Days Gone gameplay footage opens Sony's E3 2017 press conference

Blend Studios' PS4 exclusive zombie survival game Days Gone impressed at Sony's E3 2017 press conference with a brand new gameplay video, one year on from its high-profile announcement and starring role at the company's showcase.

The open world survival game set in the US's Pacific Northwest, tasks players with surviving a hostile environment by managing unpredictable weather patterns and fast-moving zombie-like monsters called 'Freakers'.

Players will play as Deacon St. John, a biker and outcast who refuses the safe havens of the camps surviving humans call home.

A new gameplay demo was shown off early on during Sony's show tonight (13 June), starting at a settlement as St. John sets out on the road on a rescue mission. Along the way he's ambushed by a gang he dispatches of after a QTE.

Following a woodland path, the player finds an encampment, scouts it out and stealthily works their way past, using a bear trap and a rock as a distraction. This attracts some unwanted attention the player carefully tries to avoid before then using them to flush some gang members out and rescue his target Manny.

A feral bear approaches them and the demo comes to its end.

Days Gone appeared twice during Sony's 2016 show, once with a trailer announcing the game and setting the scene for its post-apocalyptic story, and a second time to close the show with a demo showing off its enormous, insurmountable Freaker hordes.

These hordes showed off some impressive crowd tech and posed a fearsome hazard for the player. The feral masses can't be killed off completely, but can be pushed back and their threat managed to create opportunities for escape.

The new footage can be viewed below.

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