Better late than never, I guess. Microsoft released the usual second batch of updates that it releases each month for Windows 10 version 1607, 1703, 1709 and Windows 10 version 1803. The patch for Windows 10 version 1809 is late, as usual, and monthly previews for Windows 7 Service Pack 1 and Windows 8.1 are available as well.
Woody Leonard spotted the updates first, and he called them lame as they include a truckload of Japanese Era fixes and just some other changes.
The updates are available on Windows Update already. I recommend you wait with the installation unless you are affected by one of the issues that they resolve. In any case, make sure you back up the system and all important data properly before you start the update process.
KB4493437 for Windows 10 version 1803
Here are the changes for the KB4493437 update for Windows 10 version 1803:
Lots of Japanese Era fixes.
Fixed an Internet Explorer issue that caused HTTP downloads on HTTPS pages to be blocked.
Fixed the Custom URI schemes issue in Internet Explorer.
Built-in Administrator account may launch Microsoft Office setup after downloading the installer in Edge.
Fixed an issue that caused the loss of Favorites or Reading List in Edge after system updates.
Fixed an App Container issue that disabled it for Microsoft Office.
Fixed a folder redirection issue when setting the Roaming AppData folder to a network path that prevented certain apps from launching.
Fixed an issue that caused the removal of Microsoft Office apps to stop responding and blocked the installation of newer versions of these applications.
Fixed the error "0x3B_c0000005_win32kfull!vSetPointer".
Fixed a scrolling issue that caused user interfaces to stop responding for multiple seconds.
Fixed an issue that caused the touch screen to stop responding after restarts.
Allow devices managed by Configuration Manager to be enrolled in Microsoft Intune without user interaction.
Fixed a BitLocker issue that prevented the encryption of removable drives with Azure Directory or Azure Active Directory.
Addressed a memory leak in LSASS.exe.
Fixed an issue that allowed disabled accounts to continue logging in using a smart card.
Fixed a Windows Hello authentication issue when using Kerberos with Windows Hello for Business credentials.
Fixed an issue that caused slow server performance or servers to stop responding because of firewall rules.
To enable the changes, add a new registry key “DeleteUserAppContainersOnLogoff” (DWORD) on “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SharedAccess\Parameters\FirewallPolicy” using Regedit, and set it to 1.
Fixed an issue with Always-On VPN exclusion routes.
Fixed boot failure issues with hyperconverged infrastructure virtual machines.
Fixed an issue that caused roaming profiles to lose Start Menu settings after system upgrades.
Fixed a Remote Desktop Session Host servers connection issue.
Improved results when provisioning printers in educational environments that include multifunction printers.
Fixed a Server Message Block share access issue.
Fixed a Print Workflow Applications issue that prevented launching from Point and Print.
Fixed a keyboard input issue with Universal Windows Platform applications.
Know issues:
Issue with Preboot Execution Environment (long standing issue). Fix provided on the support page.
Error "STATUS_BAD_IMPERSONATION_LEVEL (0xC00000A5)" when performing certain operations, e.g. rename, on a Cluster Shared Volume. Fix provided on the support page.
KB4493440 for Windows 10 version 1709
Contains a subset of the fixes that went into the Windows 10 version 1803 update. Only the second known issue of 1803 is listed.
KB4493436 for Windows 10 version 1703
Contains a subset of the fixes that went into the Windows 10 version 1803 update. Only the second known issue of 1803 is listed.
Fixed an issue that made PostScript printers use the wrong font.
KB4493473 for Windows 10 version 1607 and Windows Server 2016
Contains a subset of the fixes that went into the Windows 10 version 1803 update.
Fixed a Gdi32full.dll issue that caused apps to stop responding.
Fixed a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol issue that caused client applications to stop responding for at least 30 seconds.
Fixed a Custer Aware Update issue that prevented them from restarting nodes when cluster credentials are reset.
Fixed an issue when setting up a Storage Replica in a Scale-Out File Server with a Storage Spaces Direct cluster.
Fixed the cause for error 0x7E when adding nodes to an Exchange Database Availability Group server.
Fixed an issue that caused slow screen refresh rates.
Fixed the PostScript printer selecting the wrong font issue.
Fixed an enumeration issue that failed to enumerate devices that have 64-bit base address registers and are assigned to virtual machines.
The support page lists several known issues, all existed in previous versions already.
The two issues of Windows 10 version 1803.
Hosts managed by System Center Virtual Machine Manager cannot enumerate or manage logical switches. Fix provided.
Cluster service may fail with error "245 (NERR_PasswordTooShort)” if the group policy “Minimum Password Length". Fix provided.
Windows 7 Sp1 KB4493443 and Windows 8.1 KB4493453
The previews for Windows 7 Service Pack 1 and Windows 8.1 address Japanese Era name issues only.
Now You: Did you install any of these updates?
Summary
Article Name
Windows 10 updates KB4493437, KB4493440, KB4493436 and KB4493473 arrive a week late
Description
Microsoft released the usual second batch of updates that it releases each month for Windows 10 version 1607, 1703, 1709 and Windows 10 version 1803
Verizon (Engadget's parent company) has opened pre-orders for the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G. You'll need access to 5G connections to get the most out of the device of course, so the provider has also named 20 more cities in which it will turn on its mobile 5G network this year.
The 256GB model of the S10 5G costs $1,300 and the 512GB option will set you back $1,400 ($54.16 or $58.33 per month respectively for 24 months on Verizon Device Payment plans). It'll be available in Verizon stores May 16 -- though Samsung will surely be hoping for a smoother launch than it's had with the Galaxy Fold.
The S10 5G is a Verizon exclusive for a limited time and those who pre-order one will snag a free set of Galaxy Buds and a Samsung Wireless Charging Battery Pack. Verizon also noted access to its 5G Ultra Wideband network, which will typically cost $10 per month, will be included with Above and Beyond Unlimited plans for a limited period.
Verizon previously said it would open its 5G mobile network in parts of more than 30 US cities this year. It has already opened up the network in areas of Chicago and Minneapolis and it plans to do the same in the following 20 cities in 2019: Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas, Des Moines, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Little Rock, Memphis, Phoenix, Providence, San Diego, Salt Lake City and Washington DC. It will roll out 5G home broadband service in some of those cities too.
Verizon owns Engadget's parent company, Verizon Media. Rest assured, Verizon has no control over our coverage. Engadget remains editorially independent.
Verizon (Engadget's parent company) has opened pre-orders for the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G. You'll need access to 5G connections to get the most out of the device of course, so the provider has also named 20 more cities in which it will turn on its mobile 5G network this year.
The 256GB model of the S10 5G costs $1,300 and the 512GB option will set you back $1,400 ($54.16 or $58.33 per month respectively for 24 months on Verizon Device Payment plans). It'll be available in Verizon stores May 16 -- though Samsung will surely be hoping for a smoother launch than it's had with the Galaxy Fold.
The S10 5G is a Verizon exclusive for a limited time and those who pre-order one will snag a free set of Galaxy Buds and a Samsung Wireless Charging Battery Pack. Verizon also noted access to its 5G Ultra Wideband network, which will typically cost $10 per month, will be included with Above and Beyond Unlimited plans for a limited period.
Verizon previously said it would open its 5G mobile network in parts of more than 30 US cities this year. It has already opened up the network in areas of Chicago and Minneapolis and it plans to do the same in the following 20 cities in 2019: Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas, Des Moines, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Little Rock, Memphis, Phoenix, Providence, San Diego, Salt Lake City and Washington DC. It will roll out 5G home broadband service in some of those cities too.
Verizon owns Engadget's parent company, Verizon Media. Rest assured, Verizon has no control over our coverage. Engadget remains editorially independent.
Verizon on Thursday announced 20 further U.S. cities set to get 5G, including the fastest version of the standard, millimeter wave (mmWave) — a technology T-Mobile's CTO says won't make it beyond urban borders.
Verizon is aiming to surpass 30 cities by the end of 2019, having already begun limited deployment in Chicago and Minneapolis. The 20 revealed today include: Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas, Des Moines, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Little Rock, Memphis, Phoenix, Providence, San Diego, Salt Lake City, and Washington, D.C.
The carrier is meanwhile launching preorders for the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G, one of its first 5G-compatible phones. Prices, however, start at $1,299.99 if bought outright, with a $10 monthly 5G fee on top of regular data. Buyers can however get the fee waved, a $200 prepaid Mastercard, and up to $450 for a trade-in if they're switching to Verizon, buying the S10 5G on a payment plan, and opting for Verizon Unlimited.
It's likely that Verizon's mmWave will be scattered in pockets across each city, in part because of its inherently short range.
On Monday, T-Mobile CTO Neville Ray argued that mmWave "will never materially scale beyond small pockets of 5G hotspots in dense urban environments," as it "doesn't travel far from the cell site and doesn't penetrate materials at all." In an animated GIF, Ray even demonstrated a mmWave signal being cut off by a door.
"We all need to remind ourselves this is not a coverage spectrum," Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg commented a day later.
Beyond just executives commenting on 5G spread, or the lack thereof, AppleInsider has been told by multiple sources that rollouts for all carriers will be a "years-long" affair. Sources familiar with the matter aren't expecting full deployment in Washington D.C. itself for four or more years, and the technology may never fully make it out to the larger DC metropolitan area suburbs.
iPhones aren't expected to include 5G modems until 2020. That may be a result the now-ended Apple v. Qualcomm battle, as well as slow development by Intel. Intel dropped out of the 5G race shortly after the Qualcomm settlement, leaving one supplier for 5G in the iPhone.
I've been pretty ambivalent towards folding phones since I first heard of the concept years ago. It's a cool idea in theory, but I'm still completely content with my boring, functional, flat-faced smartphones that fit easily in my pocket and don't come with a laundry list of problems like the potential for damage and incompatible software. But while that's still true, I was a lot more content with flat phones before I spent a day with the Galaxy Fold.
Last week, I flew into New York City along with my colleague Andrew Martonik to get our hands on the Galaxy Fold for the first time, after we were teased by a display unit behind glass back at MWC. We shot our initial coverage and, to our surprise, every press outlet in attendance ended up leaving with a unit, giving everyone time to formulate full reviews.
Getting to take the Fold home for a day made all the difference.
As it turned out, this ended up badly for a number of units, including one of our own as a major hardware issue of the Fold quickly made itself known, but luckily the unit that Andrew and I left with is still doing fine (knock on wood). While Andrew was tasked with writing Android Central's review, I ended up taking the Fold home to shoot for the day before overnighting it back his way.
I spent most of that day pointing a camera at the Fold, but between shots, I really got to appreciate the insane hardware design that went into making this crazy first-gen device possible, both good and bad. Samsung's predictably excellent build materials, surprisingly loud dual speakers, and impressive series of cameras all shine on this gadget — and the huge notch, crease, and frustratingly slim fingerprint sensor that just as frustratingly doubles as a Bixby button are all here, too.
That crease really didn't bother me at all (though I'm not thrilled to be seeing reports that it quickly becomes both more pronounced), because I couldn't stop thinking about how wild it is that this folding phone concept is finally a reality. That reality is coming with some growing pains, sure, but it's one that I'm much more willing to be a part of now that I've gotten to actually use the Fold.
I didn't expect the smaller screen to be as usable as it turned out to be.
The outer screen is hilariously ugly and tiny, there's not much getting around that, but … it's functional. I was surprised by how much scrolling around on apps like Twitter felt totally fine, and for as outdated as those massive bezels look, they're part of the reason behind that, since they keep my thumb from having to reach way up to the top of this extremely tall phone. I do wish the Fold didn't feel monstrously thick when closed up like this, but it is what it is.
Of course, the extended screen is the most compelling part, and while it was a bit clumsy to use at times, both because of its physical size and the somewhat lacking software, two things made me absolutely fall in love with the idea of having a huge pocketable screen like this: reading and photography.
Whether it's an online article or a Kindle book, the Fold felt like a nearly perfect size for fitting ample text and images, and if all you're doing is scrolling through pages, it can even be used one-handed. I absolutely loved having all of that space, and it made going back to my comparatively tiny Pixel 3 feel … cramped.
Taking photos was another thing altogether; you can use the outer screen in a pinch, but it's way too small to comfortably shoot with. With the screen folded out, you get a huge viewfinder that lets you see every detail of your shot and I loved having it. Yes, some people will joke and compare you to iPad photographers, but honestly, who cares? It's a delight to shoot with, and even better to edit with. I shoot a ton of photos on my phones, so this was definitely what won me over the most about the Fold.
With all that being said, I'm not so sure I'd spend actually buy a Fold, even if they weren't breaking left and right. $1980 is a lot to ask for a device as impermanent as a phone, and I'm not sure those two features alone can make me look past other factors like my preference towards the Pixel's software and main camera performance. Still, I'm finally ready to embrace a folding future.
The Galaxy Fold is a stunning look at a future full of folding phone/tablet hybrid devices. It's significantly more expensive than Samsung's other flagships, and it's currently facing a number of #bendgate issues, but the future doesn't always come easy.
This post may contain affiliate links. See our disclosure policy for more details.
Enlarge/ Your hopes for a lengthy, charisma-filled biker romp in Days Gone should be tempered for many reasons. One of them is the fact that main character Deacon (left) doesn't interact nearly as much with his buddy Boozer as we'd originally hoped.
Sony Interactive Entertainment
Game details
Developer: Bend Studio Manufacture Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment Platform: PS4 Release Date: April 26, 2019 ESRB Rating: M for Mature Price: $60 Links: Amazon | Official website
Sony's streak of must-play, open-world video games does not necessarily come to a grinding halt with this week's new PS4 exclusive Days Gone. But it's absolutely a tougher elevator pitch than the likes of Spider-Man, God of War, and Horizon Zero Dawn.
Each of those Sony exclusives has some game-changing gem I can use to insist that they're worth investing in for dozens of hours—that sort of unmistakable highlight to finish the sentence "polished open-world adventure and," including massive-city web-slinging, polished story, and robo-dino safaris, respectively. The special sauce in Days Gone, which arrives with the baggage of "yet another zombie game" as a loud descriptor, is a lot tougher to extract. It's there, but it's mild.
What follows is not a comprehensive Days Gone review, but rather my take after 10 hours of the game convinced me I had seen enough to declare this a fine-enough game rental—nothing more, nothing less.
A Boozer, a user, and a loser
You can easily get lost with Days Gone's scenery. A nice photo mode, similar to those in other Sony first-party games, lets you play with exposure, focus, and other tools to take whatever screens you want.
You can probably guess that this bit of dialogue, from an opening sequence, doesn't exactly come true.
As it turns out, we are the monsters.
Actual gameplay: the opening motorcycle-driving mission includes flora, fauna, and flames.
A few inactive sequences let you catch up on dialogue while cruising.
Probably shouldn't get gas here.
No service today.
One particular brand of "human" emerges early on to blur the line between humans and diseased "freakers."
Various camps include NPCs with solid dialogue and voice acting, like this tough-as-nails camp leader.
When you approach a tunnel in Days Gone, chances are you'll need to clear out a freaker nest. Grab your flashlight and your molotov cocktails.
Tell me if this sounds familiar: in an alternate-reality version of the United States, a mysterious plague has begun turning people into flesh-eating monsters. Those who avoided the plague but missed a wave of evacuation helicopters were left behind to rebuild miniature societies and fend for themselves. Days Gone sees you taking control of Deacon, a "one-percenter" in the forests of Oregon, with a motorcycle, a buddy, a missing wife, and a network of post-apocalyptic contacts. These people send Deacon out to do odd jobs (pick up supplies, reconnect electric generators, kill people) while he contends with unraveling truths and unavoidable tragedies.
We've done this kind of thing before, which hasn't stopped us from praising recent zombie-filled retreads like Resident Evil 2. But that doesn't mean the zombie conceit doesn't come with expectations. My favorite modern zombie video games have hinged on two major elements: partnership and disturbing monsters. I can't help but notice that Days Gone fails to nail either of these elements—and doesn't make up for it with other unique or perfectly polished twists.
I'll start with "partnership" and come back to the monster stuff later. In zombie games, partnership can come in the form of literal co-op mechanics (Left 4 Dead, Killing Floor) or figurative story-driven ones (Resident Evil, The Walking Dead: A Telltale Story). We can already toss co-op out the window, since this is a single-player quest, which is by no means a complaint. (Unplug your console from the Internet and enjoy a long zombie-biking adventure, by all means.) But the game's opening sequence is all about riding alongside your biker-gang buddy Boozer, which establishes an expectation that you might have a chatty, computer-controlled friend along for this journey. That's not really the case.
For one, Boozer is quickly out of the picture. He rides ahead during your second mission to distract a crowd of zombi—er, pardon, "freakers"—so you can grab some supplies, and he almost immediately succumbs to an ambush. His injured self is soon relegated to "voice in your headset" status, as are most of the allies you come across. Let's set aside the fact that the game never establishes what kind of satellite technology keeps Deacon connected with voice comms within dense, remote forests. The issue is that most of the plot is fed via in-game chatter, which is paused and interrupted whenever zombies start snarling nearby, or rival humans pop up, or Deacon approaches a question-mark indicator on his mini-map.
Days Gone doesn't anchor its plot with regular trips to a home base of any sort, because the "friendly" camps in the game are realistically spread out across the forest (and require infrequent visiting to claim quests, turn in scrap, or buy major gear upgrades). Instead, most new plot beats are fed by this frequently interrupted in-ear chatter. I regularly arrived at cut scenes and met characters who were apparently introduced or explained by radio chatter, only to be confused by why I'd driven to them or what backstory the characters shared. These scenes are bolstered by solid voice acting and Sony-caliber dialogue, but the characters simmer with silence and furrowed brows, as if they're all looking at me with their scarred, road-weary faces and wondering, "Why don't you know what we're all pissed off about, you little dork?"
And while the game positions itself as a story of friendship, it mechanically plays out as a very isolated experience. On the road, you'll rarely run into anyone other than NPCs with broken animations who are trapped by zombies and rattle off generic, randomly shuffled "help!" and "thank you" dialogue. They appear in the form of emergent tasks, marked by question marks on the mini-map. You'll also find traces of destroyed camps (which you follow by clicking a "spidey sense" button and following visible footsteps) to find scrap and resources of varying value and "raider" encampments of humans with painfully stupid AI in "normal" difficulty. In the case of the latter, Deacon will mutter some dialogue about hating the more selfish and evil humans who have survived, which is apparently reason enough to murder them and take whatever supplies and crafting recipes they're hiding.
Zen and the annoyance of motorcycle maintenance
I love when the game renders tons of zombies, synced up with incredible, snarling audio, but these moments are too infrequent to break up much of Days Gone's monotony.
While the game looks gorgeous, you'll spend much of your time hiding in tall grass and waiting for very small crowds of zombies to turn their backs to you so you can insta-kill them with a single stealth blow.
Sometimes, you'll hang back.
Tapping the "R3" joystick button will bring up a "scouting" view, which you'll use to track footprints and find crafting supplies.
The cover system is on par with the likes of Grand Theft Auto V, which isn't a ringing endorsement.
The game's three skill trees take a long time to fill out.
Fast travel is unlocked when you clear out enough zombie clusters in zones.
Quests are split up into various storylines.
One of the control guides.
The best thing you get to do in Days Gone is ride a motorcycle across a beautiful, dense forest and its abandoned, rustic towns. Had the game shipped with an "unlimited gas" mode, I'd recommend renting the game on that feature alone, much like I did for Spider-Man's zen-like web-slinging system last year.
Buggin'
What kind of glitchy experience can you expect from Days Gone? In addition to possible issues with the standard PS4 (which I didn't test), I ran into a few severe audio glitches, one of which made all audio vanish other than music and the protagonist's voice. (This made the game impossible to play, since zombie audio cues are crucial to the experience.) This problem, along with some weird animation issues with NPCs, came up even after the game received two massive patches in the preview window, one weighing 12GB and the other 16GB. Sony reps say another patch will come before launch to fix the issues we saw. Proceed with caution.
Bend Studio needed a while to get the game up to a solid 30fps refresh while rendering a variety of open plains, hilly trails, and shadow-soaked forests, and I'm glad to say they reached that threshold. Impeccable sound design sells some of the game's best-looking sequences as well, particularly when rain pours all around (thus helping Deacon sneak-walk past more zombies). But these accolades only apply to the PS4 Pro, as I didn't test the game on a standard PS4. Notes provided to pre-release testers warned that Bend is working on standard PS4 performance for the eventual day-one patch, so I can't confirm whether that version is yet up to a crisp 30fps refresh.
But in bad biking news, Days Gone frequently pesters you out of that bike-zen mode. The motorcycle runs out of gas very quickly, even after its first gas-tank upgrade, and it incurs physical damage whenever it bumps into anything, which you must stop and "repair" by spending the game's scrap currency while holding a "repair" button.
Deacon's bike-driving prowess is pretty decent, but certain primary routes teem with objects to bump into, and the controls glitch out every so often—especially when you park the bike in a place that the game decides isn't ideal, thus making it bump into stuff in a glitchy-physics way and racking up damage in the process. That's by no means a game-breaking issue, but the bike-repair aspect weighs down the experience, as if the developers are always whispering into players' ears, "We're going to punish you when our game's bike controls work against you."
In a few missions, you'll get access to an aim-lock button option to shoot guns at foes' bikes while driving, and, sure enough, these drive-and-shoot romps are fun. But most missions ask you to get off the bike, at which point you're in well-trod open-world territory.
A GTA comparison—and not a good one
Oh, the glitchiness. Here's one moment where a quest wouldn't trigger at the right point on the map. The game kept nagging me about fueling up my bike, even though I wasn't on my bike and there was no easy fuel source near this quest's start. This single text prompt was unclear—and indicative of the kind of vague roadblocks you'll find on a regular basis in this game.
This enemy somehow ran directly up to my position, shouting, "I found you!" yet didn't go so far as to drop down or aim a gun at me. It sums up my feelings on the wonky AI found throughout the game.
I also frequently ran into "trapped" NPCs who just stood still in the middle of the wilderness.
Many of them looked like this guy, whose mouth and face barely moved as he repeated the same weird rotation of "help me!" and "thank you!" shouts.
Your inventory includes three gun slots (pistol, rifle/shotgun, sniper/crossbow), traps, explosives, and "distraction" items (stones, noisemakers, etc.). You can run, sneak, and engage in third-person combat, but between a clumsy cover system and floaty, auto-aim shooting, the gunplay feels a lot like the ho-hum stuff of Grand Theft Auto. (I'll take this moment to clarify that the game bears some visual and tonal similarities to various Far Cry games, but the unsatisfying combat, more than anything, nukes that comparison point.)
In a few cases, you'll have to deal with giant fields of zombies, at which point your combination of gear comes into play. You'll sneak around, set up some remote-detonation explosives, and move to a hiding hole before setting off noises and distractions. Dozens of snarling zombies will mindlessly move into position, set off the kabooms, and you'll decimate a good number of monsters at once. Seeing so many zombies rendered on-screen with an emphasis on realism and terror (as opposed to Dead Rising-esque campiness) is palpably tense, and dispatching them with the big booms is exciting.
But that's a tiny portion of the Days Gone experience. Most of the time, you're seeing one to three zombies at once, which can be dispatched with the game's melee weapons (which fall apart after some use but can be easily replaced or repaired), and it's always quieter and more efficient to melee small crowds to a quick death. Should you be ambushed by more zombies than that, you can easily run away, hop on your bike, drive a bit, wait, and try again. The game's zombies only make chase for so long before giving up, returning to their previous zone, and resetting. In the case of human foes, meanwhile, they're coded to run to one of a few hiding positions in each "encampment" they occupy, so you can expect to sneak to each cover point, make a noise, and wait for humans to run like idiot lemmings to each pre-coded point for easy kill line-ups.
That's really it for challenge: dealing with zombie and human threats alike. Sometimes, you'll have to sneak around armies of armored humans, who cannot be attacked, to spy on their stories and thus unlock new quests, but that's the only real variance to the encounters on offer (there are no real puzzles, let alone moments of brain-busting stealth-strategy).
And that's where I get to my issues with Days Gone's monsters: there's seriously zero zombie variance to break up the combat. Bend Studio's idea of "gritty, realistic" zombies is to skimp on the Left 4 Dead archetype of monster variety. It's the same mindless creature, over and over, albeit sometimes in the form of a wolf or a bear, as opposed to having "super" zombies serve as chiefs or zone-controlling barf machines. (You'll find a screaming zombie a la L4D's "witch" character, at least, but not on a frequent basis.) Days Gone doesn't make up for this lack of enemy diversity with the zany, combat-shifting stuff of the Dead Rising series, which lets players craft and combine all matter of implement to take out screen-filling zombie mobs.
And, yes, crafting is also worth mentioning, if only because the game's "normal" difficulty means players never run out of supplies. This virtual Oregon has no shortage of elements needed to make your own bandages, molotov cocktails, and melee weapons. As a result, the game teaches you to take advantage of extra supplies and glitchy enemies to engage in straight-up combat—in ways that The Last Of Us so brilliantly taught its players not to do, for survival's sake.
Deacon doesn’t bring the religious experience
My incomplete run-through of Days Gone included just enough solid plot and tense battles to leave me with a somewhat positive experience. But the plot I treasured the most—particularly the stuff about Deacon and his partner—comes almost entirely through lengthy, non-interactive cut scenes, which all strike a serious tone while including jokes, levity, and heartwarming acting.
That seriousness was met with all too much jank in the real-time gameplay. In addition to bugs mentioned in the earlier sidebar, the game's open world either triggered enemies too randomly, forcing them onto my position with laser-sharp precision, or had them stare me down in open fields (humans and zombies alike) while doing nothing. The most telling moment came when I stealth-crawled through a town to avoid dozens of zombies, only to reach a final moment: a bear insta-spawned into the city, and I had to pump burning explosives and bullets into it to live. In addition to the bear's jarring, random appearance, none of the nearby zombies reacted to this insane encounter.
That kind of busted-quest moment happened often enough to color most of my Days Gone impressions. It's a great time to be a fan of open-world video games, and if you still haven't played the likes of Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Metro Exodus, or (in zombie terms) Dying Light, each of those imbue more plot, variety, and open-world possibilities into their lengthy adventures. Plus, if console exclusivity is a drag, all of those are available on Xbox One and Windows PC, in addition to PS4.
That being said, I went into Days Gone with an open mind, having seen the game's performance and bugs creep up in preview press events, and was pleasantly surprised to see that Bend fulfilled its goal of delivering a stunning, massive virtual Oregon. I got creeped out by solid sound design, saw satisfying flashes of gore upon pummeling zombies to death, took in a few moments of Sons of Anarchy-caliber dialogue, and paused to enjoy sweeping views between my satisfying motorcycle drives.
Also, give credit where it's due: If Days Gone were an Xbox exclusive, some might have praised Microsoft for finally turning its reputation around, having gone for so long without a good single-player adventure (its disappointing open-world zombie survival game State of Decay 2 doesn't count). Sony's other first-party fare has set a much higher bar for this kind of game, which is no fault of Bend's.
If you're hungry for a new weekend-filling zombie adventure on PS4, Days Gone is an easy rental recommendation. If you're already working your way through a big-game backlog, on the other hand, you should probably spend your days on other fare.
