We've been anxious to learn more about the actual hordes in Days Gone, as it has been a while since we've seen SIE Bend show off freakers en masse. According to the game's creative director John Garvin, we'll see more than we'd like.
Speaking to IGN, Garvin said, "There were definitely challenges in balancing everything and making sure it didn't become too overwhelming for the player - but in some cases we want it to be overwhelming because we're building a dangerous world."
Overwhelming is probably an accurate description of the horde we've seen in the previous demos, as Days Gone's freakers were absolutely relentless in trying to have a snack.
Each of the 40 hordes can have anywhere from 50 to 500 members, and they're not just standing there.
"They will go into those buildings and hibernate during the day, but then they'll come out at night and go down to the watering hole and they'll migrate around. All 40 hordes in the open world do that", Garvin added.
Days Gone game director Jeff Ross stressed that the hordes' migrations make for really cool moments where players can completely forget about them, only to find themselves in midst of trouble.
Additionally, Deacon's unlocking of regions means access to fast travel, but there will be times when a horde blocks his way, leaving him to choose between wasting time or fuel.
Of course, all this requires clever utilisation of hardware resources too, as PlayStation 4 isn't the youthful console it's once been, so SIE Bend had to make some sacrifices.
Don't worry, these only affect freakers' personalities, as the team came up with a way to shift between more individual functionality they display when alone, and the behaviour they adhere to when in the horde.
SIE Bend
This way, they created an optimised swarmer that can be multiplied without killing your hardware. Furthermore, the entire horde is based on eight meshes, whose size, height, speed, etc. are further tweaked and randomised to produce Days Gone's relentless hordes.
You can find the full interview with Days Gone's team .
Days Gone, open world zombie survival game by SIE Bend
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