Was the Day Before a Scam? (& Here’s What to Play Instead)
The Day Before is big news, for all the wrong reasons. Was it a scam? Was it just a massive failure? Why is it gone already? And more importantly, what the heck do we play now?
Well, I have good news: we know more or less what happened, and there are plenty of other games to play. Read on to learn about both of those things.
Before you dive into the many great alternatives to The Day Before, grab yourself a good gaming VPN. PIA is optimized for PC, console, and mobile play, and makes it easy to protect yourself while gaming online.
Table of Contents
What Happened to The Day Before?There’s Nothing Like The Day Before(‘s Promises)
FAQ
What Happened to The Day Before?
If you’re the kind of person who spends an inordinate amount of time reading game news and consuming podcasts or YouTube videos, you probably know all this. Skip on ahead. If you’re a normal person with a life, man, did you dodge a drama-filled bullet. Good for you!
But also, here’s the context that you’re going to need:
The Day Before was announced in 2021, and the internet went wild. The trailer promised so much: an atmospheric world of zombies and monsters, tense action, and a world where you could be fighting the undead one moment, and other players the next. Or both, if you were unlucky. Scrounge, build, fight, repeat.
The NPCs would be reactive, your character’s face would be animated as you talked over voice chat, player jobs, player houses… saunas were promised for some reason? What more could we ask for?
But then, after multiple delays wherein the game was finished (partly by unpaid volunteers) it launched on December 7th, 2023, and everything went to zombie hell in a handbasket. In short:
- The AI was buggy.
- You could clip through the terrain and buildings right after creating a character and get lost.
- The promised survival features weren’t really there.
- It was technically multiplayer, but, as Forbes noted (yes, that Forbes), it wasn’t really massively multiplayer.
- It looked so much worse than the trailers suggested, and all the advanced social features were not in evidence.
The reception was so bad that even IGN, a publication famous for almost never giving less than a 5, gave The Day Before a score of 1. And that’s in a year where Gollum got a 4, and that awful King Kong game got a 3.
Just days later, Fntastic, developer of The Day Before, announced that it was shutting down. Its CEO’s presence has been all but scrubbed from the web. That amazing trailer? It disappeared right after release.
It’s almost like they were never here at all.
So Was The Day Before Really a Scam?
In the most technical sense, you could say that The Day Before was Not a Scam™. There was no crowdfunding. There were no preorders. Players who ask for a refund are apparently getting their money back, regardless of Steam’s usual limitations on refunds.
However, no one can deny that the game was sold under false pretenses. The “gameplay” trailer had everything in it except the kitchen sink, or any actual gameplay.
What to Play Instead of The Day Before
This is a tough question, actually. You see, one of the reasons that The Day Before failed was that the company promised something we haven’t actually had yet: the aforementioned combination of an MMO, a zombie survival game, and a tense, competent third-person shooter.
We’ve had plenty of games that combine at least two of those elements (and some of them are even multiplayer), but almost never all three. And they were trying to do it without big publisher money, and a proper, fully paid team of developers.
So here’s what I have for you: a list of games that have elements of what was promised. Some are older, some are early access, but they’re all great alternatives to The Day Before.
You probably know that a VPN can keep your connection secure when you’re gaming online, but did you know that in some cases, it can actually reduce your ping? When you connect to a VPN server that’s close to the game server, you can get a smoother, more direct connection.
PIA VPN has servers in 90+ countries around the world, so you can always find one in the location you need.
1. DayZ
This is the game that arguably feels closest to what The Day Before promised. It has pretty much everything you’d want, except the servers aren’t exactly MMO-sized. Even so, you get the action, the survival, and the zombies. At the time of writing, they’re offering a “The Day After” sale. That’s not a joke.
Platforms: PC, Xbox One +, Playstation 4+
2. State of Decay 2
This one’s not an MMO either, and has no PVP. But, if you want to build a community of survivors in the zombie apocalypse with your friends, this game will let you do that, and so much more.
Platforms: PC, Xbox One +
3. No One Survived
This one’s still in Early Access, but it already offers the survival, zombie combat, and construction systems you might be looking for. Think of Ark, or Rust, but with more zombies. Reviews are Mostly Positive on Steam.
Platforms: PC
4. Zombie Army Trilogy
This is a collection of all the Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army games, which are spin offs of the Sniper Elite series. There are no survival elements to speak of but… you and your friends can shoot Nazi zombies from very far away. What’s not to love?
Platforms: PC, Xbox One +, Playstation 4+, Nintendo Switch
5. Tom Clancy’s The Division 2
The Division 2 isn’t a survival game as such. There’s no scrounging for food or water, no free form base building, and (of particular relevance to this article) no zombies. What it does very well is looting, shooting, and proper MMO gameplay. Squad up and go bring order back to the world, Agent.
Platforms: PC, Xbox One +, Playstation 4+
6. Generation Zero
This one’s a lot of fun, with a compelling narrative, co-op gameplay, all the survival mechanics you could want… and robots. So. Many. Robots. And they all don’t like you. What more could you ask for? Initial reviews were a bit rough, but this game has come a long way.
Platforms: PC, Xbox One +, Playstation 4+
7. Sons of The Forest
This is an Early Access first person survival game with an emphasis on both atmosphere and narrative. Group up with your friends to survive the ravages of the wild, a cult, and a few demons who’d like to keep you company in the absence of zombies. How friendly of them.
Platforms: PC
8. Project Zomboid
While still in Early Access, Project Zomboid has been received incredibly well as a multiplayer zombie survival RPG where you can craft, loot, fight, farm, fish, and run for your life. And I do mean RPG in the classic sense, as this is one of those top-down isometric perspective games.
Platforms: PC
9. Survival Nation
Another co-op but not massively multiplayer zombie game here, but with a twist. All of that stuff you can do in No One Survived? Now you can do it in VR! In fact, you kind of have to, as Survival Nation is only available for VR.
Platforms: PC (VR Only)
10. State of Survival
This is more of a strategy title for the mobile players, but it’s also available on PC. Build a clan, fight zombies, fight other survivors, get shiny loot and more in this mobile city builder / RTS / so much more. The microtransactions ain’t too bad, and my wife swears by this game.
Platforms: PC, iOS, Android
Why PIA is the Best VPN for Gaming
Every game on the list above is multiplayer to some extent. That means you’ll probably need a good gaming VPN to help you stay safe from DDoS attacks, avoid ISP game throttling, and maybe even reduce your ping.
PIA provides all of this and more with 10-Gbps servers all around the world, no data caps, industry standard security, and native apps for both PC and smartphones. It’s also supported on routers, just for you console gamers. Try it risk-free with our 30-day money-back guarantee.
There’s Nothing Like The Day Before(‘s Promises)
If Fntastic hadn’t outright lied in their marketing, I’d be applauding their ambition, regardless of their failure. I love seeing indie developers take on huge projects that seem a little ridiculous, and I love it even more when they pull it off.
As it stands, we’re still waiting for that game that perfectly combines The Division, DayZ, and Second Life to create the post-apocalyptic second home that we all… that some of us want.
In the meantime, grab a friend, hide your IP from them with PIA VPN (just in case), and enjoy the games we do have.
FAQ
Though development reportedly began in 2018, The Day Before was announced in 2021, generating a considerable amount of buzz. It promised an atmospheric PVPVE third-person survival shooter in a world of zombies. Unlike most of its spiritual predecessors, it would be an MMO.
The game was delayed several times in the intervening years before its release, before finally launching in early access on December 7th, 2023. Just days after its release, the game’s developer, Fntastic, shut down, and sales of the game were halted.
No, it was not. In fact, there weren’t even preorders. This is actually the biggest argument for the game not being a scam, even if plenty of people felt scammed by the game’s marketing and the subsequent disappointment of the release. The game was even “completed” in part by unpaid volunteers.
There was no money collected prior to the game’s launch in Early Access. However, that still leaves the question of why a so-called “gameplay” trailer was released when it showcased so many things that weren’t in the game, and likely would never be implemented.
Strictly speaking, it’s still on Steam at the time of writing. However, all sales have been halted, and all players are being given the opportunity to refund the game. If you bought a copy during the brief window of time it was available, you can probably still download it.
There’s just one small problem. Fntastic, the studio behind The Day Before, is officially closing down. If the servers haven’t shut down, it’s likely that they soon will. The studio announced that they’re shutting down due to financial difficulties, and we likely won’t hear much beyond that.
The game was delayed several times, with the general excuse being that “it wasn’t ready yet.” To be perfectly fair, that assessment was entirely correct. Even at launch, the game was not ready, and likely launched when it did only because the studio needed more funding.
With promised game mechanics that were simply missing, bugs out the wazoo, and a gameplay loop that left even the world’s most forgiving game critics disappointed, The Day Before probably could have used a few more delays. It could also have used AAA-level funding, and a miracle or three.
Sure. Steam certainly doesn’t mind. Plenty of people out in the world use a gaming VPN to stabilize their connection to game servers, hide their IP address, and even sometimes lower their ping. You can do that with Steam games all you like,
However, it’s a good idea to look up the ToS for the specific games you play. Some of them specifically ban the use of VPNs, and will often ban the people who use them, too. Others allow VPNs, but will watch VPN users closely to make sure they’re using the technology in ways that are fair to other players.
Well, we certainly have a bit of a preference for Private Internet Access. After all, we’ve got 10-Gbps VPN servers located all over the world, industry-standard encryption and security features, easy-to-use apps, and more.
What’s “more,” you ask?
PIA specifically supports online gaming via PC, consoles, and both iOS and Android phones. You can even get it running on the Meta Quest or the Steam Deck if you want. Just buy PIA VPN, install the app on your device or configure PIA on your router, and get back to playing!
