Sony Bend demonstrated some new footage of Days Gone, where we get to see some of the traps, some of the driving, some of the melee, and some of the dynamic weather changes.

During the Sony E3 press conference we learned a lot more about Days Gone, the upcoming zombie-horde open-world title from the small studio working on the game. During the stage conference we saw a very specific kind of presentation, but it was only after the conference did we get to see some cool new gameplay for the third-person action title. Unlike a lot of other games out there aiming to either emasculate or diminish the masculinity of the male action hero in today’s generation of gaming, we see that Deacon is a true, masculine, bad-ass anti-hero. You can check out the gameplay video below.

The developers explain in the video above that different weather conditions will affect the visibility of both NPCs and the player, and that road conditions will affect how well the motorcycle behaves during travel. Players will need to keep the bike maintained, and keep watchful eyes out for traps and bandit raids. According to the developer they have a dynamic AI system constantly on the prowl to terrorize and be a menace to the player’s endeavors to progress through the world.

It’s about time a game finally starts throwing challenging AI at players.

There are a couple of other noteworthy things about the game. For one, Deacon is not invincible. He gets hurt, he can fall victim to traps, he gets injured and he can become overwhelmed.

At the same time, though, Deacon is also a legitimate badass. Before the world went traveling down the river Styx like a tune across the devil’s banjo, Deacon was a member of an outlaw biker gang, so he was no toothfairy.

Now I know some of you might be thinking “But hey, Deacon isn’t some new thing. We’ve had J.D. Fenix and Joel from the Last of Us as tough guys in recent games”. Well, that’s not entirely true. J.D. Fenix from Gears of War 4 is like the poster child for the annual Aryan Pillsbury Doughboy Competition. He’s nothing like his father and is more of a happy-go-lucky goof than a tough-as-nails badass. Heck, the only thing masculine about him is his square jawline and rock-hard forehead. The guy is pretty much an afternoon cartoon character come to life accompanied throughout the game by what I like to call his “Saturday Morning Superfriends”.

Joel is definitely a badass, but the game tries really hard to subvert that trope by making him out to be closer to a bad guy or a villain than an anti-hero.

Deacon is a lot like John Marston based on what they’ve showcased so far. It seems like he’s done some bad things, but deep down he’s a good guy.

It’s nice to finally see some real men step back into the role of being badasses after we’ve had a barrage of games attempting to undermine the natural traits of male masculinity in action games. Hopefully Sony Bend doesn’t pull the rug out from underneath gamers and end up doing some lecture about toxic masculinity halfway through.

Anyway, Days Gone is one of the few games I’m looking forward to because it looks like a good hardcore action game for people looking for a good hardcore action-thriller. With so many games out there trying to be anti-violent using violence, it’s nice to see a game where it seems to be honest about the harsh realities of its fictional setting.