An ex-volunteer from The Day Before makes claims about the game’s development
As The Day Before is removed from Steam and Fntastic closes, an ex-volunteer on the zombie game makes claims about the game’s development.
The Day Before is no longer available for purchase on Steam, as developer Fntastic has announced its closure, and players have been offered refunds. As the zombie game that has been the subject of hype since its first trailer in 2021 appears to have vanished for good, one former The Day Before volunteer shares claims about how it was created, how volunteers were treated, and what happened after The Day Before’s turbulent launch.
The Day Before was one of 2023’s most dramatic gaming incidents. The zombie game is likely to become a cautionary tale, from the initial hype to questions about later gameplay trailers and the final launch. Fntastic has announced its closure. The Day Before is no longer available on Steam. The game’s publisher, Myona, is offering refunds. In the midst of all of this, a former Fntastic volunteer shares their claims about the creation of The Day Before.
The former volunteer, who goes by the online handle ‘Wholf,’ claims they were recruited to help manage The Day Before’s Discord servers and Steam page. “I was their community manager assistant who had the head moderator role on their Discord which should have been a paid position to begin with but I was blinded by them,” Wholf explains.
“I was also their lead of volunteers for around a month or two before they kicked me out of that position because I was working too slowly from their point of view,” Wholf continues. “My job was to hire/accept everyone who applied to become a volunteer, where they had to sign an NDA with personal information, their social media platforms, and stuff like that. The reason why I was working too slow in their eyes is because I wanted to bring in legit people. Each person who applied took me around 30 minutes to check. Over 200+ applied. All I got was a thank you, and they removed me because I was too slow.”
Wholf claims that when trailers and gameplay videos began to be released, development on The Day Before became “strange.” According to the former volunteer, various questions about the emerging footage were raised within Fntastic. According to Wholf, the developer treated some volunteers “like crap.”
“For every trailer, gameplay, or video in general that was released, we all had our thoughts but nobody wanted to speak against them,” Wholf says. “Of course, we had our questions but everyone remained a bit silent on the part where it started to look strange and sus. The cinematic videos, the high amount of assets being used, the scripted gameplays etc. From that moment we all just had our thoughts but never really spoke about it.”
“A lot of volunteers also had questions – very simple questions. We were told we would have tests regarding The Day Before. Never happened. There was also a test going to happen for the public, but that also never happened. I had contact with certain people who worked closely with Fntastic. These people got treated like crap. They were very tired and had to overwork.”
According to Wholf, they were eventually fired by Fntastic for “being inactive, unresponsive, and exhibiting non-professional behavior.” Wholf claims that they “said things as a head moderator that I shouldn’t have said,” referring to a public statement in which they questioned whether The Day Before was real. According to the former moderator, they now feel “empty and strange.”
“Two years of daily work for free with loads of passion and dedication got thrown away, basically,” Wholf says “Two years of daily work for free with loads of passion and dedication got thrown away, basically,” Wholf says. “Turns out, everything was a lie and all I did was for nothing. For all the work I have done, all I received was Propcoins [virtual currency used in Fntastic’s game Propnight], some keys, and a thank you. I hope everyone is receiving their money back. I also hope someone will file a lawsuit or something because of all these lies.”
Another former Fntastic moderator has made public claims about The Day Before. Meanwhile, Fntastic issued a brief statement about The Day Before, stating that “s*** happens.”