‘The Day Before’ was the most wish-listed game in 2023 on Steam. People all around the world were looking forward to the early access of the supposed ‘Day Z’ destroyer. After all, it sounded very promising: A post-apocalyptic open-world MMORPG. It was supposed to blow our minds with its stunning graphics and zombie hordes rushing through the streets. But instead, players were greeted with an empty and rather broken game that delivered none of those things. Many people even go so far as to call it a total scam or the worst game of 2023. So why exactly did ‘The Day Before’ turn out to be a disaster?
Big Ambitions or False Promises?
It’s nothing new that studios promise certain elements & features only to either poorly execute or not implement them at all. Of course, we shouldn’t expect a product in its “Early Access” phase to be complete or bug-free but we should at least get a taste of how the final game would look like… and let me tell you. The Day Before’ is nothing like what we expected.
Bad Extraction Shooter Instead Of Promised MMORPG
‘The Day Before’ advertised itself as a mixture of ‘The Last of Us’, ‘The Division’, and ‘DayZ’. An open-world MMORPG run over by hordes of zombies… but it is nothing like that. Instead, the game presents itself as some sort of extraction shooter á la ‘Escape from Tarkov’ or ‘Hunt: Showdown’. However, it isn’t even half as good as its competitors.
Extraction Shooters usually have a very good risk & rewards system in place which highly influences the player’s choices. Are they going to pick another fight for a chance for better loot or are they going to flee with what they have? Because if you die… you lose it all. Well… at least the things you took with you in that particular round. Everything else you earn previously gets either stashed away in some sort of hub or has been converted into currency that you can spend to buy new equipment if necessary. The longer you play, the better your stuff gets. Almost like a roguelike.
Imbalanced Gameplay
In ‘The Day Before’, everything seems so unfinished and imbalanced. For example, it’s possible to get an overpowered gun after just one round which doesn’t feel rewarding at all. Besides, hardly any of the loot is worth keeping around and it just feels like it doesn’t matter if you live or die. The result is almost the same at the end of the day. So what’s the point of going in over and over again?
Another thing that I want to point out is that people can easily camp quest destinations. This allows them to target players and simply steal the stuff they gathered so far. It’s definitely possible to avoid problems like this early in development. From randomizing quest locations to using random loot as quest items. Of course, players can still camp in those locations as well but it becomes rare and less predictable. If done right, it can make a game even more thrilling, but not in this case.
Missing Zombies & Empty City
Another thing a lot of players were looking forward to was the idea of zombie hordes. They would attack the players and even force them to work together to save themselves. Imagine meeting one of your opponents and instead of mindlessly shooting each other, you two have to team up to be able to make your way through a huge group of zombies for a chance of better loot. It was such a thrilling and unique idea that would force you to trust someone. Imagine finally getting to that loot after the battle only to be shot in the head by your companion. We were even joking around how cool it would be if a downed player could turn into a zombie and avenge himself… and what did we get? Nothing.
Not only didn’t we get the promised zombie hordes but the zombies themselves are extremely rare. You find yourself wandering the empty city streets for ages without even encountering a single one of them. They are hardly even a challenge even when you stumble across them. So, the need for teaming up with a stranger is completely obsolete.
It’s not even fun to explore the city itself. Most buildings aren’t even accessible or if they are, they are almost empty with hardly any loot in them. Everything just seems so… lifeless. Of course, this is supposed to be an apocalyptic city that got abandoned by humans. If we look at similar games or the story epos ‘The Last of Us’… you can tell the difference. Just because a city is abandoned, doesn’t mean it has to be empty.
‘Fntastics’ Misplays & Bad Decisions
While the bad state of ‘The Day Before’ and its lack of content came as a huge surprise for many people, there were a lot of others who already saw it coming. Their posts and announcements got more & more unclear the closer they got to their release date. There were even rumors that people were working for ‘Fntastic’ completely for free. So naturally a lot of people, especially game journalists, started to grow skeptical.
Mistreated & Underpaid Employees
One of the most shocking discoveries over the past few weeks was that people indeed have been lured into working for free with false promises. Hardly any of them have been compensated and those that were just got some simple goodies like in-game currency of one of their other games. It’s no surprise that people volunteer to work on a game to be able to become a professional or to simply fulfill their lifelong dream of releasing a game on their own. Usually, those people get paid once the game has been released and the money is flowing, but it seems that the CEOs of ‘Fntastic’ simply vanished without giving them the promised salary.
After all the uproar, a lot of former employees spoke up about their experiences with the company. Many of them already voiced their concerns during the five years of development, but most of the time they were met with deaf ears. Apparently their bosses always knew better despite their lack of experience in the industry. Good ideas were disregarded and bad were implemented.
Naturally, people started to question those decisions. Sadly, if they spoke up it often ended in heated arguments that even led to employees getting terminated by the higher-ups. This resulted in people being too scared to voice their concerns because they feared that they would lose their jobs as well.
The Aftermath
After releasing the game, a lot of people were quick to voice their critiques, and the way ‘Fntastic’ reacted is more than questionable. They were quick to delete a lot of their ads and even removed the MMO tags from their Steam page in an attempt to cover things up. One employee even claims that it never had been an MMO in the first place. From the very beginning, the game aimed for a player count of less than a hundred people with no possibility to expand the map even if they wanted to.
But the questionable decisions don’t end there. Only four days after their release, they announced the closure of their studio. They claimed that they wouldn’t have the resources to continue working on the game, but there have been some leaks and screenshots of their financial situations that prove otherwise. Though it’s hard to tell what is true and what is not at this point.
After all, ‘Fntastic’ even attempted to change their studio back into their former name ‘Eight Points’ after already announcing the shutdown of their studio. A rather shady move if you ask me. It seems that they don’t understand the seriousness of the situation they are in, especially after answering a user’s Tweet on X with, “Sh** happens.” which not only is highly unprofessional but also very disrespectful to their paying customers.
The game still made millions of dollars in just a few days despite its bad quality. Though thanks to Steam’s return policy, they weren’t able to just take the money and bale with it. Thankfully both Steam and the publisher Mytona are doing their best to refund anyone who wants their money back, even if they’ve played more than two hours.
It’s sadly a common theme that strangers to the industry think it’s easy to create a game like this. If professionals come up with ideas or voice their concerns, they rarely mean any harm, they just want to share their knowledge and experience for a better product. Like experts in finance, business, sales, or other matters, game designers & developers also have studied their field for years. Maybe if they had listened to their employees then ‘The Day Before’ wouldn’t have ended in such a disaster.
If you’re looking for a different game to pass your time or if you need a present for someone special, why not take a look at our Top 10 Games for Christmas list:
Top 10 Games For Christmas 2023 – Game Designer Recommends
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