Initially announced back in January 2021, The Day Before started off as one of the most highly-anticipated upcoming games. After several delays, lackluster trailers, and confusing marketing, it's now become one of the most controversial. Though The Day Before has been surrounded by speculation and debate recently, many have been anxious to see raw, unedited gameplay footage. The latest gameplay trailer finally gives players a glimpse at what the moment-to-moment gameplay might actually look like, although it doesn't deliver in all departments.
Prior to The Day Before being removed from Steam recently, it was one of the most wish-listed games on the platform. The Day Before is an open-world online survival shooter set in a highly-detailed post-apocalyptic United States, where players will need to scavenge, craft, and fight to survive. However, similarly to other open world games like Forspoken, its world looks to be lifeless and empty, lacking interesting environmental storytelling or challenging threats.
The Day Before Had High Expectations
Taking clear inspiration from The Last of Us for its setting and gameplay, The Day Before is developed by FNTASTIC and has been known as an ambitious project. Its early trailers showcased a graphically impressive open world with detailed environments filled with hoards of zombies and roaming enemy patrols. The impressive graphics and the idea of a modern MMO PvPvE version of The Last of Us drew major attention to The Day Before's announcement, setting high expectations from the start.
Forspoken also had its fair share of hype when it was first revealed, as it looked to have a massive, gorgeous open world with exciting traversal and bombastic combat. As time went on, more trailers were released that led to doubts about its story and dialogue, but a gameplay demo allowed players to get a taste of its world and gameplay. After the demo, one of the biggest concerns going into Forspoken's release was whether its open world would be engaging to explore. Now, it seems those concerns were valid, as many have criticized Forspoken for having an empty open world.
With open world games becoming more prevalent in the past decade, and their size and scope continuing to grow, it can be difficult for developers to keep up with expectations. FNTASTIC has a rocky track record of releases and none of its previous games are anywhere close to the size and scale of The Day Before, so many have speculated on whether they can deliver. The newest gameplay trailer for The Day Before all but confirms this, as although the world looks to deliver on its size, it appears to be surprisingly lacking in terms of depth, creativity, or hostility.
The Day Before Shouldn’t Be a Walk in the Park
One of the most important aspects of any post-apocalyptic game is designing a world that feels believable given the events that unfolded to leave the world in ruins. Though there are broken-down cars, military checkpoints, and trash-filled streets, The Day Before seems to lack any stories of struggle, loss, or danger as seen in games like The Division 2. Crafting an engaging story within the world players are exploring is vital to building immersion. Unfortunately, the gameplay shown in the latest trailer looks to be just empty and lifeless as its world.
To many, this latest gameplay trailer served as The Day Before's final chance to regain hype and rebuild confidence for those excited to play the game. However, in the trailer's ten minutes of gameplay, about eight minutes consisted of the player simply walking around the world. The other two minutes were spent dismantling items in their inventory and adding attachments to their weapon. The player occasionally stops to loot or engage a couple of easily-dispatched zombies, but there's a disappointing lack of action. Still, with its recent delay from March to November 10, 2023, there's plenty of time for FNTASTIC to improve its open world prior to release.
The Day Before will be available for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S on November 10, 2023.