The Days Before’s Devs are Back & They Want More Money

Fntastic, the developers behind 2023’s disastrous The Day Before, have returned, hat in hand, asking for a second chance.

Escape Factory, the dev’s latest announced project, is a physics-based platformer where 4–8 players try to escape – you guessed it – a factory. In a way, it’s similar to Fall Guys and the recently popular Chained Together.

The devs have launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $15,567 to refine the game per player feedback, not develop it from the ground up. While it’s common for indie games to be crowd-funded, heads turned when the people behind The Day Before expected the gaming community to fund their project.

The game is slated for a Halloween release, with a free demo available.

Only two people have left reviews, both negative. However, both reviewers only referenced the developer’s past, with no commentary on Escape Factory.

At the time of writing, the devs have raised $414 from 14 backers.

An Unsavory Past

For the unaware, The Day Before was marketed as a big open-world survival zombie game on PC. With flashy graphics, decent gunplay, and animation, it had all the makings of a game PC players would go crazy over.

Delays, rumors, and statements from the devs prematurely denying scam allegations marred the game even before it came out. Still, the game was finally released in Dec. 2023.

Counting the differences between marketing and actual gameplay would take an age between lost features, horrible servers, clunky gameplay, and downgraded graphics— simply know this, the game’s player count between Dec. 4 and Dec. 25 dropped from 38k to 2.

Fntastic announced its closure only four days after release in a now-deleted X (then Twitter) post. But that didn’t stop the flood that was going to overrun them.

Should the negative press and accusations of false advertising not have harmed them enough, it was revealed that Fntastic was enlisting the help of unpaid volunteers for the brunt of the work; even the person bringing in said volunteers was one themselves, later fired for not being quick enough in their “hiring” process.

However, if the game was nothing more than a scam, why would the devs come back with much smaller games, asking for forgiveness?

An Uphill Battle For Trust & Reputation

A year after their fall from grace, Fntastic has been revived with Fntastic 2.0, their new strategy.

Fntastic has pledged that it has learned from past mistakes, and is now committed to honesty, transparency, and professionalism.

In most of their recent posts, Fntastic has taken responsibility and apologized for The Day Before and shared their hope to move forward; although, their “taking responsibility” does consist of dodging more serious criticism.

Many users questioned the “audacity” of coming back and asking for money, saying the company deserves to be sued for theft. Indeed, no one faced legal repercussions for The Day Before.

Others asked for a return of Fntastic’s former game, Propnight, which the studio had lost the IP rights to after it closed down.

In almost all the replies, Fntastic has ushered users to their website for more information.

The revamped website, now a mix of bright blue and white, hosts an entire PDF that details Fntastic’s plan, which you can read here. The company claims it won’t be using volunteer workers anymore and that it will post frequent updates on social media to keep fans in the loop.

The new color scheme is followed by a focus on smaller games, befitting their now smaller team. While some employees are there on “goodwill,” others are juggling multiple jobs, showing the studio’s financial limitations.

Fntastic has also promised that if the Kickstarter fails, which will result in their second closure, backers will be refunded.

Trust is hard to gain, and almost impossible to regain, especially in the gaming industry. There’s no telling if players will be generous enough for Fntastic to make a comeback or not.

Still, games should be judged on their own merit— why should a new IP carry the burden of those who came before it? But, all things considered, a thief on parole probably wouldn’t be wanted as a jewelry store clerk on their first job back.