When the announcement trailer for the upcoming zombie survival game The Day Before released at the beginning of this year, it immediately piqued my interest. Where did this survival shooter come from? I wasn’t really familiar with the developer, Fntastic, nor had I heard any rumblings of this thing even existing before that point. And yet, there it was, looking friggin awesome. In fact, one might even dubiously say it looked too friggin’ awesome, and that its promises were too lofty. But I kept my fingers crossed and anxiously awaited to hear more about this title.
Well, we now do have more, as there was a developer livestream earlier today. Although the stream was short, it was more than sweet, and I’m happy to report that The Day Before still looks friggin’ awesome — in fact, it looks even more friggin’ awesome than it did before.
It looks akin to The Division mixed with elements of The Last of Us and the Metro trilogy mixed in. Of course, there is still time for things to come crashing down, but as of right now, The Day Before is currently my most anticipated shooter of 2022. Yes, June 21, 2022, is the release date now, according to this video.
So, what did we see in this new footage? Aside from the campy, live-action found footage intro, which I thought was actually a nice touch, we see it reiterated that The Day Before will be an open-world multiplayer game set in and around New York City. There is a central hub where players meet up, presumably to chat and show off their gear and more than likely form groups for cooperative play.
The gameplay footage shows players scavenging in a pretty massive department store, picking up items like cellphones, which will probably be used either as bartering items or stripped for parts to be used in crafting and upgrading weapons and gear.
We also see that, yes, The Day Before does take place in a post-apocalyptic metropolis, but there are also more rural, countryside areas. We see a small cabin which can be customized and upgraded with cosmetic and possibly defensive add-ons. Although it isn’t clear if the zombie threat will be constant throughout the open game space, or if they will be more of a threat in traditionally more densely populated areas. It also isn’t detailed whether or not there will be active day/night or weather cycles.
The video also shows off weapon modding — I mean, in a game like this of course there is weapon modding.
One feature I didn’t necessarily expect was the base building/improving mechanics, which will hopefully have a deep and rewarding system for those who like that sort of thing (like me). We also see that vehicles will be drivable, and I would love to see an upgrade system where players could beef up performance or defenses and maybe add a flamethrower or two. This is purely wishful thinking on my part, but a boy can hope and dream.
Although the new video is short, it goes a long way toward getting the hype train moving. I am cautious, of course, but I definitely looking forward to seeing more and, fingers crossed, eventually playing and enjoying The Day Before. It’s been far too long since I’ve played a shiny new zombie-infested open world game. Even though I’m not much for cooperative looting and shooting, hopefully there will also be enough here for those of us that prefer to play it dolo (not a typo).
You can check out the new The Day Before footage below, and if you want even more, there’s this gameplay video from earlier this year.
