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1.03 - My Friends (RETIRED)

(last edited March 31, 2014)

Cameron stands up next to the bed and then digs in his jean pockets for a second. He pulls out a phone and clicks a button. I can see the screen light on his face. He clicks another button and the phone light dies out, he says, “We only have about two hours left.”

“Until what?” I ask.

“Until your brain isn’t exactly pliable anymore. It’s pretty late already. Uh, wait here for a second.”

“Wait! What?” I yell after him, but he darts around the corner and out of the room again. I can’t believe he left me again.

Fortunately he is back within seconds. He is pushing a black wheel chair in front of him. He brings it into the room and towards the bed. He pushes his chair away from the bed with his foot and brings the wheel chair next to the bed. He gives me a curt, “c’mon,” and motions for me to get into the chair. He comes in around the chair and assists me into it as my legs feel weak still and my brain begins to get fuzzy.

As I sit into the chair he goes around the chair again and spins me around until I’m facing the door. I grab onto the arms rests of the wheelchair to steady myself. “So, where are you taking me exactly?” I say as he pushes me through the doorframe and out into the hallway, which is also white.

He sounds distracted, but says, “You and I are going on a little journey and I am going to try and break that memory hold in the next two hours. We are going to go a little harder than before, but don’t worry, I’m still going to tread lightly. I happen to know a lot about your past since we are such good friends and I know which memories to avoid.” He never looks at me while speaking, the entire time he is focusing on maneuvering the chair through the narrow hallway, which has other doors and a few ajar that looks similar to mine. I must be in the hospital. He pushes me through the hallway that opens up into a large room with a few rows of chairs and a reception desk. There is no one in the room. He sighs, “is everyone gone? Okay whatever, let’s just keep going. Now, Charlie, I’m just going to start talking about what life is like here for you and you let me know if you feel anything come back to you okay?”

“Okay.”

Cameron pushes me through the room to the other end where there are two doors. “Your name is Charlie. I told you that. You live in the Underground under the rule of the Providence. You know that.” Once we get to the door Cameron swings me around so I get a view of the way we came and uses his back to push open the doors as he pulls me with him. Then once outside he swings me around in front again. The entire scheme has changed. We are now in a wider hallway than before. The entire hallway is line with bricks. There are old lamps that hang from the walls to illuminate the hallway. The lamps only appear to be dim but the hallway is quite well lit with yellow light.

“The Underground is our community and it gets its name because it is completely under Central Park in New York City. Of course our dimension extends towards the entire periphery of Central Park so what’s above ground is also ours as well. The Underground one of the communities exclusively for gifted people. Some call us, gifted, some call us freaks, some call us channelers, some call us wizards, you take your pick, we usually go with gifted, though. Once you came to the Underground you discovered that you had gifts that were very special, even more special than the average gifts you see around here.”

What kind of gifts? I think to myself as Cameron wheels me to a four-way intersection in the hallways. I can see that there are now wooden doors in the walls. I wonder what’s behind them. I see two girls at the end of the hallway walking towards us. It’s weird to think about them, I can add them to the very small list of faces that I know. I know Cameron’s face, and my own, now I can add two others to the list. They must be in their early twenties, one is black and one is white. They are both in summer apparel. The black girl is wearing a pink summer dress and the white girl is wearing a tank top with short jean shorts. Unfortunately Cameron does not stop to talk to them, and takes a different fork in the intersection. I guess I don’t know them personally.

“Benjamin, your friend who was kidnapped, had the ability to read magical powers. He could tell that you had not just one power, but four, which is ridiculous. You can channel the energy throughout your body, which isn’t that special around here, most folks can do that. We call those The Basics because just about everyone can do them. You can teleport, which is a little less common, but still really cool. However, those aren’t the really cool ones. You have what we call a rooted power. A gift that is so strong that it’s actually completely stuck in your DNA. You don’t need to use a wand or even move your body at all to use it. It’s quite remarkable really.” Cameron says it very proudly. I don’t know how to feel about all of this information, I’m taking it in, but I must say I don’t feel quite “remarkable,” as he put it. I can’t even believe I have powers. I feel so useless right now. I’m being pushed in a wheelchair.

Cameron wheels me around another corner and down a shorter hallway. The hallway opens up into a large circular room. It’s giant really. It’s not exactly circular though. There isn’t much wall; it’s one giant fork. Every direction there is a different hallway, some that go down and some go straight. I can’t even count how many there different halls you can choose. I can see that one of the halls goes up and there seems to be a light coming from above. That must be the exit.

Cameron spins the chair right and we cross in front of three hallway openings. “We have a few people here with rooted power. Ben, himself, had a rooted power. What makes you so incredibly special is that you have two rooted powers. They’re both amazing. You can heal yourself as well as others. In fact your healing abilities are quite incredible, you can–“ Cameron yanks the wheelchair back and I almost fall out of the chair. A man running with a little girl, on his back, darts out of the third hallway. They are both in swimwear. Both the man and Cameron apologize for our almost-collision.

Cameron continues as he turns the wheelchair down a hallway that descends deeper into the ground. The bricked walls continue here. “Anyway, you can heal a minor cut in seconds without doing anything. And the last one, this is the greatest thing, ever. It’s the coolest power I’ve ever seen to be honest. You have an extra life.”

“An extra life?” I repeat wildly. “What does that even mean?”

“It means what it sounds like,” Cameron exclaims, almost excited, “you have an extra life. You can die once and get up and die all over again! I mean your not immortal or anything, you can still be murdered, it’s just that the killer would have to wait for you to get back up and kill you again.”

I get a little giddy. Is that true? Do I have an extra life? What would that be like? To die? And then get up and walk away? Would I be like a zombie, like a ghost, or just completely normal? Now, I begin to feel a bit powerful. Then the thought strikes me.

“Wait, how do we know that I didn’t use this extra life when I was attacked? I mean, I might’ve been killed and then used it or something? Maybe that’s why my memory is gone, because this is my second life.”

“No,” Cameron says simply. He wheels me down a more narrow set of hallways now, these are more windy and curved, but they are still completely bricked. “That couldn’t of happened because your extra life was locked, you haven’t actually unlocked it yet, plus we think all of your other unlocked powers relocked themselves. That’s why you are healing as quick.”

“My powers have locked themselves?” I repeat, curious as to what that means.

“Yep, you see you can’t just use a power willy-nilly. You have to unlock it first. Some are super easy to unlock, like to unlock the basics you just have to calm your body down. It commonly happens when people are asleep, actually. However, rooted powers and more rare powers tend to be trickier to unlock. We know that Ben’s power was unlocked when his father was killed in a car accident with him when he was like seven,” Cameron says.

“Oh,” I say quietly. I have so many questions. This is very interesting to me. I can’t believe this is true. A part of me wants to try and unlock all of these powers right now and start playing with them. That healing power might be nice right now because my head still hurts. The other part of me just wants to sit Cameron down and ask him every question that comes to mind. I wonder what it will be like to unlock my powers. Will it hurt? What will I have to do?

Cameron halts me in front of a wooden door identical to all of the rest I have seen so far. “We’re here.” He says. He pulls out a small set of keys and finds a small one. He fiddles with the two locks on the door, turning the key the left way first and then the right way and then trying the other lock. I can see this may take some time so I ask him another question.

“Hey, if my memory is gone then how do I know how everything works? Like I know how to talk and I know that those keys open that door and I know that I’m sitting in a wheelchair,” I ask.

“Well, y’see Charlie.” He grunts trying to push open the still locked door. “Well, that’s all knowledge. You store that in a different part of your brain, so most of that is unharmed, however, so of it may be gone because that knowledge is attached to memories. That’s why you aren’t more psyched to be gifted, because you’ve been told all of that stuff before and your brain is accustomed to it. Ah there we go.”

I hear a click and Cameron pushes open the door. Cameron spins me and pushes me into the room. It’s a bedroom. The room is rectangular and the walls are made up of bricks painted lime green. The floors are no longer bricks but old, dull hardwood. There is a small twin-sized bed in the corner shoved into a little den in the wall, perfect for the size of the bed. I can see a signature near the bed that says in big, loopy, cursive handwriting, “Fiona Mulloy.” There is a small living room setting in the opposite corner of the room. It has a brown couch, a small TV, and a coffee table covered in water rings. Next to the couch there is an orange chair in the shape of a bird’s nest. It looks very comfortable. To our right there is also a desk that is piled on with books and has absolutely no system of organization.

On the side of the room opposite to Cameron and I, there are two doors, one that is narrow and lockless and another that is identical to the door we just entered in through, except I can see the internal side of the locks. The lockless door has a full-length mirror hanging on it. To our left there is a brown dresser, and a pile of fresh laundry on top, waiting to be put into the drawers.

I can see that Cameron is staring at me. As I look up at him he looks at me with that hopeful look on his face. Oh no. This is my room. Yep, that look on his face tells me he is definitely expecting me to have some reaction. I take another look around the room. Nothing. I don’t think I have the heart to tell him that I feel no connection to this room. I mean, it’s nice and all, but I don’t remember it.

“This is my room?” I ask him quietly.

“Yep,” he says, his voice a little giddy.

“I don’t feel anything here.”

He sighs, a little dramatically if you ask me. “I thought this would do it. One second, I’ve got another idea.”

He pulls out the same phone I saw before, but this time he pushes a few more buttons and puts the phone to his ear. He holds it there for a few seconds, looking around the room, trying to find a place on the wall to rest his eyes. I think his eyes settle on the bed. Then the person on the other end of the line picks up and I hear Cameron’s half of the conversation. “Yeah, it’s Cameron.” “He’s alright, he’s awake, but they were right, his memory is gone.” “Yeah.” “Hey could you come down here? Maybe one of you can trigger something.” “Yeah, bring them all.” “Yeah, fine.” “No, we’re in his room, this memory hold seems to be pretty strong.” “Yeah, just hurry.”

He hangs up the phone and slips it back into his pocket. Then looks at me and says, “while your friends are on their way, let’s see if we can get you into your bed. Maybe we can trigger something by putting you where you dream.”

He wheels me towards the bed and runs in front of me to pull the light blue covers away. I feel anxious. I have to meet new people and I’m just automatically supposed to be friends with them. I don’t even know who to expect should be coming.

As we reach the bed, Cameron helps me up and then turns me around slowly. I plop myself down on the bed and lift my own feet in. He pulls the covers over me and steps away. I shuffle around a little and then find a spot that matches the form of my body perfectly. I can feel my butt slip into a small indentation in the bed. It’s comfortable. I fumble with the blanket and discover there are actually two. One that is thin and white, it looks like it was knitted together with a nice, simple, square pattern on it. One on top is a thicker and seems like it is used for warmth. The blanket is a baby blue on top and the inside is also light green. I stare up at the lower ceiling over the bed as I enjoy the coolness under the sheets. This doesn’t bring up any memories either.

However, it does help me step in the direction of trusting Cameron more, since I do believe that this is my actual bed. I look over at him and say, “nothing.”

He pulls one side of his lip back in a half-frown. He sits me up on the edge of the bed and I place both of my hands on either side of me for balance. Then I hear a knock. I look up and see a small, thick girl with an acne-ridden face knocking on the doorframe since Cameron left the door open. Next to her is a thin black guy, probably the same age as me. His hair is cut almost flat on the top of his head. I can also see one girl peeking her head in between the two of them and a few other head bobbing up and down behind them. All of them staring at me. “Hey,” Cameron says, “c’mon in.”

The pimply girl in front comes in staring directly at me as she enters. She is wearing a light yellow summer dress. “Hey,” she says softly. Then she looks to Cameron and says, “What should we do?” I watch as others follow her in. The black boy, then a short girl with her light hair cropped short, she is very short and chubby, for lack of a better word. Then a drop-dead gorgeous girl follows her. Her hair is dark and put up in a high ponytail. She is in a tank top and short jeans. Behind her is a blonde girl who is in a outfit similar to the pretty girl, but obviously just not quite as pretty.

“You should just…” Cameron thinks for a moment, “uh, maybe just introduce yourself and then your relationship to him and then I don’t know, maybe a memory that the two of you shared that you know he might remember. But nothing too heavy for him, we’re trying to ease this thing, not break it, remember.” Cameron adds in quickly.

The girl smiles at him and then looks back at me. She comes closer and gets on the same level as me while grabbing one of my hands in her own. Her hair is nice, pretty. She has it down except for two locks on either side that come around and meets on the backside of her head.

“Well, Charlie, my name is Robin Sornoa.” She puts special emphasis on the “a.” “You and I are really good friends. And, uh, hmm, a memory, um, oh, you actually taught me how to play Marco Polo.” The girl named Robin says with a smile on her face. I hear a snicker from behind her, the pretty girl has her hand over her mouth. Robin ignores it and stares into my eyes. “Anything?”

“No.” I say.

She sighs a bit and then gets up and says, “Joe you want to try?” She gestures to the guy behind her.

The man named Joe takes her place as she steps back towards Cameron. He begins speaking a bit nervously, “Hey uh, Charlie. Uhm well my name is Joe, obviously, uh, Joe Bennett, to be more specific. Me and you are ten times better friends than you and Robin will ever be.” He begins to smile and chuckles a bit as some of the other people begin to laugh and Robin nudges Joe from behind. I let out a little laugh. “And, for a memory, uh, I can’t think of anything right now, uhm I don’t know, I’ll think of something.”

He steps back and the pretty girl moves in. I get nervous as she comes in closer to me. “Sup Charlie, well my name is Fiona Mulloy, I wrote it over there so you don’t forget.” She says pointing to the signature I had noticed on the wall before. “And our relationship, hmm,” she says while stroking an invisible beard on her hairless chin. “Well, you’re basically my bitch.” The people burst out into laughter. I do too. It was so unexpected, it was funny though and it relieves some of the tension I can feel in the room. The laughter dies out when Cameron gives a little, “Robin,” with the tone of a light warning in his voice.

“Alright, alright, I was just joking,” she says through some dying chuckles. “I guess we’re friends and–“

“Oh! I got my memory!” Joe interrupts her. “Like two week ago, I crashed in here on your couch and you fell asleep in the nest chair and the next morning I pour water on you and you got me back by egging me on the lawn.” He smiles at me.

I feel normal. That’s the only thing that that memory does for me, but it’s so much. For the first time since I woke up I feel normal. Thanks to Joe. I must make a mental note to get back to that area with him, that sounds like a fun friendship.

“Great memory you idiot, now if you wouldn’t mind shutting up for a few seconds. Thanks.” Fiona snaps at him. I can’t tell if she’s joking or not. I think she is because she’s smiling and chuckling lightly when she turns back to me. “Uh, for a memory between the two of us. I actually stood on your chest when I was signing my name on the wall. That was about a year ago I’d say.” She says it lightly though, like she actually cherishes that memory. Her face is soft and caring now. It’s amazing how much of a 180 she just made.

She stands up and joins Robin, and Joe. I need to remember these names. Robin, Joe, Fiona, Robin, Joe, Fiona, Robin, Joe, Fiona. And Cameron.

There’s an awkward moment as the two remaining girls look at each other and decide who should go next. Eventually, the blonde girl comes towards me, smiling about their awkwardness. I can see that she is wearing dark eye makeup. It brings out the green in her eyes.

“Charlie, I’m Claire Kollman. I’m your friend. And last December, we were supposed to meet these guys in the Tree house, but it was so cold in there, so you and I lit a fire and ended up coughing in the thick smoke while trying to put out the fire, because we’re idiots.” I’m pretty sure she says it all in one breath. She spoke so quickly that I’m not sure if I actually heard that right, but I guess we have a tree house at our disposal. I have to admit that sounds really cool.

Then Claire leans in and gives me an unexpected hug. I put one of my hands on her back in an effort to give her something to show my appreciation. She breaks the hug, grabs me by the shoulders and says, “I’m so glad you’re okay.” Then she gets up and takes her old place since everyone is crowded on the other side of Cameron.

Robin, Joe, Fiona, Claire, Robin, Joe, Fiona, Claire, Robin, Joe, Fiona, Claire. And Cameron.

The short, chubby girl takes her time walking over to me. She seems nervous as well. “Hi, Charlie.” She says with a small wave of her hand, even though I am just feet away from her. She stares at me for a few moments. “Hi,” I say. She stares at me like an abandoned child. She makes me feel helpless. I don’t like that.

She stares at me until Cameron says, “Tessa, time is kinda of the essence here.”

She shakes her head a bit. “Right, sorry. Okay. Name: Tessa Terns-Garden. Relationship: good friends. And memory: Uh, one time you and I were on the same team during the water gun fight at The Crash, and we worked together and shot down,” she chuckles a little to herself, “we took down Fiona and she got mad at us cause we ruined her hair.” She laughs. Joe starts to laugh. I look at Fiona, she is rolling her eyes a bit, but wears a smirk. I chuckle a bit.

Robin, Joe, Fiona, Claire, Tessa, Robin, Joe, Fiona, Claire, Tessa, Robin, Joe, Fiona, Claire, Tessa. And Cameron.

Cameron moves in front of Tessa and says, “anything?”

“Uh,” I look around at all of them, they are staring at me. I don’t like them staring at me. I want to remember them because some of these memories sound so fun, but I just don’t. I’m starting to feel pressure to feel these memories, especially from Cameron.

I want to say more than just “no” again, but before I can think of the words Fiona interrupts me. “Nothing. He doesn’t remember any of that. I can see it in his eyes.” They all turn from me to Fiona. I’m glad to have their eyes off of me. However, Fiona’s eyes are still trained on me, and she makes me just as nervous as I would be if they were all still staring at me. She’s too pretty. Her eyes are squinted and they intimidate me, but then they soften and she says, “it’s fine Charlie. We’ll just have to make new memories and make sure they’re even better.”

“Fiona.” Cameron uses the same type of warning as before. Fiona won’t hear it though, she looks at Cameron and says, “Look, Cam, I know you’re disappointed, but I don’t think you want to force it anymore, we should just try to bring him back to reality as much as possible now.”

Cameron looks back at me, he seems disappointed and tired.

Robin moves in and puts a hand on Cameron’s shoulder. He doesn’t look at her but keeps his eyes on me. “Cam,” she says softly, “Listen, you heard the healers from the Providence. They said that after twenty-four hours are up these things are nearly impossible to fix without doing something catastrophic, and I know you don’t want that.”

“I think we still have time.” Cameron says simply.

“It’s been twenty-nine hours” Fiona says, her arms folded.

Cameron’s eyes close. I guess we didn’t actually have two hours left. My mind is stuck like this. Forever. I’ll never remember any of those memories, not without something bad happening first.

“Twenty-nine hours?” I say.

“Cameron has been trying all night to get you to respond.” Fiona says, “Your mind was still all crazy at the time so you won’t remember those. You kept falling asleep and forgetting everything all over again, so Cameron was unsuccessful at getting you to remember anything, and now the time is up.”

“Fiona!” Tessa exclaims wildly.

“No she’s right.” Cameron says softly. His head is down now. “I guess the memory hold is just too strong.”

Cameron stands up. He looks over at all of them. He takes about four or five steps toward the door and then halts and spins around to look back at me. “Wait!” He yells out. “I have an idea. What if we unlock one of the powers?”

They all look at him wildly.

“How?” Joe asks.

“With Robin!” Cameron says. He turns around to Robin and says, using his hands for emphasis, “Robin! You can use your gifts to calm Charlie down and slow his heart rate until we unlock the basics.”

They all look at him for a second.

“Oh c’mon, I know it’s a little unorthodox, but we could definitely do it. And the minor shock to his body and mind might be just enough to shake the memory hold loose a bit!” Cameron says using his hands for emphasis.

“I don’t know Cameron,” Robin says quietly, “I don’t know if I’d feel comfortable doing that.”

“Oh c’mon, this might be our last shot. Charlie’s a tough kid, we’ve done stuff like this before!” Cameron exclaims, getting visibly excited about his idea.

I’m thinking about it. A part of me has no idea what they are talking about, but I can’t help but feel very interested in this idea that they have. Plus, I’d really like to see what these “gifts” that I have are.

“I’ll do it.” I say loudly. I want this to happen. Not for the possibility of getting my memory back, but because I think I should try. For all I know, one day I may really want my memory back and to know that I didn’t do all that I could, might stick with me. Also, I really want to see what being gifted is like.

They look at me. Some, like Tessa and Claire, have pity on their faces. Robin just looks scared. I’m not sure if she’s confident in herself, but I’d like to try. What’s the worst that could happen?

Robin looks at all of them. I think we all know that she is the only one who is still against this plan. “Fine.” She says quietly, looking at the floor. “Uh, not here though, let’s get some space.”

“The Lounge?” Joe asks.

“Yeah, that should do. Put him in one of the chairs.” Robin responds.

Before I can even react Cameron and Joe move in on me. They take either side of me, each putting one hand under a knee and the other behind my back and they hoist me into the air.

Tessa is at the back door of the room and undoes the locks on the door. She swings it open and they carry me through. We come out into a narrow hallway in between two walls. It is just wide enough for Cameron and Joe to squeeze through with myself in between them. I feel like a child. I don’t like them carrying me.

This is another oddly shaped room. I can’t decide if it’s a hexagon or an octagon because I can’t count how many sides but there are walls that form a shape surrounding the open room. Each wall has a door with it. I assume they are other bedrooms since they look similar to mine.

The room is open and seems to be exactly what Joe called it, a lounge. It’s painted brick, like my room except, the paint is a pale brown color. It’s like one awesome living room. I can see there is a set of blue couches and chairs that match in the center, all of them facing a nicely sized flat screen television near one of the walls. There a few small tables strewn among the living room set.

In another section of the room I see a kitchen area. There is a corner with a laundry machine and a dryer. I can also make out a large table set that looks quiet messy. They carry me over to the living room section. Then they set me down gently in one of the blue chairs. Everyone assembles around me. Fiona and Claire sit down with their legs folded underneath them on the couch across from me, ready for a show. Cameron lifts up another one of the blue seats identical to mine and plops it down right in front of me. Robin moves in to take that seat.

“Now,” she says. I feel a chill run through me, this is happening quite fast, but I guess it has to. “All you have to do is look me in the eyes and focus on my pupils. I will invade you mind and slow your heart rate. After a few seconds you basics should unlock. You will feel a sort of shudder through your body, hopefully that will loosen the memory hold. Tell me immediately if your body begins to feel too cold.”

I nod. I didn’t expect to be this nervous. I think it’s because of all of the eyes on me and I’m now expected to do something amazing.

I look around at all of them and then at Robin who is already intensely focused on me. I realize that I need to be staring into her eyes. I look into them, they are almost full of life. They are a muddy brown, but something about them conveys a strong passion for love. I look for the details in the brownness of her eyes, but there isn’t any. I can feel the warmth and invitation in her eyes. After a few seconds I can feel myself beginning to get sleepy. She must be “invading my body” as she put it. That must be why I saw no life in her eyes.

I feel like I’m swaying. I watch as her pupils grow and shrink, over and over again. I try to listen for my heart beat. I can feel it in my chest. It beats at the same time as her eyes are dilating. It is slow. I feel uncomfortable but I try to control my breathing. I don’t think I can. I think she has control of me. I don’t like that. I feel uneasy. I feel cold. I need to tell her. She told me to tell her if I feel cold. I can feel the cold creeping up my extremities and toward the center of my body. Then, all at once the spreading stops and begins to recede. I can feel the warmth pushing the cold out of my body. It’s sweet relief. Warmth has never felt so good. I like it. I think if I was looking at my limbs I may actually see a blueness of cold fading away in them, because that’s what it feels like. The fading is slower now. It’s slowing down and I can feel the cold lying dormant in my fingertips and toes. Robin’s pupils are small now. Nearly invisible, leaving just that ugly brown color behind. I watch them for a second, they stay like that. I’m not sure if my heart is beating at all. Then, all at once, her pupils rapidly widen, almost completely diminishing the brown and the cold erupts from the tips of my toes and fingers and shudders throughout my body. It fights its way through my arms and legs and envelops my torso and then my heart in its icy grip. Freezing me to my core.

I slump in my chair.

“Are you okay?” Cameron shouts out a bit. “How do you feel?” He asks as he helps me sit up and lean back in my chair. “Anything?” He asks for what feels like the thousandth time today.

I think for a second. I know that was it. I just unlock my basic gifts. I felt that “shudder” that Robin was talking about. I wonder if it felt familiar to me. I think about what happened before I woke up. I try to remember Fiona writing her name on my wall while standing on my chest. I try to remember egging Joe. I try to remember almost burning down a tree house with Claire. I try to remember shooting water guns with Tessa. I try to remember teaching Robin how to play Marco Polo. I try to remember being attacked.

I shake my head.

I don’t remember anything. I won’t ever get my memory back.

#retired #new writers on tumblr #queer #gay #lgbt #hro #charlie #writing #new #author #novel #book #fiction #original #series

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terryblount · 5 years

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Days Gone – Review

From the makers of Syphon Filter and… Bubsy 3D, Bend Studio is now back with a new IP, Days Gone. On the surface, it seems like “that video game again”. As in, you’ve probably seen various elements of the game in other games before. Open world. Zombies (but not really). Survival elements. Crafting and upgrades. Three skill trees. Shooting and melee. Clearing outposts. You get the idea.

But Days Gone is better than the sum of its parts, though it barely held the parts together at times. Yet somehow, it’s still a hell of a ride from start to finish.

Note: Review based on version 1.02 and version 1.03 (pre-release, before the day-1 patch version 1.04), played on the base PS4

Presentation

Days Gone takes place in the wilderness of Oregon, USA, 2 years after “things went to shit” as it colloquially referred to. Society falls after an outbreak killed billions and turned many of them into Freakers.

The open world is gorgeous. There is a dynamic time and weather system that dramatically changes the environment as well as impacting gameplay. Heavy rain turns the side roads muddy and slippery while the night brings out most of the nasty Freaks.

If you like taking screenshots, there’s plenty of beautiful (and gross) sceneries. And the Photo Mode is decent.

The open world feels small but dense but over time, it becomes larger, with some changes reflective of the story.

The zombie-like but not-zombie Freakers look and sound gross. Blood and gore do spill, with body parts falling off the Freakers, or human enemies when heavy force is applied. Like shooting at the face with as shotgun.

Days Gone has plenty of cinematics with great performances by the actors. Though I find it jarring to see a few seconds of a loading screen, a cut-scene plays, and then another loading screen to go back to gameplay. It ruins the flow a bit, especially when the scenes are just a few seconds long.

It’s really enjoyable riding on the open road (when nothing is out to kill you). The excellent soundtrack kicks in slowly on the longer, uninterrupted journeys. That particular song, which starts and end dynamically, is emotionally charged, swooping and atmospheric as it is soulful and mellow. Perfect for a biker traveling the open roads.

When the faced with the horrifying Freakers however, tunes of dread and suspense pipes in. Whilst the tender, emotional moments are just heartwarming to hear. The overall soundtrack, including the choice of licensed music, is astoundingly well put together.

Unfortunately, the game is crippled with performance issues. The pre-release version I played through saw massive dips in framerate on the base PS4. Slowdowns, textures not loading in, and sometimes even assets not loading in will happen if you move fast enough. Especially while riding the bike.

You will definitely notice the slowdown. At worse, the game crashes.

I can’t tell whether the performance issues are due to the modified Unreal Engine they are using, or a sign we have reached the hardware limits of the PS4.

Gameplay

In Days Gone, you play as Deacon St. John, a former biker gang member (or for you Malaysians: an American Mat Rempit) who is now a Drifter. He does odd jobs for various encampments, either clearing up hideouts or finding lost people or taking out bounties. While the plan was to head out north, circumstances lead to Deacon losing his bike and having to keep doing jobs with the camps he wanted to get away from.

From there on, an overarching story of multiple threads will unravel, weaving various subplots in and out as you progress. You don’t have quest lines, you have storylines, where one mission may advance one or more storyline as it is being completed.

Though for the most part, it’s a story of a man still clinging to the past. Heck, the in-game day tracker counts starting from two years (more accurately, 734 days gone) since he last saw his wife.

The map is packed and there’s really not much downtime going to point A to point B. But the fact that the roads are all windy, filled with obstacles to avoid and danger lurking, you are really on your toes while riding the bike.

If you go on the road for too long, then you better start expecting trouble is coming, either a sniper ambush or swarms of Freakers.

Fiddly (By Design) Controls

You will need to spend some time getting the hang on Days Gone’s controls. R2 is for melee and you need to aim with L2 to use your gun, no blind fire. Grenades are tucked within the Survival Wheel, which requires holding L1, select the grenades category, wait a bit, then select the grenade of choice. Combat is not that fluid, but I guess it’s a deliberate design choice- it’s a survival game, after all.

Weapons are pretty inaccurate at the start, ammo is scarce, and powerful melee weapons break. You will need to use stealth and loot for resources, but you definitely can go gung-ho once you’ve got most of the skill upgrades and stat buffs.

Loot

If the survival elements sound dreadful, just take the solemn that Bend Studio took lessons from Red Dead Redemption II. Looting is quick and easy to do- some enemies like Freakers don’t even need a button prompt to loot.

Resources and melee weapons are scattered around the desolate buildings in the world. They are plentiful but don’t expect them to respawn immediately. Thankfully, gas cans and gas stations have infinite gas.

There’s a sense of permanence in Days Gone. I had a firefight in a small town but didn’t get to loot the area properly as I was locked in a story mission. Revisiting the area not long after (within the same in-game day) and all the bodies and missed crafting components are there as I remembered.

Some Bugs

Alongside the framerate drop and texture loading issues mentioned, the AI pathfinding also frequently bugged out. I’ve seen enemies stuck behind geometry, and even friendly NPCs during missions getting stuck because a Freaker body is in the way.

This game sure has some production values but moments when such issues pop up, coupled with the controls, make it feel like a janky, cobbled-up together game at times.

The Bike

The bike is the star of Days Gone’s gameplay. It’s your only mode of transport, and it needs to be taken care of. You need to keep it away from damage and make sure you have enough fuel or face some big issues. You don’t want to be on foot for too long with Freaks roaming around ready to maul you.

It really makes you consider your traveling plans. In the early game, you’ll have to stop by a gas station for fuel or find a gas can in one of those NERO checkpoints. I spent the first few hours lifting and coasting a lot to save fuel while driving very carefully not to hit anything. And I love that I have to do that.

But later on, you get to upgrade the bike with cosmetics and performance parts, either of which changes the bike’s look, You get to see the Engine III upgrade is a bigger engine block with a different, deeper engine tone. Even racing games don’t go that deep with customisations these days.

Welcome to the Freakshow

The Freakers come in various archetypes. From the little ki- I mean Newts, to Runners, infected wolves that will chase you down even when on a bike.

But the Horde is the big selling point for Days Gone. As those early trailers showed, they are indeed vicious and they are huge. The biggest Hordes have hundreds of these Freakers roaming together.

The early game is spent on avoiding the massive Hordes unless you have a death wish taking them on. But as you progress, Deacon will get more skill points, better weapons and also stat buffs that will allow you to mow them down. Yes, it’s a lot of just running around, then looking at the back taking pot shots but the areas you fight them in do have multiple routes and explosives to use to your advantage.

Crafting all the gear needed, stocking up ammo, and laying up all the traps before engaging the Horde is both the most exhilarating and the most cathartic experience in Days Gone. Nothing like mowing down hundreds of not-zombies after hours of just gasping looking the sheer size and wondering: “How the heck am I supposed to kill them all?”

Content

Days Gone is longer than you would expect. The game has about one hour worth of tutorial before opening up the world for you to explore. The fact the open world only opens up gradually means the size, and the number of side-missions available, will not overwhelm you as a result. Side-missions like clearing marauder camps each have a small reward, which can be tracked in the menus. And finding them is easy, just explore the map and it will mark the spot when you are close enough.

The story does feel cliche. “Sons Of Anarchy meets The Walking Dead” is a rather apt description, but the plot is more than just the biker life and post-apocalypse melodrama.

There are many interwoven subplots coming in and out of the main progression, all focusing on character interaction. Deacon is a dick, the name checks out, but a generic white-man protagonist he is not. Seeing him bouncing off with the rest of the cast, some with great chemistry, others with clashing personalities, is entertaining to see. And the poignant romance story, of how he is dealing with the loss of his wife, is gripping. With a great payoff.

Outside of the surprisingly good story, expect the same-old side missions and collectibles. It is an open world game, after all. Though taking down the Hordes is really fun to do by the end game.

It took me around 41 hours to finish Days Gone and see the credits. Though completionists will definitely spend more than that.

Personal Enjoyment

Days Gone sure sounds like just another open world game on paper with technical issues. But somehow, I really like it.

I am a stickler for games running at its intended framerate cap. So there’s a lot of moments where I just reel back and cringe seeing all the slowdowns. Despite that, the pros outweigh the cons. I enjoyed seeing Deacon’s story unfolded. The number of optional camps to clear is just enough- and with enough variety- to keep me engaged.

I enjoyed customising, upgrading and maintaining the bike. Plus, there’s enough wiggle room in the systems to see something dynamic happen. I tried taking down an ambush camp but forgot to put silencers on. That caught the attention of a nearby Horde and ravaged the camp for me while I cowardly hide in a bush. That’s neat!

Verdict

Days Gone is an ambitious open world survival game that is almost bursting at its seams. The dynamic open world is lovingly crafted to not only look good, but serve gameplay purposes. The customisable bike rivals those seen in racing games. The tension coming from facing the Freakers and managing your crafting resources won’t get old. The story is amazingly well told filled with great character moments.

Yet technical issues, from noticeable framerate drops to the various glitches and crashes are a letdown. It makes you think whether the PS4 is at its last legs… or the game is just too ambitious for its own good.

Whatever the case is, should you persist through the jankiness, Days Gone is the best open world biker survival game, that happens to have sort-of zombies, out there.

It’s a hell of a ride.

Review based on version 1.02 and version 1.03 (pre-release, before the day-1 patch version 1.04), played on the base PS4. Review copy provided by the publisher

Days Gone – Review published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/

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thrashermaxey · 6 years

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21 Fantasy Hockey Rambles

Every Sunday, we'll share 21 Fantasy Rambles — formerly titled 20 Fantasy Thoughts — from our writers at DobberHockey. These thoughts are curated from the past week's ‘Daily Ramblings’.

Writers: Michael Clifford, Ian Gooding, Cam Robinson, and Dobber

1. Can we mention how good the Coyotes have been this year? Sure, they’re not currently in a playoff spot, but they’re also just two points out of a wild card position.

They’ve done this with significant (and in some cases, season-ending) injuries to the likes of Alex Galchenyuk, Antti Raanta, Jason Demers, Jakob Chychrun, Christian Dvorak, Michael Grabner, more recently Nick Schmaltz, and now (possibly) Oliver Ekman-Larsson. We’ll know more on the latter’s knee injury early this week.

That’s their top-line center, third-line center, a top-six winger, a top-nine winger and penalty killer, two top-four defensemen, and their starting goalie. Each of those names (save for OEL) has missed at least 10 games, and some will miss much, much more than that. And yet, they’re two points outside of a playoff spot.

General manager John Chayka has put together a very solid roster. They absolutely need more top-end talent up front, but this is a team to watch in 2019-20. (jan24)

2. With Ekman-Larsson out of the lineup last Wednesday, Alex Goligoski played just under 25 minutes. It was his third-highest mark of the season and his highest in a month. He also skated on what would be called their top PP unit with Galchenyuk and Clayton Keller. Something to keep in mind. Check your waiver wires if you need some depth on defense. If the OEL injury is serious, Goligoski stands to be the immediate beneficiary (as morbid as that is, let’s hope OEL is ok). (jan24)

3. Tomas Hertl. The 25-year-old is having a career-season. He’s already matched his career-high in goals (22) set last season and is just one shy of his career-high in points (45). He’s vying for the award for best value in fantasy drafts at this point. (jan23)

4. Habs’ Jeff Petry has 34 total points, 12th among all defensemen, one more than Victor Hedman. Among all defensemen with at least 500 minutes at five-on-five this year, he’s 15th in points/60 minutes. The two defensemen directly above him in that category are Roman Josi and Tyson Barrie. At all strengths, he’s 17th, just behind Matt Dumba. He’s also in the top-20 for defenseman shot share at five-on-five. He’s averaging over 2.5 hits and over 2.25 shots per game. Why wouldn’t he be a fantasy all-star? (jan23)

5. The Professional Hockey Writers’ Association (PHWA) released their midseason awards this past week. If I’m not mistaken, this is the second year in a row they’ve done so. It’s just the normal awards we’re used to seeing at the end of the year, only with about a 50-game sample. It basically gives us something to talk about during the break.

That said, centers are favored over wingers but it’s hard to see Mark Stone not winning the Selke Trophy if he continues his current play. With Stone on the ice, the Sens allow nearly 12 fewer shot attempts compared to what they normally allow, which leads the league in this regard.

Driving offense? Stone is second league-wide. It’s no surprise, then, that he’s running away in relative shot share league-wide. I know it seems like playing favorites for an exceptional player on a bad team, but he’s almost always like this. He deserves, at the least, very strong consideration to win, with all due respect to both Patrice Bergeron and Aleksander Barkov. (jan25)

6. Hopefully you didn’t draft Anze Kopitar thinking he would match last season’s career high of 92 points. He won’t even come close to that this season, as he is currently on pace for 57 points. That’s really a down season when you consider how many more players are scoring at or near a point-per-game pace this season. His current scoring pace of 0.69 PTS/GP is at the same pace as his total from two seasons ago, when he scored 56 points.

But there is hope for Kopitar. So far in January, he has collected five goals and eight points in 10 games. Considering that he has yet to score a power-play goal (with nine power-play assists), one would think that he should be due. The way that Kopitar drives the play for the Kings, you’d have to believe that he can score at a higher pace than this.

Kopitar collected 41 points in 33 games after last season’s All-Star Game. Only five players had more points after that point. He’s also historically been a slow starter but strong finisher. Between the All-Star Game and the end of the regular season, Kopitar has finished within the top 50 in points in each of the previous three seasons. (jan27)

7. After scoring a career-high 69 points last season, Rickard Rakell was sidetracked for a month by an ankle injury. But even if you remove the injury, Rakell’s scoring rate is way down, as he has just eight goals all season and is only on pace for 52 points.

There’s reason to be positive this season if you’re a Rakell owner, though. Last year, he had a better post-All-Star-Game pace (1.03 PTS/GP) than his pre-All-Star-Game pace (0.8 PTS/GP). And as for the eight goals, you could argue that he hasn’t has puck luck just as he hasn’t had injury luck. Rakell’s 7.6 SH% is well below his career average of 14.6%, which could result in his goal total nearly doubling over the second half.

Rakell might end up lining up with Ryan Getzlaf and whoever, and he’s not going to have a ton of scoring options around him during the second half in Anaheim. But for the reasons listed above, he seems worth a gamble for a stronger second half. (jan27)

8. It’s difficult to express how much losing Ondrej Kase (torn labrum) for the season hurts the Ducks.

While Rakell is still waiting for his shooting luck to turn, Jakob Silfverberg is plodding towards his usual 20 goals (though we’ll see if injuries catch up), and they’re still waiting for Corey Perry to return (though that may be soon). This team has had to endure significant injuries for basically the last two seasons, but this is one that will be difficult to overcome given their difficulty to score as it was.

Kase in under-appreciated by the league but I’m sure he’s not by his teammates. They’re going to need a Herculean effort from John Gibson and a big turnaround from Rakell over the final couple months to get to the postseason. Recovery time could be as much as six months, which is significant, but it would also give Kase a couple months (hopefully) to train before having to head to Ducks camp. (jan25)

9. Just before the ASG Break, the Leafs re-configured their PP units to put Auston Matthews back with their big guns. Now, please just put William Nylander on that PP unit, as well. (jan24)

10. Both Tyler Bozak and Zach Sanford were activated from the Blues’ injured reserve and played last Wednesday night. The result was Jordan Kyrou (and Jordan Nolan) being sent to the AHL. It doesn’t appear that this will be the year for Kyrou to break out, but he’s definitely a player to remember for next season. (jan24)

For players who could potentially finish the season on a high note, don’t forget to pick up your copy of the Midseason Guide. There are also a lot of prospects and potential call-ups covered, so even those without a league title in their sights will find information quite useful for keeper/dynasty teams, or even looking ahead to next season.

11. Dylan Strome has been given new life in the Windy City. He has 15 points in his last 13 games and has reignited the chemistry with junior linemate, Alex DeBrincat on the Hawks’ second line. He’s also loving life on the top power-play unit. (jan23)

12. Vladimir Tarasenko now has six goals and 10 points in his last 11 games. This is another player who had a slow start to the year, especially by his standards, but that has really started to look like himself since Christmas. Now, if only Jaden Schwartz could get of the schneid (he’s shooting 3 percent on the season). (jan24)

13. In the four games since being acquired by the Hurricanes, Nino Niederreiter has four goals, 17 shots, and is playing nearly 17 minutes a game. That TOI mark would be a career high for him (by a lot) and he’s getting lots of power play time as well. This is a trade that’s going to work out very, very well for the Canes. (jan23)

14. Justin Faulk is a favorite punching bag for some, and that’s fair given his calamitous fall in fantasy over the last couple seasons, namely in the goals department. All the same, his hit and shot totals are very stout (he’s on pace for his most hits in four years) and a 30-point season with his level of peripherals (he’ll fly past 200 shots as well) has a lot of value. Imagine if his shooting percentage ever reverts to what it was a couple years ago? (jan23)

15. Sens forward Colin White said he should be back in the Ottawa lineup after the All-Star Game. He had been playing very well on a line with Brady Tkachuk and Mark Stone. I’d like to see him get another chance there. (jan22)

16. Teams that lost out in the Milan Lucic derby have to be thanking their lucky stars that they were unsuccessful in signing him, provided that they didn’t sign their own white elephant contracts that summer (Loui Eriksson, Troy Brouwer, David Backes, and Andrew Ladd all come to mind first). This is where auction drafts can be tricky, because you’ll end up paying too much for at least one player and end up trying to stretch your dollar on the rest.

It’s important that with any player, you set a maximum price that you’re willing to spend. Don’t exceed that price. If someone else is willing to go higher, let them pay that price. They’ll have to patch up the resulting holes in their roster afterward. In a salary cap world, value wins the day. (jan26)

17. It looks like Oscar Klefbom will return for the Oilers now that the All-Star Break has passed. This is huge for the Oilers if they truly want to make a run for the playoffs, as he’s easily their best defenseman and the team has looked near-dead since his injury. Good news, fantasy owners! (jan22)

18. Speaking of the Oilers, who put both Ty Rattie and Ryan Spooner on waivers. I’ll admit, I got sucked into Rattie’s performance alongside Connor McDavid at the end of last year and in the preseason. I didn’t end up drafting him anywhere, but I have used him a lot in DFS. It, uh, hasn’t gone well. Maybe these guys can catch on elsewhere.

Thus concludes the Jordan Eberle trade tree. Outcome: not great!

19. One last bit on the Oilers: they signed goaltender Mikko Koskinen for three more years with an AAV of $4.5-million. That seems like a pretty big gamble on a 30-year old goalie (31 next season) with 31 career NHL games. Not to mention the team needs to completely overhaul their winger depth from top to bottom, needs another top-4 defenseman, and already has $73-million committed to next season. This should be a team looking to spend as little as possible in goal to try and upgrade elsewhere and this … this is not it. (jan22)

20. There was a stretch just before the ASG Break where Mat Barzal saw his ice time get reduced for six consecutive games, with a nearly-season-low 15:30 just last Sunday (his season-low is 14:53). Perhaps Barry Trotz is winding him down for the season-ending run. I would keep my expectations low for him when it comes to Tuesday’s game. (jan21)

21. Collin Delia’s save percentage after 10 games is still a nice 0.923 and he’s running a 60 percent Quality Start number. Corey Crawford is back skating, but not yet with the team, and seems to be intending to return to the team this season. He could be one to two weeks away. (jan21)

Have a good week, folks!!

from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-home/21-fantasy-hockey-rambles/21-fantasy-hockey-rambles-2/

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