A few decades ago the masses believed video games were a waste of time for lackadaisical youths to pacify themselves while ignoring their responsibilities as both kids and young adults. As more and more people started understanding the benefits of gaming so too did the perception of what a video game is and, most importantly, the benefits gaming can bestow on a person’s life changed.
Hi, my name is James Bullock and I am a gamer who has spent the better part of his existence testing the laws of physics, exploring the vastness of a world ruined, and been a champion inside various arenas courtesy of digitized worlds both driven by reality and created through pure unbelievable ingenuity unlike anything seen by human eyes. And as a gamer I’ve discovered something else video games provide: life lessons. Today I examine the unheralded message behind “Days Gone” (spoilers ahead).
Don’t Lose Hope
In the mid 1990s, progressive metal band Tool released their second full-length album with its third single being a song predicting the end of the world and the shocking hope of seeing the “cesspool” of California go down the figurative toilet by sinking into the Pacific. In the world of video games, a prophecy showcasing the world’s end has come several times over including in the PS4 exclusive “Days Gone”. Set in what used to be the pretty quiet state of Oregon, “Days Gone” follows the actions of Deacon St. John some two years after the fall of society as we knew and still know it thanks to the rise of a horde of mutated humans known as “Freakers”.
During the commotion featuring fleeing civilians looking for safety, Deacon’s wife and best friend respectively are attacked with the prior – Sarah – actually being stabbed by some random kid. Making it to an evacuating helicopter organized by the National Emergency Response Organization (NERO), Deacon has to a make a painful choice: go with his wife or stay back & help his injured “brother” Boozer. Deacon opts to help Boozer while promising to find his wife in the very near future, but the decision is a terrible one as even Boozer himself notes. The reason why Deacon made the worst decision possible in regards to staying with his wife: the world never recovers from this mass infection as the “Freakers” take over the known world.
Deacon and any other remaining humans are stuck in a world they no longer recognize; struggling to survive while building camps, forming their own new religions, and simply riding around on motorcycles thanks to infinite gas cans scattered around the state. But no matter how much the world changes and, to a certain extent, devolves, Deacon takes time out of his days to visit a rock with his wife’s name etched into it; telling her spirit tales of his new life without her. Yet, what seems to be a way for Deacon to cope with his wife’s believed demise is actually a way to remind Deacon what he’s fighting for: a chance to reunite with his love so they can ride off somewhere, anywhere.
Upon encountering the NERO agent who actually allowed Sarah onto the helicopter that faithful night, Deacon’s hope for a world still containing his living wife is validated and dictates his actions going forward; including forgoing the safety of being in a camp full of people who trust & rely on him. Deacon never gives up on the idea of his wife still being alive even when everyone believed & vocalized otherwise including his best friend. I won’t spoil whether or not Deacon’s hope pays off, but I will say that Deacon’s undying hope drives forward a game, on the onset, seemingly built on slaying zombie-fied humans while riding a motorcycle.
Have you learned any major life lessons from playing “Days Gone” or any video game for that matter? Leave them in the comments below and, as always, thanks for reading.
