Days after announcing The Day Before had been delayed to November 2023, developer Fntastic has released a 10 minute gameplay video highlighting what players can expect from the open-world zombie survival MMO.
It has just about everything one might expect from the genre and looks to be taking inspiration from a number of other popular games, including The Division, DayZ, and The Last of Us. There’s crouch walking through abandoned city streets, scavenging abandoned homes for supplies, gun customization at a workbench, backpack inventory management, and the occasional run-in with the living dead. Zombies, however, don’t look to pose much of a threat and are easily eliminated from a distance. For an open-world game that can feature other players to encounter and interact with, the video looks oddly lifeless and empty, with most of the footage composed of the player character simply scavenging for supplies or walking empty streets.
This latest gameplay video is the best look yet at The Day Before, of which little has been shown in recent years. The game was originally slated to release in 2022 before it was announced the game would be shifting to Unreal Engine 5. That decision saw the game delayed until March 2023.
The saga has only continued from there. Fntastic recently announced the game has been delayed once again to November 10, 2023. Initially, Fntastic said this delay was due to a trademark dispute in the US preventing the developer from releasing the game on Steam, but later stated that the delay was always part of the plan.
“We planned to move the game’s release before and plan to announce it with [publisher] Mytona in a 10-minute gameplay video,” a Fntastic statement to IGN reads. “And then you all know what happened. So to be on the safe side, to ensure there are no more transfers, we, along with the publisher, chose November 10. That is a safe date, given the trademark dispute.”
Fntastic has been criticized for using unpaid volunteers to develop The Day Before. Company founders Eduard Gotovsev and Aisen Gotovsev said in a video released last year that Fntastic boasts more than 100 full-time “volunteers” who work remotely across the world, and that the studio also works with dozens of unpaid “supporters” who help with testing the game.
Multiple delays and the studio’s volunteer nature has led some fans to believe the game will never see the light of day. Fntastic responded to those concerns, telling IGN that the game has been in development for over four years and that “it is unpleasant” to hear accusations that the game is all smoke and mirrors.
“We only believe in the final product,” Fntastic said. “No matter what anyone says, you’ll see for yourself on November 10 this year. We hope that after the game’s success, we’ll give people faith that in this life, if you persevere toward a dream, it will come true, despite all the obstacles and doubts.”
