‘The Day Before’ , the new open-world survival MMO from developer FNTASTIC, features a stunning open-world reminiscent of ‘Tom Clancy’s The Division’ but adds in an exciting new twist, zombies. The game was announced with a five minute trailer that shows off some of the combat, survival mechanics, as well as hordes of zombies. Looking like the perfect blend of ‘The Division’ and ‘Days Gone’, the trailer opens with a team of two driving through a ravaged city before running out of fuel in their vehicle. Using what sounds like voice chat features the pair make their plan to split up and comb the nearby area for supplies. As our player searches abandoned cars and store, a recording comes over the audio. Nearby Woodbury survival colony has opened its doors to new survivors, the team comments on the recorded message and plans to find some fuel and make their escape. Scouring the deserted corner bodega for food and other supplies, the player is surprised by another group of players. He takes a defensive position and prepares to fight.
The beautifully detailed world is extremely similar to the abandoned, snow ridden, and eerie setting of 2016’s ‘Tom Clancy’s The Division’ from Ubisoft. It is undeniable that similarities will be discussed abundantly in the coming weeks. Many were somewhat disappointed with the way the first Division game turned out. Offering up an incredible recreation of New York City that had been ravaged by a Smallpox outbreak, as well as one of the best cover shooting systems ever developed for the game. However some were a little taken back by the downgrade in graphical quality from the E3 announcement trailer to the final product. For many though, the inherently eerie setting of New York City, devastated from a viral outbreak, during the holiday season, more than made up for it. Whether you attempted to win back the city solo or with a team of friends, one thing became clear, the gameplay mechanics were some of the best the genre had ever seen. Massive entertainment took what worked in the original game and propelled it even further in 2019’s ‘Tom Clancy’s The Division 2’, the direct sequel to the original, the game took players out of the cold, deserted, and congested setting of New York and sent them to the nations capital, Washington DC, in the summer time. While the sequel won praise for fixing some of the originals problems, many began to miss the New York City setting. Developer Massive heard the calls and released DLC that brought players back to ground zero of the outbreak.
‘The Day Before’ can certainly set itself apart from ‘The Division’ games and carve out a fanbase with implementation of new and fun mechanics. The one way the trailer differentiates itself from the Tom Clancy games is with the introduction of zombies. While those games had no shortage of dangers throughout their respective cities, those dangers came in the form of survivor gangs that had formed after the Smallpox outbreak. Adding zombies to the mix can make for some intense, edge of your seat encounters. Not knowing if blood thirsty zombies or supply needing survivors will be around the next corner. Adding in infected will bring a new level of intensity and anxiety to combing the area for supplies. The trailer shows off some combat, as well as the survivor trying to escape hordes of undead. The narrator comments on the weather becoming cold as a snow storm blows in, implying that you may need to pay attention to the characters temperature during your survival. The trailer ends with the player finding a zombie munching on the partner he had split with at the beginning of the video.
Unfortunately, for now, ‘The Day Before’ is only set to release on PC. FNTASTIC is a smaller studio in Russia that was founded in 2015, so it’s possible they are testing the waters before announcing it for consoles. However it’s also possible that the game will remain an exclusive to PC, we will hopefully find out more in the coming weeks. As of right now the game is set to release in Q2 of this year.
Stay tuned too Downright Creepy for any news on an official release date.
