You can do a lot of things in Days Gone: kill hordes of Freakers, build your bike up to how you want it, and even go “hmm, nice” while looking at the gorgeous horizon. But can you swim in Days Gone?
The answer is sort of. While Deacon can go into bodies of water and swim around, it’s not long before the game returns you to shore — you can be in above your waist for about two seconds in total.
There are animations for wading through deep water, which makes it seem like a feature that may have been cut, similarly to how the choices system never made it into the final game despite being showcased previously. However, there is a clearer, more story-orientated reason why Deacon is unable to swim.
In an early scene, Rikki is shown jumping into water and beckoning Deacon, who doesn’t want to get in. In an even earlier flashback, his wife, Sarah, wants to go swimming but Deacon declines as it’s “a long story”.
As an ex-soldier before the apocalypse, Deacon left the United States Army following a tragedy. As part of the 10th Mountain Division serving in Afghanistan, his squad’s vehicle was off-roaded by an IED and fell into water upside down. Deacon was (I think, it’s never explicit) the only survivor and dragged seven of his dead friends out of the water, which has caused him to be (understandably) averse to swimming and the military ever since. He has a 10th Mountain Division tattoo to commemorate his time in the army.
The game never explicitly says that he is traumatised (Deacon himself never makes much of a meal out of where he’s at mentally, even if he does mutter to himself constantly), but it’s clear that he is, especially when he is shown to be having second thoughts in the finale of the game about swimming across a gap after a bridge is blown out — it’s a weird sequence of events.
It’s unclear whether this phobia was always meant to be a part of proceedings or if it was to cover up the lack of a fully functioning swimming mechanic, but it’s ingenious in any case. If it’s the former, it gives some vulnerability to a character who might seem pig-headed to some, as well as filling in his backstory beyond being a surly guy who likes bikes. If it’s the latter, it might make even more sense and kill two birds with one stone. There are barely any deep pools of water in Days Gone, so why waste resources animating and developing something many may barely even notice?
It’s certainly one of the most interesting ways of blocking something off that the developer doesn’t really want you to notice or interact with that I’ve seen. It’s certainly better than invisible walls, that’s for sure.
From my Days Gone review:
“Sure, it’s clunky at points, has enough rough edges to cut someone, and is perhaps too slow in getting to the good stuff, but give Days Gone and Deacon a chance and they will win you over.”
Days Gone is out now exclusively for PS4.
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