not once has it outstayed it's welcome, it's a long game, but I know when it's over, i'll be wishing for more.

I just wanted to touch on the subject of bugs, as regardless of how good your system is, you'll encounter some. Below are a list of the bugs that I have encountered, it should be noted that none are game breaking.

1. In Days Gone there are random encounters, in some of these encounters you can interact with an NPC and sometimes the NPC fails to materialise. There's a prompt to interact with them, but they are not there and you cannot interact with them. This isn't a big deal you just end up wasting a little time and ammo.

2. During one mission I was supposed to interact with an NPC, but I had no prompt to do so. I thought I was stuck, but it turns out that opening the door to the room containing the NPC triggered a cut scene leading to the interaction. The problem was that an enemy had already opened the door, so simply closing and then opening the door triggered the cutscene, problem solved.

3. There are infrequent, minor texture pops of scenery.

4. Whenever you mount your bike and accelerate, there are some frame drops for a second or two.

5. I once walked over a tripwire and got thrown into the air, quite far, I didn't take fall damage, but I was in a firefight, so yeah, that was fun.

6. Early in the game I got jumped performing a stealth kill, by three enemies, I panicked and climbed on top of a vehicle. Got my bearing and prepared for a fight, then all of a sudden every enemy instantly died and my map was littered with X marks indicating corpses.

I reloaded my save to no avail, everything was still dead, so I crossed my fingers and carried on and as soon as I "zoned", entering and exiting a safe area, all was back to normal, I've seen no evidence of anyone else having this issue, let's just say it was one of the more interesting bugs I've ever seen in a game.

7. During a mission... erm... in some caves, late into the game, I suffered low FPS, around 51-58 ish on an RTX 3070, 5700X, 32GB CL16 3600Mhz, only time it happened and it only lasted about 5mins.

8. Twice, I encountered an enemy that I could not stealth kill and did not react to my presence and after killing them the old fashion way, they didn't fall over dead, they still looked alive, but were very much dead.

Something similar sort of happens more often, where you kill an enemy but they don't ragdoll, they remain upright, I'd say I've seen that a dozen or so times.

At no point did said bugs detract from gameplay, other than the FPS drop during a mission, as that was a tense moment and it did slightly detract. Other than that, the few minor bugs offer nothing more than a brief light hearted moment in an otherwise very emotionally challenging, grim and dark game.

***EDIT @ around the 90 hour mark***
Ok just finished the main game, still lots to mop up in my first playthrough, new quests open up after the main game is complete and I've only dealt with 65% or the Hordes, and just short of 75% of collectables.

As I said earlier I've still to look at the challenges and as of yet, I've no immediate plans to play NG+, I want to polish everything else off I can from my first playthrough, something I suspect is going to take another 10+ hours, by which point I'll need to take a break from this game, it has definitely left a lasting impression and I don't think I can go through it all again so soon.

As for the final mission, I'd say that they played it a bit safe, clearly a setup for a sequel, although I'll admit I didn't guess the outcome before hand, something I'm usually pretty good at spotting. I will say one thing, the final mission wasn't very challenging, the setup mission prior to the final mission however, that was brutal and took me three attempts.

This will be my final review update, if you do decide to play, I hope you enjoy the ride as much as I did, good luck and stay safe drifter.