In Days Gone, Deacon St. John and his best buddy Boozer are commonly referred to by other survivors as drifters. They travel together, choosing to not reside in one of the several encampments that have been erected by groups in this post-apocalyptic world. For that reason, most of the folks Deacon encounters give him the side-eye, not knowing whether they can trust him.
This apprehension feeds into one of the core systems in Days Gone: Trust. Each of the four encampments you visit throughout Days Gone has a separate Trust system. As you raise your Trust, you’ll unlock more items to purchase from the merchant and mechanic. Our Days Gone Trust guide outlines this important mechanic in the latest PS4 exclusive.
For more on Days Gone, make sure to read our full review. For additional tips, check out our beginner’s guide and fast travel guide.
Trust often comes organically
Many of the mainline missions in Days Gone run through the four camps. We can say with confidence that simply by completing the mainline missions, you’ll achieve Trust level 1 in each of the four camps. And you’ll go over the top into Trust level 2 in a couple of the camps where a vast number of mainline missions hail from.
Optional missions increase Trust
Often times, you’ll be on the road and receive a call from one of the four camps. To avoid spoilers, we’ll simply talk about Copeland’s Camp, situated at Peaceful Lake. You enter Copeland’s Camp in the early hours of the campaign. Occasionally, he’ll ring you to say he has a bounty for you to secure, which entails tracking a wanted person or saving someone from the camp.
These optional missions reward almost as much Trust as mainline missions. You can tell the difference between mainline and optional missions by the color. Yellow missions in your active storylines are mainline events, whereas red and white/gray are optional missions. As you progress, almost every mission you complete funnels into your Trust level at one of the four camps.
Dynamic events impact Trust, too
Though these don’t pop up as often as you’d expect, you’ll ride by situations sometimes that requires quick intervention. Usually, it’s someone tied up on the roadside. Simply kill the enemies who tied up the poor drifter, and then untie them. Afterwards, you’ll be able to send them to a camp of your choice. Your decision rewards you cash, Trust points, or both.
Don’t forget to turn in bounties, animal meat, and plants
Bounties, not to be confused with some of the optional missions, are located in each camp. The bounty booth takes all of your Freaker finds and turns them into cash and Trust points. When you kill Freakers, you’ll collect their ears and other gross appendages. You can turn them in at any camp, so make sure you don’t turn them in at camps where you already have a Trust level of three.
Animal meat, taken from killing wolves, deer, bears, and other wildlife, can be turned in at kitchens in the camps. Plantlife, too, which will be shown on the map once you purchase the Hawkeyed skill from the Survival tree. Like Freaker ears, animal meat and plant life reward you with cash and Trust points.
Why should you worry about Trust?
As a drifter, it’s understandable why Deacon St. John shouldn’t care about other people liking him. But the Trust system is crucial for both weapons, attachments, medicine, and bike upgrades.
When you haven’t reached Trust level 1, the only things you can buy in camps are fuel, bike repairs, and ammo. That’s it. Once you hit Trust level 1, however, you’ll be able to purchase performance upgrades for your bike, new weapons, suppressors for guns, and medicine. Better guns, bike upgrades, attachments, and items unlock once you reach Trust level 2 and Trust level 3.
These upgrades aren’t exactly required, but they are very helpful. For instance, the starting weapons are very mediocre. But automatic weapons purchased with a Trust level of three? They are devastating. Not to mention the suppressors for automatic weapons, which require at least a Trust level of two. It’s great to have a powerful weapon, but it’s even better if that weapon is somewhat stealthy, so you don’t alert as many Freakers of your location.
Bike upgrades are the most important aspect of building Trust, though. You will quickly find out how slow Deacon’s motorcycle is when you start Days Gone. You’ll also realize how small the gas tank is. You want to upgrade your fuel tank and engine as soon as possible.
After that, you can upgrade your exhaust and storage, which determines how loud your bike is and how much ammo it can store, respectively. There are nine bike upgrade categories in all, each with up to three tiers. Raising your Trust to level three is the only way to fully maximize your bike’s potential.
Upgrading all four camps to Trust level 3 isn’t necessary
Each camp has its own Trust system. While it’s convenient to have access to all of the upgrades at all four camps, it’s not necessary. To reach the max Trust level at each camp, you really will have to complete most of the optional missions. Since you can fast travel, only having one of the camps at Trust level 3 will work just fine.
We recommend focusing on Lost Lake, the third camp you’ll encounter, because the mainline missions tied to Lost Lake will take you to Trust level 2 naturally. With a little bit of extra work, you can have access to all of the weapons and bike upgrades you could possibly need to dispatch of the threats around you.
