We’ve all got them. Those could-have-been, should-have-been hypothetical games that we wish had happened but sadly never did. I always wanted a sequel to Freedom Fighters, the criminally underplayed IO Interactive squad shooter from 2003, but the fates had other plans. Now, Days Gone 2, the presumptive sequel to Bend Studio’s underloved zombie survival RPG, seems set to join the list of games that never came to pass.
Released in 2019, Days Gone remains immensely popular on PC. As of this writing, it’s got more than 58,000 player reviews on Steam, 92% of which are positive. It similarly maintains a committed concurrent player count, with almost 3,000 fans logging into the zombie survival RPG simultaneously in the last 24 hours. Nevertheless, one developer from creator Bend Studio shares a new message affirming that Days Gone 2 is not in the works and apologizing to fans who have been “fed false hope” regarding a potential follow-up.
“We are currently working on a new IP, and when we have actual news to share it will come from our studio,” Bend Studio community manager Kevin McAllister says. “I apologize to our Days Gone community for continuously getting fed false hope and poor information by people looking for likes. It’s not fair to you all.”
Referring to stories and rumors about a potential Days Gone 2, McAllister continues: “All these type[s] of headlines originate from previous developers, which puts us in a bad position. Like I said, people need likes. Time to move on.”
John Garvin, the writer of Days Gone, has also commented on a potential sequel. They say a script and other materials were created for Days Gone 2, but when it comes to the game actually happening, they are not expecting anything soon.
“I wasn’t there when DG2 got shot down,” Garvin says. “I worked on the sequel for weeks. I have a script, outline, map, concept art. Sony owns the IP and compensated everyone who worked on it very well, so I don’t begrudge them any money they can make on it now. It was a huge investment and risk that, frankly, didn’t look like it, at first, was going to pay off. I’m glad with Steam and PS5, the game succeeded.
“Maybe in a couple of years when the IP is gathering dust and they’re [Sony] sure they’re done with it, they’d license it to other devs. But again, not holding my breath. If nothing else I’d love to write a novel or graphic novel so at least you fans would get closure to the cliffhanger.”
Stranger things have happened. Mirror’s Edge seemed dead and done for, but we still got Catalyst. Likewise, the Dead Space series was absent for ten years until the remake arrived. We’ll see. We’ll just see.
If you’re missing Days Gone, try some of the other best zombie games. Alternatively, the best survival games should help scratch your itch.
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