Modders are working to restore this year’s most controversial game, the apocalyptic (in more ways than one) zombie shooter The Day Before.
Once Steam’s most wishlisted game, The Day Before finally launched earlier this month following a lengthy lead-up that was engulfed in alleged trademark disputes, accusations that the game was a scam, and controversies about unpaid labor. Upon trying the game, however, players discovered that it wasn’t even an MMO, as promised, and gave it an “Overwhelmingly Negative” rating on Steam.
Just four days after the disastrous launch, developer Fntastic announced that it would shut down, refund all players, and take the game offline on January 22, 2024. But in a somewhat heroic act to preserve a broken game, modders Luci0 and fskartd are currently working on an Offline Mod to extend the game’s lifetime past next month.
“No promises or ETA’s as of now,” Luci0 writes in a social media comment. “It’s very early, and me + fskartd are doing our best: More info will come once it’s available.” In a recent Discord message - shared to Reddit - the modder reveals that they’ve bypassed Steam’s DRM and accessed all of the game’s files. For now, the modder has been able to load into the map but can’t move the player character just yet.
It’s a curious endeavor since the undead disaster seemingly had no redeeming qualities, according to our The Day Before review and general player sentiment. At least exploring the map and cracking open its secrets could lead to some “oh, what could’ve been” daydreams.
