The Day Before developer Fntastic has finally revealed the long-promised gameplay trailer for the post-apocalyptic survival adventure, showing off 10 minutes of ‘action’. The footage proves definitively that the game is real, and not the scam many alleged it was – but despite being an impressive visual showcase, the trailer has now raised even more questions about the nature of the game.
Of the 10 minutes shown, there are only scattered skirmishes against distant zombie hordes. The vast majority of the gameplay trailer features a young woman walking through an abandoned city. She walks through a suburb, and looks at some trees. She walks down a street. She walks through a city. She walks through an abandoned building. Along the way, a handful of zombies appear, and she guns them down easily.
Then, she keeps walking. Twice, she opens a crafting menu – but strangely, that’s about as exciting as the footage gets. You can view the entire showcase for yourself here:
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Why this particular snippet was chosen to show off The Day Before is unknown. While it does depict crisp, intriguing locales, including a distant city on the horizon and environments filled with details, it’s hardly the most exciting material. In fact, it makes the game look bland.
The Day Before has been marketed as an open-world survival MMO drenched in the threat of a zombie apocalyptic. But the zombies here are easily dispatched, and the walk our protagonist takes appears mostly peaceful.
While this clip is just an early look at the game – and was likely snipped together to prove its existence, after months of rumours – The Day Before was originally set to release in March 2023 before copyright issues reportedly led to its removal from Steam. That could very well mean the gameplay is close to Fntastic’s final vision.
Following the clip’s release, fans have taken to social media to express their disappointment, calling the gameplay ‘bog standard‘ and insomnia-inducing. ‘That sure is a video of a game being played,’ one commenter said. Another labelled it ‘The Last of Sus‘, referencing the footage’s likeness to The Last of Us, and suspicions around its release.
At this stage, it does appear The Day Before is a real game, set to launch in November 2023 – but we’ll have to wait to see if it’s more than just a simple walking simulator.
