This year is filled with several big releases, and it will be difficult for even big-budget AAA games to stand out. Despite this, games from smaller studios have managed to gather some hype behind them. This includes The Day Before, which has enticed gamers since 2022 with its stunning visuals and gritty aesthetic. Recent events cast a shadow of doubt on the project, suggesting it might unfold much the same way as Abandoned.Like The Day Before, Abandoned is a game that showed promise when it was revealed. However, after numerous delays and broken promises, many gamers are convinced that it is some kind of scam. It would be a pity if The Day Before is going along the same route, as it looks like a gripping dystopian MMO that could become a roaring success.
The Day Before's Uncertain Future
The Day Before is a survival horror game set in a post-apocalyptic world where players have to survive despite the hordes of flesh-eating zombies roaming around. To stay alive, players must scavenge for resources, craft weapons, and find fuel for abandoned vehicles. The game has been marketed as an expansive MMO, and with trailers showing a variety of environments including the quiet countryside, glitzy malls, and grimy cities, it has managed to draw the attention of quite a few gamers. It takes obvious inspiration from The Last of Us, with the game's logo resembling The Last of Us'.
Although The Day Before looks like a very enticing game, it has also drawn a fair bit of skepticism. Some gamers have pointed out that it simply looks too good to be true, and it is coming from a studio that doesn't have a track record of making games on this scale. It is being developed by Fntastic, a Russian studio that utilizes remote workers as well as paid and unpaid volunteers. Trouble started showing up when the game was delayed to 2023. This alone isn't a deal-breaker, as delays are common in the gaming industry. However, after the first round of stunning trailers, gamers have seen less of The Day Before.
More trouble started showing up when The Day Before disappeared from Steam's storefront, leading many to question whether it exists at all. Fntastic later stated that it was removed because the name "The Day Before" had been trademarked by an individual in South Korea. Muddying the waters even further, the lead mod of the game Discord server has expressed doubts regarding whether the game exists. In the past, gamers may have given the developers the benefit of the doubt. However, this situation seems to mirror another recent scandal.
Before The Day Before, There Was Abandoned
Abandoned was revealed in 2021, and it was marketed as a PS5 exclusive. It is a first-person survival horror title being developed by Blue Box Game Studios. Although the game's premise is interesting enough, the bulk of the attention it attracted was due to rumors that Hideo Kojima is involved with Abandoned. Although the game's director, Hasan Kahraman, denied the claim, trailers did feature minor details that seemed to stoke the rumors.
The studio announced that it would release interactive trailers that would be played through the Realtime Experience app, though it caused the PS5 console to crash. This triggered skepticism regarding the game and whether the developers were up to the task of making an immersive survival horror game. When the app was finally fixed, the first so-called interactive trailer featured nothing but a five-second clip of a man walking across a wooden floor. Since then, the future of the game remains uncertain, and while gamers have been promised a playable prologue, nothing has materialized yet. Individuals close to Kahraman have claimed that they have seen very little of the game, making it very likely that Abandoned is nothing more than a hoax.
With gaming growing in popularity, the industry has more eyes on it than ever. While this means the industry will attract more creativity, it also means that unscrupulous individuals hoping to make quick money will also be drawn to it. It appears that The Day Before might be little more than smoke and mirrors, much like Abandoned, though this is one situation where being wrong is better.
The Day Before is scheduled to release on November 10, 2023, on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
