The Day Before has garnered a ton of attention since its reveal, as an MMO with a serious The Last of Us 2 vibe. Players will be scavenging vehicles, houses, and skyscrapers to restore a colony of survivors, while somehow surviving the post-pandemic world. Developer Fntastic has always had huge goals with the game, even showing off a ray tracing gameplay trailer for The Day Before once. It’s the combination of all this that makes it Steam’s most wish-listed game.
The Day Before news came out very slowly, but players eventually learned that it would come to PS5 and Xbox Series X after its PC release. Eventually, they even learned that it would release in June 2022—a month or so away as of this writing. But in a surprising move, developer Fntastic has delayed The Day Before’s release date.
Delays are not uncommon in the gaming industry, but the circumstances around this one are peculiar, to say the least. Developer Fntastic, in a statement to IGN, announced that it was swapping The Day Before to Unreal Engine 5. There’s little doubt about the sheer power of the new engine, and many games have been confirmed for Unreal Engine 5 in recent weeks. It’ll no doubt allow The Day Before to hit its goals visually and beyond, but to change engines so close to release is a bold move.
Developer Fntastic stated that, because of this, The Day Before is being delayed to March 1, 2023. This means it’s planning to release in 10 months after changing engines. For context, Kingdom Hearts 3 changed engines early in its development cycle, and many think this still played a major role in why the game was in development for so long. To change engines and expect to have the game out in less than a year either shows the development prowess of Unreal Engine 5 or the sheer ambition of Fntastic.
The reasoning behind this last-minute shift comes back to the popularity of The Day Before. Fntastic said it understands the responsibility it faces with delivering a stellar MMO in The Day Before and expressed its gratitude that so many have become interested in it. It further explains that a more advanced open-world engine will allow it to “make the gameplay of The Day Before even more fantastic.”
The Day Before releases March 1, 2023, and is in development for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X.
Source: IGN