Summary

  • Controversial development studio Fntastic cancels Kickstarter campaign for Escape Factory.
  • Fnastic says it will now begin development on a new prop hunt game known as ITEMS.
  • All donations for the Escape Factory project will be refunded, but Fntastic may start a new Kickstarter campaign for ITEMS in the future.

Controversial development studio Fntastic, best known for the now-defunct survival game The Day Before, has announced it is canceling its Kickstarter project for Escape Factory to begin work on a new prop hunt game known as ITEMS. While the studio is best known for the massively controversial title, The Day Before, Fntastic had previously launched Propnight, a popular multiplayer hide-and-seek game on Steam.

Unfortunately, The Day Before and Propnight were both shut down on January 22 after the studio announced its closure. While The Day Before was once a highly-anticipated release, its launch was quickly met with criticism and controversy as fans blasted the survival game as a "scam." One of the many reasons the game was blasted with negative reviews was due to Fntastic advertising the game as an MMO, despite the fact that this was a game that resembled an extraction shooter. Along with its lack of promised features, server issues, and bugs, The Day Before went down in gaming history is a monumental failure.

A single player is still playing The Day Before.
There's Still 1 Person Playing The Day Before on Steam

One of the most widely panned games in recent memory, The Day Before, somehow still has a single active user running the game on Steam.

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After announcing its closure in 2023, Fntastic made a controversial return in September, pledging to regain the trust of the community while simultaneously opening a Kickstarter campaign for a new title known as Escape Factory. Now, less than a month later, Fntastic has announced it is canceling the campaign, returning the money to those who had pledged, and starting working on a new prop hunt game. In a new statement on Twitter, Fntastic said its Escape Factory project "has not generated enough interest" but that it had "received many requests for a prop hunt game."

Fntastic Is Working on a New Prop Hunt Game

Upon the studio's return, it announced that it takes "full responsibility" for the controversy surrounding The Day Before and promised to fix past mistakes. Fans were skeptical of the studio's return, especially given that it was asking for donations to support its new project. However, the Kickstarter campaign was operating under the "all-or-nothing" funding model, which means all money donated to the project will now be refunded as the studio has shut down the campaign.

While Fntastic hasn't outright canceled Escape Factory, the studio says it is postponing it "until a more appropriate time." It went on to explain that work will now begin on a new action-horror prop hunt game known as ITEMS, with a playable demo possibly on the way along with a new Kickstarter campaign. To support the development of ITEMS, Fntastic also said it has "decided to release mobile games in parallel to support the process" with all funds generated from the games going directly into the development of its new prop hunt game.

Fans of Propnight will likely be pleased by the news, but it's important to be cautious as the studio has been involved in a plethora of controversies since The Day Before. While the game is no longer in active development, Escape Factory was even accused of being an asset flip shortly after its release, something that was also at the center of The Day Before's controversy.

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The Day Before game tag page cover art

The Day Before
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Open-World
Zombie
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Systems
PC-1
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Top Critic Avg: 12 /100
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Released
December 7, 2023
Developer(s)
Fntastic
Publisher(s)
MYTONA
Engine
Unreal Engine 5
Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer, Local Multiplayer
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WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL
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The Day Before offers players a uniquely reimagined journey into post-apocalyptic open-world MMO survival set in the present day on the US East Coast following a deadly pandemic.


SURVIVE AT ALL COSTS
Fight other players for survival. Survive against the deadly infected. Collect valuable loot.


DISCOVER THE NEW POST-PANDEMIC WORLD
Explore the beautiful and richly detailed New Fortune City. Enter tall skyscrapers, business centers, massive malls, grand stadiums, and more. Uncover distant surroundings of New Fortune City on stunningly detailed vehicles.


REBUILD SOCIETY
Join the Woodberry survivor colony on its mission to rebuild society. Trade items in Woodberry and save your wealth in a personal storage room. Build your own home in the safe zone.

Platform(s)
PC
Genre(s)
Open-World, Zombie
OpenCritic Rating
Weak