"We insist that they are not zombies" - we talk to Bend Studios about PS4 zombie game, Days Gone

VG247: "Emmanuel Roth, a senior staff animator at Bend Studios, is responsible for a lot of the work that has gone into the cinematics of Days Gone. There are plenty of them, too – during my four-hour demo of the game it often stopped to flash back to the past, or to play a cinematic of characters talking to one another, or to establish major developments and characters. He comes from a background in games that stretches back to the PS2 (he was an animator on curio Jet Li vehicle Rise to Honor); stretching back even further, he worked in television and film, including a stint at PDI/Dreamworks where he worked on Antz and Shrek. Roth has been with Bend Studio for 14 years now, having joined during the development of the critically acclaimed Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror for the PSP. Development on Days Gone began six years ago, when the team was much smaller."

[Nitrowolf2]

They’ve been saying that since the reveal and it’s clear they aren’t, but one could argue that it falls within the zombie survival genre itself

[CorndogBurglar]

Zombies don't have to be undead. Like the term "mindless zombie". A zombie can be anyone that is no longer in control of their mind and are reverted to some base form of thought.

[Nitrowolf2]

Thing is with the Freakers, from what I read they have their own way of life. They have their own hierarchy even social skills between on another. So it’s not like they are mindless, even if they act it.

Kind Of think I Am Legend type of monsters

I do understand though that they don’t stand out from ur typical zombies. This reminds me of the last of Us when everyone called the clickers zombies and that it was a zombie survival game

[Sono421]

"We insist that they are not zombies" - we talk to Bend Studios about PS4 zombie game, Days Gone

Doesn't that title seem very smug? They tell them they aren't zombies, then go on to call their game a zombie game, kinda just seems like a pointless dick move..

[Eonjay]

I get the feeling from interpertations from previews that the insistence has to do with a major plot point...

[rainslacker]

Call them what they will, they're zombies in the way they're used in media nowadays. They may not be undead, but undead hasn't been the required definition in zombie media for quite some time. In fact, most tend to take the biological contaminant route because it's more believable. Apparently, here, it's based on an addiction to some sort of drug or something. Maybe they have unique characteristics that has not been seen yet, but they still have enough zombie-ish behaviors for this to be considered a zombie game.

I'm cool with that. I'm not into zombies, but the game itself looks like fun, and if it lives up to half of what Sony has delivered in story content this gen, then I'll be satisfied. I'm going in with no big expectations, so I'll give it the beneit of the doubt, and I've even come to look forward to it.

[-Foxtrot]

I think people who say they are zombies haven't watched any previews or trailers where the developers talk about what makes them different. Even the 28 Day Infected type don't do what freakers do.

If they have some intelligence, have their own way of doing things, can think on things, group together to migrate to new areas, drink, hunt and the like then I don't see how they are zombies.

They could have been boring and just did another zombie game but they didn't, they at least tried to go out of their way to make it feel different.

[mkis007]

Maybe it has something to do with the story and that is why they want to make the distinction.

[TK-66]

It's okay to draw a distinction but I think its better they let the game do the talking on that front. If a distinction really should be drawn then their depiction will tell us if its necessary once the full game is out.

[rainslacker]

Quite possible. But I don't see why they have on several occassions now tried to make this insistence. If it's a story point, then it will come out when people play the game. What they've shown so far shows them acting a lot like zombies, but they also seem to have some unique characteristics.

I'll find out when I play the game, and I don't care if they're zombies or not, so long as it makes sense in the game itself.

[Fluttershy77]

I found this funny: "Oh no no no, these are not zombies, these are Freakers, they make nests and sht. They are smart and drink water. They are not Zombies. Stop calling them that. Zombies are ugly, smelly and slow and make Grrrrrrrrrr"
They are making this distinction probably because they know the worst backlash this game will probably face is how tiring the whole Zombie apocalypse thing has become; so I guess this is not a Zombie apocalypse now is more like a Freakers Apocalypse :)

[Livingthedream]

If you look at this game they look like zombies, a type of zombie. Maybe to them its Like the difference between a duck and a chicken but to me the difference isn't very apparent. Not sure what the big deal is, but it's cool no one is knocking it for being a zombie game.

[Fluttershy77]

Agree. Is definitely not a big deal. Nothing is new under the sun. I learn that reading Shakespeare, Macbeth is just Cain and Abel all over again... A teacher of mine once told me: there are just 30 plots that are repeated over and over, the trick is just to make little twist on things to make them look new... But we as human beings, want the same stories told over and over

[CorndogBurglar]

I've never thought of zombies as necessarily having to be undead, slow, smelly and all that.

There are countless zombie movies from over the generations that have all different types of zombies. Some undead. Some slow. Some fast. Some smart. Some even able to talk. Some dumb. Some that eat flesh. Some that don't.

For instance, the zombies in the Night of the Living Dead series are the most well known types of zombies. In Return of the Living Dead the zombies were undead, but were fully capable of thought and speech. But the zombies in the 28 Days Later series aren't even undead, are fast, and don't even eat Flesh to survive. Yet everyone calls them zombies too. Then there are voodoo zombies that are just mind-controlled.

So yeah. These are zombies. They can call them Freakers or whatever they want, but at the end of the day they are humans that are being effected by some kind of outside force that is shaping their mind to be something they weren't before. Some base form of thought that leads them to act a certain way outside of their norm. That is a zombie.

[rainslacker]

Maybe it's their idea of what it will look like when the overly sensitive entitled generation finally breaks off from the rest of society.

I personally don't care if they're zombies or not. I just want a good game, and a good story. If it provides that, they can be senile talking bunny rabbits for all I care.

[Nacho_Z]

"We insist that they are not zombies" - we talk to Bend Studios about PS4 zombie game

Quite enjoyed that headline, bit naughty but it's true, they are zombies. Doesn't matter to me though, supposedly we're drowning in zombie games but I can't remember the last one I played.

[monkey602]

Did you skip Resi 2 then? It's such a good game !

[Nacho_Z]

I have but only temporarily, I'm at one of those stages where the backlog needs to be dealt with. Deffo getting it once I've finished off a few games.

[AnubisG]

You can insist all you want. Those are zombies my guy. They look like zombies and act like zombies.

[SpinalRemains138]

Totally. The spirit of the game is captured when referred to as a zombie apocalypse.

[Vanfernal]

Even though they pretty much fall into the same type of fiction (zombie apocalypse) there tend to be two particular types... Reanimated corpses like in Night of the Living Dead and infected humans with some form of rabies like in 28 Days Later. It's obvious that Days Gone falls under the latter. But let's not kid ourselves. The very first thought that came to everyone's head when they first saw this game was "open world zombie apocalypse".

[uth11]

if it walks like a duck and quacks like one, i don't care what name you give it.

To me it's essentially the same thing. The zombie genre has been overdone for years now, so i have no interest in playing this

[bujasem_89]

The way I see it, zombies die with head shots or burning only. Anyone insisting they are not zombies means what can kill a human can kill them, bleeding out all sorts of other traumas other than brain.. Sooo, I just typed that I guess.

[gangsta_red]

They're zombies. If anything come up with a better name than freakers.

[DafunkyRebel]

Maybe they want to remind people that freakers can think and isn’t the typical run at you to eat your face variety of zeds. That they can learn and flank and use tactics later down the road

[SpinalRemains138]

Ok ok. We get it. Zombie game.

[mandingo]

Oh they are indeed zombies

[Thundercat77]

Let's go to the comment section and see what the zombi 🧟‍♂️ experts have to say.

[DrumBeat]

They're essentially zombies. Maybe they have a hierarchy and possess some intelligence, but if they stop doing what they're doing and start chasing you with the sole purpose of 'getting you' and they're irrationally willing to go to great lengths to 'get you' then they're kinda, well, zombies.

[ShadowWolf712]

Zombies don't exhibit this kind of societal structure. They're not zombies.

[Hardiman]

To me it's missing the forest for trees kinda deal but when I saw I Am Legend I didn't think zombie same with 28 Days Later. Now in the book they were vampires and I wish they'd have went that direction but that's neihere nor there. I think the fact that they are a new species that have an ecosystem that includes eating, sleeping, building nests and giving birth kinda takes away their zombie card. Now you can say pandemic apocalypse if you want.

I'm a horror fan from way back and to me zombies are dead or undead and they are either fast or slow and their main purpose is eating the living. Bun was the exception but I don't think he was building nests or getting other zombies pregnant lol l.