Summary
- Surprisingly, The Day Before still has an active player on Steam despite negative reception and the title being removed from the platform.
- The lone player may just be idling on the menu screen, as the servers were shut down in January, sparking curiosity among onlookers.
- The Fntastic-developed game serves as a cautionary tale for game studios, showcasing what not to do in game development.
To many people's surprise, The Day Before still has a single active player on Steam, even months after the multiplayer game's servers were shut down. Being one of the most controversial games of recent times, The Day Before was slammed by fans and critics alike upon its release last year.
What started out as a promising survival title in 2021 steadily transformed into a trainwreck when The Day Before came out on December 7, 2023. The journey in between was marred by multiple delays and reportedly toxic working conditions, along with allegations of plagiarizing Red Dead Redemption 2 and other popular games. Owing to all these negatives and a disastrous reception at launch, the survival game was delisted from Steam as developer Fntastic shut shop within four days of the game rolling out in early access. However, the recent emergence of what appears to be a dedicated player seems to be puzzling to those keeping tabs.
As spotted by a Reddit user (via SteamDB), someone is still putting hours into the defunct online game even to this day. What's interesting is that this player seems to be running The Day Before despite its servers having already been shut down way back on January 22. In the comments, someone took a guess that whoever was in the game wasn't actually playing but was only spending time on the menu screen since there was no server support. Another user joked about the unknown Steam user being the final player in the game, quipping, "The last of us."
The Day Before Weirdly Still Has One Player in the Game
Obviously, poorly rated games don't necessarily need to have zero players. In fact, The Day Before was among the most wanted games on Steam at one point. However, when there's a single player still logging into an online game that was effectively shut down several months ago, it does drive the curiosity of the onlookers. The SteamDB graph shows that The Day Before has witnessed no more than one player running the game since January 8. Notably, this number has also fluctuated to zero and back regularly since then.
While there is no concrete answer about whom that one The Day Before player may be, they have definitely brought the post-apocalyptic game back into discussion, even if it may be for a brief time. The Fntastic-developed title could be viewed as a suitable example of what not to do for game studios, serving as a harsh lesson in game development.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 12 /100
- Released
- December 7, 2023
- Developer(s)
- Fntastic
- Publisher(s)
- MYTONA
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 5
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer, Local Multiplayer
WHERE TO PLAY
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
