Summary
The Day Beforehas not had the best development cycle, facing multiple delays and a copyright dispute, leaving some fans wondering if the game will ever be released. The game missed its November 11 release target, andXbox and PlayStation versions are unfortunately delayed indefinitely. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel for PC fans with the zombie survival MMO hopefully launching in Early Access this December.
Developer Fntastic and publisher Mytona recently releaseda new trailer forThe Day Before, showcasing some of its mechanics and gameplay. Players can customize weapons, complete missions, drive vehicles, explore the zombie-infested New Fortune City, decorate their character’s house, or relax in the game’s hub-settlement of Woodberry. However, while the open-world MMO offers plenty of things to do, one aspect of the gameplay loop seems both limited and awfully repetitive.
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The Day Before Trailer Makes it Seem Repetitive
Based on the trailer,The Day Beforebegins with players waking in a clinic after being rescued by survivors from a settlement called Woodberry. Woodberry seems to be the game’s primary hub area and features several amenities for players to take advantage of. These include the expected weapons, food, and item vendors, as well as a spa and gymnasium. Woodberry is also where players go to turn in quests and sell items gathered in the open world.
The survivors of Woodberry are in constant need of supplies and will reward players for salvaging food, building materials, and resources from the city and surrounding countryside. Players can do this on their own initiative or to fulfill specific requests from Woodberry residents. However, there doesn’t appear to be much else for players to do that isn’t in service to the endless loop of finding supplies and bringing them back to the same town.
To be clear, there seems to be plenty of variety in how players can go about completing that loop.The Day Beforeis a PvPvE game, allowing players to either cooperate against the zombies or attack each other for loot. Weapons are customizable, and the developer promises that each has unique characteristics, including realistic reloading and recoil.The Day Beforeplayers can even buy cars, letting players cruise through the post-apocalypse in style.
Features Listed in The Day Before Release Date Trailer
The Potential Problem with The Day Before’s Hub Town
However, all of that still seems to be in service to gathering resources for Woodberry. Players explore the city primarily to gather resources for Woodberry. They fight the zombies so they can explore more areas to gather resources for Woodberry and fight other players to steal their resources to take to Woodberry. Players can buy cars, the main benefit of which seems to be gathering supplies faster and from further away.The Day Beforehas crafting and survival mechanics, but one could argue that these are just obstacles on the resource-gathering circuit.
None of this is to say that those mechanics can’t or won’t be fun.The Day Beforemay also be suffering from more poor choices from its marketing department. However, it really seems like Fntastic and Mytona areadvertisingThe Day Beforeas just an increasingly elaborate sequence of fetch quests for the same town.
In fairness, no one has yet to see the full game, so it’s possible thatThe Day Beforeaddresses this concern. Players may have a longer-term goal that adds additional context to the resource gathering.The Day Beforemay also feature more gameplay variety than the trailer leads viewers to believe, or perhaps its social aspects carry the game. However, that is not the impression that one gets from watching the trailer, and if one of those is the case, it’s odd thatThe Day Before’s developerhasn’t talked more about it.
