'The Day Before' Shutting Down Just 4 Days After Launch

The Day Before launched to towering player expectations... and a response of doomsday proportions. As one of the most negatively reviewed games on Steam at this time, just what went so horribly wrong, and what do TDB's developers, Fntastic, plan to do about it?

The Day Before Scam:

The Day Before was marketed as a massive open-world survival shooter. However, upon launch, it became painfully apparent that TDB's gameplay loop was far more akin to that of an extraction shooter title, such as Escape From Tarkov or Deep Rock Galactic.

Disgruntled user, CRREAM: This game is a scam and you can't convince me otherwise. You can't advertise your game as a Survival MMO and then it's basically Tarkov w/ a handful of "Infected" sprinkled around the city.

The Day Before Review:

So, The Day Before is more like an extraction shooter. But is it at least a good extraction shooter? Most players haven't stuck around to find out upon discovering a plethora of bugs, missing mechanics, and general annoyances. Here are but a few listed by another enraged customer:

Joux:
- No vaulting, can't get over small obstacles. You have to jump over them
- No directional audio
- No melee [meaning no way to fight zombies unless you find a gun]
- Can't climb ladders
- Zombies tank 5 shots before they die
- Barely any zombies in a zombie game
- They promised an open world massively multiplayer survival game, we got an extraction looter shooter game
- You can't enter 90% of the buildings on the map

Joux's concerns were echoed by most, which is unsurprising given players were sold on the fantasy of a fully-explorable open world. Other complaints range from unimpactful base building to unintuitive combat to a distinxt absence of other human players, the latter likely to only get worse in the days to come.

The Day Before Developer's Response:

On the day after launch, Fntastic shared an update on Twitter/X reading:

@FntasticHQ: A huge update, including server and AI fixes, is coming in a few hours.

Then, just 48 hours later, an official statement was shared by the developers announcing the immediate closure of Fntastic studio.

@FntasticHQ: The Day Before has failed financially, and we lack the funds to continue. All income received is being used to pay off debts to our partners.

We apologise if we didn't meet your expectations. We did everything within our power, but unfortunately, we miscalculated our capabilities.

This statement has only further incensed players, who feel they were promised a long-lived game with guaranteed hotfixes, content patches, and continued development for years to come. Players who accrued more than 2 hours of playtime appear particularly aggrieved, for securing a refund after 2 hours have passed within a game is exceptionally difficult on Steam.

While Fntastic developers claimed they would keep the servers active for The Day Before, without the promise of any future updates or improvements, many are wondering why they would even bother.

A final word from another dishevelled user on Steam.

Shaggy: Best part of the game was the refund button.

What happens next remains unclear. Many users are crying out for legal repercussions for the studio behind The Day Before. Whether the chaos of recent days will escalate into something altogther more serious for Fntastic, only time will tell.