The Worst Game Scam of 2023 | The Day Before Scam Explained

1. Initial Impressions and Gameplay Overview:

   
   
   It's not particularly surprising, but the day before was just a mess now. Like most, I had my concerns. They've copied pretty much everything from the title font to the inventory management systems, but I'm surprised to say it's so much worse than I expected. In a way, I think they've outright lied to us.

   Misleading Description and Gameplay Experience:

   Immediately, they've touted it as an open-world MMO Survival game, and that it is not. This is simply an extraction shooter, akin to Escape from Tarkov, but overall, simply put, it's just crap. The game setup is really simple as well. You have a Hub location with a few stores, and you have a second location to build a home, purchasing goods with earnings basically from these completed missions. Then, the map itself; it's one map, and it's a small East Coast section of New York. An open world though is a hell of an oversell here. There's barely anything to the map; half the world you can't interact with. 99% of the doors are locked. There's barely any movement in them. 

   Occasionally, you may see a zombie stumbling around, but the majority of the time, they pop out of the cars in the streets like they were just taking a little relax. I have to be honest as well, that's the least of the problems for The Day Before. Like many, I had a nearly 30-minute wait to get into a server. They were immediately full today, and there's no queue system, so you have to constantly reload and spam a server that states it's not full. It doesn't even tell you how many players are in each, so you can strategically go for one with a larger opportunity.

   Initial Positive Aspects:

   I do want to say here as well, I didn't go in wanting to dislike this game. If anything, I had curiosity about it, and I was hoping to be pleasantly surprised. It takes a total of about 30 seconds to recognize your concern was probably justified.

   Mixed Quality Features:

   So, the good, I guess we can call it the good. There's a character creator; yes, it's limited, but we got to grasp straws with this one. Then, some of the acting is pretty decent, even if the lines themselves are weak. There are what I would consider a few potentially likable characters, like a woman who stores your goods, and she looks like a walking tribute to Sarah Connor of Terminator visually. Then, it's not bad, I guess; character models have that Bethesda look to them, but the locations look sure, they work.

   Critical Analysis of Gameplay Mechanics:

   Now let's talk the bad, and here is the list. First of all, the small stuff. The inventory system, directly lifted from Tarkov, here it is just simply clunky at best. The map system, accessible via a tablet, needs more functionality, like simply being able to zoom in and out. I'm not asking for the world there. The job screen, it's a little limited in information, and the day-night cycle is just laughable. It is not a cycle; it turns from day to night in about 5 seconds, so realism here is thrown out the window.

   Gameplay Mechanics and Functionality Issues:

   The guns work, I guess that's a positive, even if I think the recoil is a little minimal, and there's no weight to these guns. Shooting from the hip, don't even try it. You know, right-click the mouse aims down the sight, shifts you to first person, pretty much the only way there you have a chance. And then the property building system as well looks okay, it's a weird take from the survival genre, but I don't understand its place in this world other than I guess there's nothing else much to spend currency on outside of weapons, so they may as well give you something.

   Survival Mechanics and Gameplay Experience:

   So then the real bad, and survival, think it's survival here is a joke. Sure, there's food and water, but it restores health and stamina, which is incredibly generous by the way, but you'll never be in a situation where you're low on food or desperate for anything. Tarkov honestly has a better sense of survival by far, though it seems that's kind of a guess of what they were going for and missed by a dramatic amount. Zombies then, as I said, are few and far between, but they are also incredibly dumb. I didn't want to feel threatened; half of them got stuck in the environments, and a good few times, they took slashes at me but didn't even deliver any damage.

   Issues with User Interface and Communication:

   The controls and the core systems work, but the problem is the game tells you nothing. I and other players on the server were chatting away in the text as we figured out what the controls were. Now, you may just say jump to settings; it will give you the bindings, and no, it doesn't. It gives you a few of the controls like movements, but it doesn't tell you things like how to access the map. It doesn't tell you how to access the journal or mission screen. I keep getting messages, and notifications saying people want to talk to me; it's some sort of email, but no idea how to open them, and I pressed every single button on the keyboard. Someone in tech suggested they had pressed 'n', but a few seconds later, none of their inputs were working at all, so who knows if that was the case.

   Technical Issues and Bugs:

   Alright, so on with the bad. Loading into the game, you're in a doctor's office; this is the squad that saved you. You have to complete a few basic things, pick up items, and so on in the room, and then, or at least I expected, you're on your way to this big open world. Well, it turns out, lots of bugs happening here. Steam reviews are already overwhelmingly negative, and that is due to the fact a lot of folks can't access the game or get on a server. But once they do get in, I can't imagine they're going to be changing those reviews.

   Interaction and Navigation Issues:

   I've also seen a fair few people falling through the floor instantly. For me, I did all of these little tasks, but I couldn't exit; the door would not open no matter what I did. Fortunately, I walked away for maybe 5-10 minutes, and then the button prompt magically appeared. This, unfortunately, is a constant issue as well; of the button prompt not appearing or even just getting it simply to work.

   Interaction Mechanics and Environmental Issues:

   You see here, you press and hold 'F' to search items around the world, interact with a few doors that open, and so on. However, every time you try to interact, you end up dancing around till it finally appears on the screen. I was also completing a mission as well; a door that worked previously no longer would. I was attempting to get school supplies for one of the missions. Then, the whole thing is just underbaked.

   Multiplayer and Gameplay Experience:

   I saw a couple of other players on the map; and teamed up with one of them. It was okay, I guess, but we couldn't communicate in any effective manner. And, yeah, I guess the game here is kind of just strolling around the streets; there's barely anything happening here. Zombies and other players are few and far between, and you may be saying yes, but it's day one. But do remember, these servers were supposedly fuller.

   Missing Features and Content:

   One thing I couldn't figure out as well; it says there are vehicles, and it tells you the controls, in fact, in the options menu, but I have no idea where to find them. I can't interact with any of these vehicles in this world, and given the small size of the map anyway, I don't think there'd be much point to them. Another funny thing about the map then, half of the scenery you can't even climb or jump on; the smallest of walls makes for the end of the world like it's Everest. It appears this just kind of starts sliding around if you do manage to get on something. As well, these zombies can't climb, so congratulations, you are now invincible.

   Game Balance and Lack of Depth:

   And this is perhaps the easiest zombie overtake ever. To survive, just I guess buy a box and stand on it. I also finally want to add that, it's a very flat map as well. There appear to be no ladders, multiple floors, or buildings, so you can't get that advantage. It's just folks running around.

   Critical Gameplay Mechanics Oversight:

   Also, these are my favorite problems, considering it's touted as being survival, an intense experience. There's no option to go prone; seems a little bit weird, kind of a nice stealth option there, but best of all, you have guns, of course, for survival, but there's no melee option at all. So if you run out of bullets, it's game over. How did this go through development, and no one thought maybe we should be able to push a zombie or two, you know, swing a punch, you know, conserve a little bit of the ammo.

   Lack of Incentive and Gameplay Loop:

   Now, like I said, if you do die, then you lose everything. The game gives you a little cash for your troubles, enough to equip a pistol maybe, but why would you suffer through this game? I don't know. Between runs, it's summarized as going to storage, checking the weapon store, picking a mission, and repeating. I immediately booted up Tarkov, just as simply a palate cleanser. There is no story then that I can see, except for missions that are supposedly enhancing this group of survivors' situation, but I couldn't care less about this group.

   Overall Assessment and Recommendation:

   

   Overall, I think the game so far is an absolute disaster. So yeah, that's The Day Before, and transparently, for the first time, I'm going to be refunding this game. It's not surprising they added the Early Access tag right before launch because there's very little here, and what is here is barely functional half of the time. And if you want an open-world MMO, this simply isn't that. If you want an extraction shooter, turn to Escape from Tarkov. Just be aware though, that one is incredibly difficult. So, will you be checking out The Day Before? If you're thinking maybe, please don't do it to yourself. Have you played it already? I know there are plenty of you who can't resist a potentially broken game, just like myself. 

   So, let me know what you think in the comments. With that, join us here for reviews and news and I'll see you all next blog. Thanks, everyone.