In a new announcement, developer Fntastic has postponed the MMO title – The Day Before just a few weeks before its release and is porting it to Unreal Engine 5.
The Day Before has garnered a lot of attention since its reveal, as an MMO inspired by The Last of Us 2. Players will collect vehicles, houses, and skyscrapers. heaven to restore a population of survivors, while somehow surviving in the post-pandemic world. Developer Fntastic has always had big goals with the game, even releasing a ray tracing gameplay trailer for The Day Before. It’s the combination of all of this that makes it the most loved game on Steam.
News of The Day Before came very slowly, but players have finally learned that it will be coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X after its release on PC. Finally, they even learned that it will release in June 2022 – a month or so from the date of this writing. But in a surprising move, developer Fntastic has postponed The Day Before’s release date.
Delays are not uncommon in the game industry, but the circumstances surrounding this are exceptional, to say the least. Developer Fntastic, in a statement to IGN, has announced that they will be swapping The Day Before for Unreal Engine 5. There is little doubt about the sheer power of the new engine and many games have been confirmed for Unreal. Engine 5 in recent weeks. It will certainly allow The Day Before to achieve its goals visually and further, but shifting the engine closer to the release date is a bold move.
Developer Fntastic has stated that, because of this, The Day Before is being postponed to March 1, 2023. This means that the title is scheduled to release in 10 months after the Engine change. For context, Kingdom Hearts 3 changed engines early in its development cycle, and many argue that this still plays a major role in why the game has been in development for such a long time. Changing the Engine and expecting the game to launch in less than a year shows the development power of Unreal Engine 5 or the sheer ambition of Fntastic.
The reason behind this last minute change was due to the sudden popularity of the title. Fntastic said it understands the responsibility faced by delivering an outstanding MMO experience in The Day Before and expressed gratitude for the interest in the game so many people have shown. They further explained that a more advanced open-world engine would allow “to make the gameplay of The Day Before even better”.
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