Is O‘Brien Infected in Days Gone?

As an avid Days Gone gamer and content creator, I have completed extensive analysis into O’Brien’s status after his secret ending reveal. After poring through gameplay details and story elements, I can definitively say O’Brien has become infected with the evolved Freaker virus. However, key questions remain about NERO’s intentions and O’Brien retaining human-level intelligence.

O’Brien Clearly Reveals His Freaker Infection to Deacon

In the climatic cutscene, O’Brien removes his helmet to expose the unmistakable signs of Freaker mutation – pale skin, bloodshot eyes, and facial scarring. As someone quite familiar with in-game Freaker designs, O’Brien unfortunately exhibits all the hallmarks of an infected victim. Additionally, O’Brien plainly states “you know what I am now” to Deacon, erasing any doubt about his condition.

However, O’Brien Maintains His Personality and Faculties

Unlike the mindless swarms of Freakers roaming the Pacific Northwest wilderness, O’Brien shockingly retains his intelligence, memories, and ability to speak. He recognizes Deacon immediately and speaks rationally about NERO’s ongoing virus experiments. In fact, O’Brien shows exceeding cunning to mask his infection status within NERO’s ranks. This indicates an unprecedented Freaker mutation granting O’Brien enhanced cognitive powers while also infecting his body.

Presumptive Standout Abilities Based on O‘Brien‘s Infection

Based on my completion of the Days Gone gameplay compendium, I speculate infected O’Brien may possess extreme Freaker capabilities:

• Retaining intelligence and personality after infection
• Inhibited virus progression, preventing full Freaker transformation
• Enhanced resilience, speed, strength surpassing Standard Freakers
• Detection/tracking skills using smell, sound, movement
• Ability to communicate verbally with uninfected individuals

Freaker Infection Effects Comparison

NERO‘s Experiment Goals with Evolved Virus Remain Unclear

Based on O’Brien’s intimate knowledge of the Freaker virus mutations, it is evident that NERO has allowed (or potentially caused) his unique infection. It appears they are shockingly using an advanced form of the virus to create intelligent “super Freakers” that retain human qualities. Disturbingly, this could be the early stages of engineering an entirely new species.

Potential NERO End Goals

As an obsessive Days Gone aficionado, my leading theories on NERO’s experimentation into weaponized Freaker viruses are:

• Biological Warfare: Creating viral-based weapons to infect enemies with minimal collateral damage
• Pandemic 2.0: Further mutate and spread the virus to collapse remaining human settlements
• Hybridization: Merge Freaker abilities into humans to create powerful hybrid subjects
• Extermination: Militarize mutated Freakers as controllable bio-weapons to wipe out all standard Freakers

The extensive implications of O’Brien as Patient Zero in these scenarios are incredibly disturbing. This could merely be the beginning of a far larger plan straight from the human extinction playbook. Gamers desperately need a Days Gone sequel to explore this secretive machinations!

In Conclusion: O‘Brien – Advanced Freaker Prototype

Based on my complete story and gameplay evaluation:

• O’Brien is clearly infected with the Freaker virus
• However, he maintains intelligence/verbal skills indicating an advanced mutation
• O’Brien represents the dawn of educated “Special” Freaker variants
• NERO allowing these mutations implies sinister human experimentation

I hope this detailed inspection of O’Brien’s freakish infection has been insightful for fellow gamers. Let me know your own theories in the comments about this intriguing new virus evolution introduced in Days Gone!