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They often say that there’s no smoke without fire. But when it comes to Fntastic’s post-apocalyptic co-op shooter, it’s like that Hollywood cliche where someone flicks a cigarette butt and burns down the whole damn town. Yes, from stem to stern, the whole development, marketing, and release cycle for The Day Before has been a messy yet fascinating case study of what not to do during the lead-up to launch. Developers take note!
Before we even get to the meat and drink of the article, let’s just point out one glaring issue with Fntastic. From what we can gather, the studio doesn’t even pay all of its staff. Not only that, but the Singapore-based company seems to be proud of that fact. We’ll let that sink in for a second.
Seriously, just check out the developer’s official website:
Is it just us, or does that sound eerily like a) some sort of a threat or b) some sort of a weird cult? We’ll let you decide. Yes, it’s safe to say that there’s definitely something off about this game. Now, it’s time for us to “willingly” dissect why The Day Before has been such an unmitigated disaster.
The Day Before Really Is a Janky Mess After All
Off the bat, the survival horror MMO’s 5-minute announcement trailer back in January 2021 revealed that the game would take place in an alternate history setting where the United States had been decimated by a deadly virus that turns its victims into flesh-munching zombies. So far, so The Last of Us.
With excitement riding high, The Day Before quickly rocketed to the top of Steam’s most wishlisted game of 2023 rapidly becoming one of the most eagerly anticipated games of the year. Of course, due to the size and the scope of Fntastic — a team with only three small-scale indie titles under its belt: 2017’s The Wild Eight, 2018’s Radiant One, and 2021’s Propnight, which were all decent yet largely forgettable — some were sceptical about the overall quality of the ambitious MMO zombie shooter.
Fast forward a few months, and its initial release date of June 2022 was pushed back to March 1, 2023 in order for the studio to pivot from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5. During its development, it saw two more delays after this. Meanwhile, Fntastic was hit with trademark issues due to the title of the game, resulting in The Day Before being de-listed from Steam for several months.
And then, just last week, Fntastic strangely apologised on X (formerly Twitter) before the game’s launch, saying: “Please forgive us for not doing the best marketing and teasers.” Okay, fair enough, that’s sort of endearing, maybe? But wait, there’s even more?
Please don’t accuse us of scamming; that’s not true. We didn’t take a penny from anyone. Please don’t accuse us of asset flip; that’s not true also. Our team worked day and night for five years to make our dream game a reality.
Per FntasticHQ on X/Twitter
So this is a pretty weird thing to say the week before the release of your game, right? Seriously, if you’re developing a game, don’t apologise about it the week before. It just comes off as uber strange, especially if the road to launch has been such a rocky one.
What We Think After Playing The Day Before
Right now, The Day Before is officially out in early access on Steam and retails for $39.99/£33.50 or your local equivalent. We’ve had a chance to play the opening few hours and we’ll just be straight with you: the game is an absolute broken mess.
Not only is it far from a true open-world MMO — instead, it’s basically an extraction shooter with open-world elements — but the developer has actively deleted all the open-world footage from their official Youtube channel in a bid to hide the truth from their customers. Not a good look, folks!
Adding insult to injury, The Day Before is also riddled with game-breaking bugs and poor gameplay design where players end up spending ages looting stuff that either isn’t very useful or disappears from your inventory without warning. In addition, its performance is far from ideal, as it stutters thanks to a really inconsistent framerate. Oh, and it looks incredibly generic and underwhelming to boot. Crumbs!
Here’s a clip we captured showcasing one of the game’s many bugs:
Pretty unreal, right? And that’s all without mentioning a bunch of other janky media clips and zero press reviews at launch. Yes, The Day Before may go down in history, but it’s safe to say that it will be for all the wrong reasons. I mean, you know there’s something wrong when the game’s font is the exact carbon copy of The Last of Us. We rest our case.
The Day Before is currently available in early access on PC and is scheduled to arrive sometime next year for
