It’s hard to say whether Dark and Darker or The Day Before is going to come away with the coveted trophy for “Biggest Slow-Motion Trainwreck of 2023,” presuming that we’ll be having that as a category this December. Until the voting season arrives, we will have to ride things out on both fronts to see if either online title can escape the gravity well of disappointment and questionable legal status.
The Day Before studio Fntastic continues to express hope that it’ll pull out of the tailspin that it finds itself in thanks to a trademark dispute with a calendar app and subsequent exile from Steam and YouTube. The studio said that work is progressing toward a beta and that it is confident the survival shooter will return to Valve’s platform before too long.
“For those wondering if the game [is] gonna be on Steam,” said the studio on Discord. “It should be on Steam, yes. Team is working on it. We have been working hard to ensure the game meets our high standards, and we are confident that it will be worth the wait. As we get closer to the release date, we will be conducting a beta test for the game.”
The last we heard, post-apocalyptic title was shoved to November for additional development and testing — not to mention possible trial dates. No window for the proposed beta test was given.
Here’s a quick run-down of the whole saga to date:
• The Day Before studio Fntastic is back on Kickstarter to try to fund a multiplayer obstacle course platformer
• Former devs of The Day Before recount a workplace of employee fines, shifting whims, and ‘pure megalomaniacal chaos’
• The Day Before studio claims to be the target of misinformation and a hate campaign
• The Day Before has officially sunsetted, bringing its early access drama to a final ending
• The Day Before Steam keys go for three figures on the grey market as Fntastic announces server closures
• ‘Shit happens,’ The Day Before devs tell disgruntled players as mass-refunds continue
• The Day Before dev studio announces its closure, claims the game ‘failed financially’
• The Day Before devs downplay original massively multiplayer pitch as playerbase and reviews plummet
• The Day Before actually launched – and it’s already being savaged in reviews
• Ahead of launch, Fntastic tells players The Day Before is not a scam or an asset flip
• Survival shooter The Day Before shows off Times Square ad space ahead of December 7 early access
• The Day Before just delayed to December with its post-trademark-dispute early access
• Survival MMO The Day Before heralds news of Steam page return, release timing, and ‘final trailer’ November 1
• The Day Before talks player housing, lifeskilling, volunteer workers, and the ongoing trademark dispute
• The Day Before studio still claims it’s working on beta and Steam reinstatement
• Worried about The Day Before? Its sauna will melt your cares away!
• Survival MMO The Day Before struggles to secure trademark as YouTube bans its videos
• Survival MMO The Day Before is abruptly delayed to November over an apparent trademark dispute
• Post-apoc survival shooter The Day Before promises raw gameplay footage sometime in January
• GeForce CES showcase offers extra gameplay footage from Throne and Liberty, The Day Before, and Party Animals
• The Day Before is an open-world survival MMO set in a post-zombie pandemic apocalypse
