From Anticipated to Infamous, The Day Before and its botched release
By Aidan Robertson
The Day Before leaves fans disappointed and dissatisfied (Source: Fntastic)
With many anticipated games on the horizon for 2024 and beyond, 2023 had its fair share of releases when it came to titles that generated a lot of hype and interest within the gaming industry. We had massive titles like “Starfield” from Bethesda Studios and “Final Fantasy 16” from Square Enix, however there was one game that left eager gamers intrigued and excited for its release since its reveal, “The Day Before” from developers Fntastic.
Initially revealed in January of 2021, The Day Before instantly skyrocketed in popularity among the industry and it quickly became one of the most anticipated games to come out, it even becoming the most wish listed and wanted game on steam of all time.
Gamers were excited for it due to open world survival horror aspects and its similarities to popular survival horror "Day-Z" with its hopes that it would essentially be a more impressive and modern version of an already beloved game.
However, there would soon be trouble in paradise for developers Fntastic as not only were there already delays when it came to the topic of a promised released date but there were also many trademark disputes involving the game's title and assets.
Alongside these internal issues, fans had analysed trailers for the game and found that it beared a striking resemblance to already released trailers with the only difference being the assets used, many users on social media compared trailers frame by frame and shot by shot for comparison and found that it matched perfectly.
This lack of effort regarding the trailers alongside the finding of reused and purchased assets left fans very worried for the future of the game and its release. After this incident and initial blow to The Day Before, fans began to research the developers' previous projects and found that every previous release from Fntastic had been abandoned and failed horribly, leading to another strike against people's expectations.
This all culminated on 7 December when “The Day Before” released on PC for early access and the reception was disheartening as not only were fans dissatisfied with the product but also felt scammed. Critics were never the nicer, reviewers at IGN said, “The Day Before is easily one of the worst games I’ve ever played to the point where I’m afraid to continue running it on my PC.”
Fntastic pulled the game from digital stores and issued a statement on 4 December where they said “We apologise if we didn't meet your expectations. We did everything in our power, but unfortunately, we miscalculated our capabilities.”
Fntastic also announced their closer and shutting down only 4 days after the initial release, leaving the company one of the most infamous stains for video games in recent years.