For a time, it felt like Days Gone was a game that would never actually come out. There have been a few different delays, and it didn't receive an on-stage demo during PlayStation's E3 2018 press conference. However, we now have a solid date for the undead survival game, and Creative Director John Garvin is finally letting loose some details about what fans should expect from the "freaker" enemies in-game.

Garvin opened up about the lifestyle of the game's decaying despots, comparing them to what fans have seen in franchises like 28 Days Later as opposed to The Walking Dead.

"So we’re like  28 Days Later  zombies, instead of  Walking Dead  zombies. And that’s, to my mind at least, that’s a huge difference. Because what that allowed us to do was to create an ecosystem; you’re in an open world, with a day/night cycle, and you’ve got creatures that need to eat, they need to sleep, they need to drink… all of that is built into the daily cycles of the horde."

Garvin also elaborated on how these cycles will directly tie into gameplay, stating that players will need to be mindful of the freakers' habits if they want to be successful:

"You can find out where they feed, where they drink, and you can follow them and learn their habits, and that’s important, because later on there’s going to be missions where you have to take them out. And they’re just dangerous all the time. If you run into one while you’re on the highway trying to do something else, good things don’t come of that."

This is a more elaborate system than gamers have seen in the past, at least as far as zombie games are concerned. Having so many large groups of enemies to keep track of will surely add another layer of depth while players are out exploring the world, which should help shake things as players progress through the game.

Days Gone is Studio Bend's first crack at a big-budget game in quite some time. The studio's biggest franchise is probably Syphon Filter, a third person stealth series that debuted in the late 90's. The team has since worked on a number of franchises in smaller ways, like the PlayStation Vita game Uncharted: Golden Abyss, which was one of the best titles to grace the handheld system.

Sony has been delivering some well-reviewed titles as of late, and Days Gone is poised to continue that cycle. Gamers will have to wait until next year to find out, but it may even be able to give The Last of Us a run for its money. Comparisons of Deacon, the main character, to Daryl Dixon from The Walking Dead are sure to flood the Internet upon the game's release, but hopefully, that will encourage Studio Bend to create an even cooler character.

Days Gone will release February 22, 2019, for the PS4.