Having played maybe 30 hours of this game - Days Gone unfortunately doesn't tell you how long you've been playing - I can't help commenting on the mention of Sarah's wedding vows and how it completely misses the purpose of that scene.

MILD SPOILERS AHEAD.

In the wedding flashback scene Sarah says to Deacon "promise to ride me as much as you ride your bike". Now, the reviewer interprets this quote as meaning "cool, so they like having sex with each other" (@8:30). And we can all concede that, taken literally, it's a cheesy line. Sure. But there is something you learn later on that completely changes the context of that sentence.

We find out in a later flashback that, when Deacon proposes to Sarah, she tells him that she has two conditions to marry him. One of them is that "we don't have one of those biker weddings where you say that you're going to ride me as much as your bike". The other one is that he never leaves her.

So, it turns out, there is a whole new meaning for what she says. And what it means is that she accepts him for who he is, she accepts the [biker] culture that he belongs to, that he doesn't have to change or pretend that he is something else to be with her. It's a declaration of love.

It's kind of surprising that a reviewer would miss that. Maybe the reviewer didn't pay attention, or just skipped through that cut scene, but it's another example of the unfair nature of the criticisms that support this indefensible review.

@maximus1983: Your political assessment is even worse than the reviewer's "over-the-top libertarian character" take. I really must have missed the part where Deacon says he's against universal healthcare lol.

Considering the dissonance between Gamespot's review rating of 5/10 (Mediocre) and the general feedback that you can see from gamers online, and the positive sales Days Gone is having, there is certainly a lot to reflect here.

It's kind of strange to see the emphasis on terms like "generic" and "repetitive". Open world games often rely on repetitive formulas that have you do the same things over and over and over again. One of the best examples is Assassin's Creed Odyssey (Ubisoft has fine-tuned the formula to perfection), but the same can be said about pretty much every open world game out there, even Red Dead Redemption 2. Horizon Zero Dawn is another great example. HZD was extremely unoriginal, and incorporated many mechanics and ideas successfully used in other games, but it all clicked in a great balance and the whole was more than the sum of its parts. And the same can be said about Spider-Man. Days Gone pretty much fits into this mold.

The thing about open world games is that your enjoyment of them depends on loving to be there. AC Odyssey is freaking repetitive, but I've loved the 150+ hours I've spent playing it because I was entertained while I was there. If you don't feel attached to that world, if you don't have fun while you're there, then the whole experience becomes a nuisance, a sacrifice. The open world experience stands between you, the player, and the story progression. That's why a lot of people find AC Odyssey boring, just as some find RDR2 boring. Because they didn't enjoy being in that world. And so, every activity becomes a repetitive nuisance.

This extended review confirms pretty much the fact that the reviewer didn't enjoy playing this game. Killing hordes is exhilarating, but it took so much time to get there. Which basically means, playing this game was a sacrifice to this reviewer. Maybe because she didn't enjoy the world, didn't connect to the main character (clearly), and whatever other reasons.

But it does seem to me that, considering the positive gamer feedback, currently at 8.0 on Metacritic, that a lot of people are feeling this game differently, and are having and entirely different experience.

So one has to wonder if Gamespot assigned this review to the right person. Just as someone who has no enjoyment from sports games or sim games (like me) would do a horrible job reviewing sports and sim games, someone who possibly doesn't enjoy the types of mechanics that open world games rely on, isn't going to provide very useful feedback regarding an open world game.

More than that, as a conclusion, the real damage is that this review is unfair and disrespectful to the people who worked hard to deliver what is a satisfying and well executed gaming experience. There is no way you can review Days Gone as a 5 out of 10 and be taken seriously. Even by harsh standards, you would probably have to consider it at least a 7/10. More favorably, an 8. Mediocre? Never.

That's why Gamespot readers are responding negatively, and why this video is getting such a bad ratio on YouTube. Please do better next time.

Reviewer didn't like the main character's personality so punishes game score. Well I'm playing it and having a great time. This review competes with IGN's classic 5.9 Alien Isolation score. It won't age well.

I know I'm going to buy this game eventually, maybe not at full price, but I will. It may have problems, but it also looks like it has its merits. And it feels like Thief, apart from some tragically unfortunate decisions such as the third-person climbing and cutscenes.

So, yeah, I remain curious. I hope this is at least successful enough to allow a sequel. Maybe they'll fix the shortcomings and evolve the format into a fully glorious sandbox style experience.

Well, that was no contest! ;) I don't even have a PS3 and I think this would be a worthy game of the year no matter the platform. Naughty Dog (along with Quantic Dream) is one of the strongest reasons why I'll be switching to the PS4.

@MJ12-Conspiracy I was going to post the same thing. The Cradle level in Thief: Deadly Shadows was truly disturbing. I think it had a lot to do with the sound editing. Even playing the Dead Space series, or the claustrophobic BioShock, didn't affect me as much as that horrible level in TDS, almost ten years ago. I wonder if the new Thief will capture that atmosphere...

@ecurl143 Agree. Also, I wonder how much they spent on developing multiplayer? Did it add anything to the game, did it bring in new customers? I doubt it, and if they had focused on adding extended gameplay with single-player DLC missions they would probably have made a lot more revenue.

I think the main problem here is an internal management issue. Games take time to produce and that time costs money. That means that you need to launch games within a balanced time schedule to make a profit with reasonable sales. If you spend too much time/money producing a game, you also need to meet higher sales.

It was clearly the problem with Tomb Raider, for example. A fantastic game that sold pretty well. And, personally as a gamer, I'm glad they took the time to make it right. But it definitely took a long production time. When 3.5 million sales (on the first month alone I think) doesn't get your money back, something is wrong with your management plans.

I do hope Square Enix doesn't discard these great franchises, especially Tomb Raider and Hitman. TR, being a reboot, had to make everything from scratch in terms of gameplay structure. Now they have a foundation to work from, so maybe they can release a sequel within a reasonable time frame of 2 or 3 years, and make it profitable.