Days Gone
Scavenger Challenge
It started with a simple question: how realistic can I make Days Gone? What would Deacon do if loot didn’t magically respawn and fuel cans weren’t bottomless?
Deacon St. John doesn't run back to camp every time his bag's empty - he figures it out. I wanted to play the game the way he’d actually play it. No safety net, no shortcuts. Just a Drifter, his bike, and whatever supplies he can scavenge out in the shit.
Would such a playthrough be possible to complete? And would it be fun?
I discovered the answers (yes, it’s possible, and yes, it’s fun). Now I’m giving you the rules and the tools I created so you can try it for yourself.
Days Gone gives you a world that wants to kill you. The Scavenger Challenge is a unique playthrough challenge that gives it a much better chance of succeeding.
Every choice is a matter of life and death. No excuses. Every bullet counts. Every gas can counts. You're not a hero with infinite resources. You’re a Drifter trying to stay alive.
Act like it.
NO RESTOCK. NO REFUEL. NO MERCY.
You want to survive out there? Really survive? Then you don’t get to play it safe. No running back to camp every time your bag’s empty. No handing over bounties for a hot meal and a bullet resupply. You take what the world gives you, and you make it last.
That’s the Scavenger Challenge. One playthrough. Survival II. No safety net.
A CODE TO LIVE BY
Being a Drifter means scavenging everywhere, every day. You wanna survive, you follow these rules. These aren’t suggestions.
➤ Everything out there is finite. You picked up a can, found a jar of gunpowder, snatched a dirty rag off the ground, it’s not coming back. The world doesn’t restock for you. Gas cans included.
➤ Don’t do business with camps. Doesn’t matter how friendly they are, you’re not trading bounties for bullets or handing over meat for a hot meal. You take care of yourself. That means no merchants, no bounty turn-ins, no topping off fuel. You ride in to get a job, you ride out.
➤ Camps are not your home. You don’t sleep at Copeland’s, you don’t sleep at Tucker’s, you don’t sleep at Iron Mike’s. The only beds you use are the ones you’ve earned: O’Leary Mountain, MMUs you’ve unlocked, and ambush camps you’ve taken for yourself.
➤ Keep your guns loaded your own way. Gun lockers don’t refill your ammo. Figure it out.
➤ Gas stations are fair game. Fuel up as many times as you need. The bike keeps moving, so do you.
➤ Plants grow back. Take them as often as you like.
Here are a few things you can adjust before you start. Tighten them up or leave them loose, depending on what kind of run you want - just make a decision before you start and stick with it.
Gas cans: one can, one job. Use each can on either the bike or a generator, but not both. Or, if that feels too punishing, let a full can do both. That’s not how I run it, but it’s your apocalypse.
Nest residue: either it’s a one-time resource like everything else, or you let it respawn. But if you wanna know what it really is, you’ll have to ask O’Brian.
Bike upgrades: if you want to earn better parts as you go and make the broken road a little easier to ride, go ahead. You’ll have to grind for trust by clearing nests, rescuing survivors, and clearing hordes. Or you can keep the piece of shit bike Manny gave you and ride it to the end of the world. It’s your call.
FIELD NOTES
The map and tracker are your field notes. Every location, every resource, every count. It’s all in there.
Make a copy of the tracker before you start. Keep it open and knock the numbers down every time you take something. The map tells you where things are, the tracker tells you where you stand. Between the two of them, you've got no excuse for losing count.
RIDE OUT
Are you ready? No, you’re not. Nobody’s ready. That’s the whole point. You figure it out when you’re already out there, when you’ve already made the wrong call and you’re dealing with the consequences. That’s the run.
Now get on the bike and ride out. The world doesn’t get easier while you wait.
D