Open-world survivor title Days Gone finally overcame its delays and released recently to a rather mixed response. While we found the game well-made and enjoyable as noted in our Days Gone review, others weren't particularly impressed due to its lack of innovation and one-note story and characters. However, at one point, developer SIE Bend Studio had planned to include a choice system where, at certain points in the story, players could determine Deacon's actions, which would have most likely had consequences on the flow of the narrative and his relationships with other characters. We even saw it demonstrated in many gameplay videos, but anyone who's played the final release will know that this system is completely absent.

For example, during Days Gone's opening sequence where Deacon and his friend Boozer chase after a man called Leon who had stolen some drugs and killed some people, players would be given the option to either leave a wounded Leon to be eaten alive by the Freakers (this game's zombies) or to mercy-kill him. This sequence was shown off in a gameplay trailer from May 2018 and, judging by the text seen in the image below, would have had some sort of effect with Deacon's friendship with Boozer. In the final game, however, Deacon simply shoots Leon, defaulting to the "good" option.

The same thing happens in a later sequence where Deacon has to leave a wounded Boozer to heal in a forest tower. Originally, the player would have the option to either give Boozer his shotgun to protect himself or take it for themselves. In the final game, Deacon once again makes the "good" choice and gives Boozer his shotgun. It's not known where else these decisions would've occurred but it's safe to assume that, whatever they were, they all defaulted to Deacon making the morally correct decision, probably to make him a more likable protagonist.

So why were these choices removed? Well, a while ago, the developers had confirmed that they had to scale the story back somewhat and, as a consequence, the choice system had to be removed. They wanted to tell a specific story and the choice system would've meant they'd have to writer several different versions of said story in order to match them up with the player's decisions. It's entirely possible that this would've meant multiple endings but, with the game already being quite lengthy, with six hours worth of cut-scenes, time constraints probably led to the choice system being removed.

At this point, players are most likely less concerned with this removed gameplay feature and are more infuriated with Days Gone audio bug that wasn't addressed in its most recent patch, which has turned the Freakers into silent killers.

Days Gone is available right now as a PS4 exclusive.

Source: GameRevolution