If you’re a new player in Days Gone, there’s much to discuss. When I first began playing the game, I was so lost and made so many mistakes that essentially cost me time, money, and energy.
If you haven’t heard about Days Gone before, here’s a review of Bend Studio’s masterpiece, and here’s our quick review video:
If you’ve already purchased the game and you need help starting out the right way and avoiding the usual mistakes that we all did when we started playing, those are the best tips that I can give you – and the ones that I wished I knew in the beginning.
1. Don’t go anywhere before refueling
I mean it, stop! Before heading to a mission, or even to clean a nest, it’s important to make sure that your bike is fully refuiled. I can’t even count the times that I had to start running on an endless map just to find some fuel can and go back and refuel my bike.
Some missions can’t even start without having your bike close to you, so again, it’s important to have it filled with gas. Especially for new players with low stamina, your character will be unable to run for long periods of time, making the whole process even more boring and frustrating.
If you don’t have fuel, you can’t use the fast-travel feature to quickly move to another place, as it uses your bike’s fuel, like you would if you were driving to that place. Another problem is hordes, and if a massive amount of Freakers start chasing you, having your bike ready is important to survive and take away.
You can refuel your bike either from any camp’s mechanic (you’d have to pay for it, though) or by finding fuel cans in various places.
2. Upgrade your bike from the very beginning
Upgrading your bike from the very beginning is important for so many reasons, including running faster, refueling fewer times, and even fixing it less often. You’ll be using your bike for the whole storyline, after all, so upgrading it will potentially save you lots of time.
In the beginning, it’s so slow it gets you mad, but once you start upgrading its engine, exhaust, tires, and all the parts that you’ve unlocked, it’s gonna be so much more fun. Then again, having a bigger fuel tank means that you can travel for even longer distances without having to refuel.
With that in mind, the only way to upgrade your bike is through a mechanical, but not all camps have mechanicals that sell parts – some are just for repairing and refueling your bike. Once you find the right one, just go for the biggest upgrade, or wait until you unlock even more options.
3. Clean every single Ambush Camp
Ambush camps, usually guarded by other humans (if you can call them like that), have lots of materials that you can loot to craft items. Most of the time you may also find all the materials that you need to craft Molotovs, which are important to destroy Freaker nests.
Apart from that, the human enemies that you’ll be killing usually drop lots of ammo and enough crafted items to survive even longer. And as you clear more and more ambush camps, the safer each place will become and the more XP you’ll earn for your Skill Points.
4. Avoid big Hordes in the beginning
Hordes are both intense and fun, but when you’re a beginner, avoiding them is usually the wisest choice. Why? Well, because you don’t have powerful weapons, you have limited ammo, and you’re not strong enough.
Yes, you could outsmart them and possibly clean them all – or most of them – using Molotovs and bombs, but still, you’re gonna have a very, very hard time dealing with those many Freakers at once.
Hordes will eventually start rewarding you with lots of stuff, but until you unlock most of your character’s skills and upgrade everything that you own, hordes are so massive that it will be sad just to lose everything that you looted because you just couldn’t kill them all. Don’t worry, the time will come, and sooner than you think!
5. Avoid buying ammo very often
If you buy from the mechanic all your ammo too often, that means that you’ll soon be left without any additional money to upgrade your bike and all of its parts. You may also find yourself broke and having no money to pay for refueling, meaning that you’d then have to spend some time looking for refueling cans.
Instead, like I said earlier, look for police cars, as they usually are the best way to find lots of ammo for all of your guns. Other places also have lots of ammo, especially camps guarded by other human enemies and NERO checkpoints.
6. Why stealth is always the best choice
If there’s anything to be said about new players joining Days Gone is the techniques they can use to navigate through the map. As a new player, you don’t have much room for ammunition and crafting materials, so it’s important to save as much as you can.
There were many situations where I had to run and abandon missions and places just because I was out of ammo, and good luck finding and picking more. Instead of buying your ammo and spending so much money, you can search police cars, as they usually have some in their trunks.
With stealth mode, you avoid using any of your ammo, making sure that you have enough if something goes wrong – and believe it or not, in Days Gone’s world, a lot can go wrong, very fast.
7. Go to every single NERO Checkpoint
NERO checkpoints are the only way to increase your character’s stats, as they always have their own NERO Injectors. Those little injectors give you three choices each time you loot them: Increase your health, stamina, or focus. You’ll have to choose which ones are more important for you.
Health and stamina are the most crucial, but if you lack on the shooting side, then increasing the focus may be just the right way to kill even more Freakers a whole lot easier. But there’s a catch with NERO checkpoints: They all have speakers that, once you enable electricity, ‘ll start working – meaning that all the Freakers close by will start running to that place.
The best way to avoid getting killed is by shooting or manually destryoing all the speakers before restoring the power. If they hear no sound, they won’t come.
8. Don’t just leave; loot everything you find
If looting each enemy you kill and each material that you see in any place, then Days Gone is surely not for you. As a survival game, looting is everything, and especially when it comes to human enemies, from whom you can get ammo, guns, and even crafted materials.
There are also boxes found in many spots that you can also open and take everything found inside, while every NERO spot has its own NERO Injector that you can use to increase your health, stamina, or focus. Each camp also has many materials that you can use to craft more items, so cleaning them is important – and it will also make some places even safer.
Instead of just driving with your bike, take a moment and make stops in abandoned buildings for looting, and you’ll soon have everything that you need.
9. Always go to the question mark symbol
While you are traveling through the scary Pacific Northwest, your little circle map (found in the bottom left corner of your screen) will sometimes show some question marks. Sometimes, they indicate that something happened there, and you may find dead bodies that you can loot.
Other times, they may be survivors that you can help and send them to any of the camps that you took part in. Each survivor that you send earns you more trust to that camp, and the more you have, the more bike parts and guns you’ll be unlocking.
But be aware: The question mark symbols may also hide trouble, which means that you’ll always have to go with caution, while preferring using stealthier tactics will surely help you even more.
10. The ‘Focus Mode’ is very helpful in the beginning
While you’re shooting at Freakers or human enemies, using the scroll wheel of your mouse will enable the “Focus Mode”. Now, the “Focus Mode” is great for many reasons, but especially for new players who are still learning how to properly shoot.
Because Days Gone is a survival game that requires from all players to constantly loot for ammo, being able to save as many bullets as you can and always shooting on their heads is the best way to save in-game money.
You can increase your focus ability by using the NERO Injectors, and a bit more when you unlock your skills using the Skill Points that you’ve earned.
11. Make traveling even better by cleaning Infestation Nests
As you already know, in Days Gone, you can use the fast-travel feature to quickly move to another place or camp. That will save you lots of time, but it comes with a cost: Whenever you use fast-travel, you’re not only using your bike’s fuel, but you’re also not making any stops, which means you aren’t looting enough.
If you can loot as much as you can while using the fast-travel feature wisely, you can get to travel to even more places and camps if you start cleaning all the Infestation Nests. This is important because as long as they’re there, you cannot fast-travel.
Days Gone is about to get a remastered version, so this is arguably one of the best times to play the game and then relive it with improved graphics, new DLC, and new modes.
Have you played Days Gone? And if so, what did you like and hate the most about the game, and have you had the chance to clear a horde? Let me know in the comments section down below.
