'The Day Before' gameplay: Players can opt to join colonies or use vehicles in the game

For fans of survival horror games, "The Day Before" is one of the most highly anticipated releases this year. The open-world MMO survival title offers a very interesting premise as it will be set in post-pandemic America which is now teeming with infected flesh-hungry zombie-like monsters as well as other survivors busy killing each other for food, weapons, and other resources. Here's what we know about the upcoming title.

'The Day Before' overview

"The Day Before" is an upcoming MMO open-world video game developed by Fntastic. The title will be set in New York where survivors must scavenge the city for weapons, food, and other resources for survival, according to Gaming.net.

The game's environment will be a mix of a forest area and abandoned New York City. The gameplay trailer featured a massive five-story shopping mall that players can fully explore. The game features a third-person perspective which Gaming.net described as something similar to that of "Last of Us."

'The Day Before' release date

Fntastic confirmed "The Day Before" release date to be on March 1, 2023. The developer first announced the upcoming game back on January 27, 2021 and dropped a gameplay trailer along with the reveal.

The company announced in October 2021 that the game will be released on June 21, 2022. The date was even shown on the Steam store at that time where it became the most wish-listed game, according to Whatifgaming.com.

However, Fntstic said on June 6 that they are delaying the game's release. The reason for the delay was the developer shifted their game from Unreal Engine 4 to the new and improved Unreal Engine 5 to ensure top-shelf graphics and experience. The company also revealed a new release date - March 1, 2023.

'The Day Before' platforms

"The Day Before" will be coming to PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PS5. The bad news is that there is still no word if it will be made available for older consoles.

With the migration to Unreal Engine 5, it seems like the developers have already shelved potential plans of releasing a version for older consoles. With the enhanced technical requirements, "the PS4 and XBOX One X would most likely not be able to handle these upgrades, and we haven't seen any games (except Fortnite) running on Unreal Engine 5 on either of those consoles," Whatifgaming.com noted.

Colonies

One of the game's confirmed features is the existence of colonies. Players having a hard time surviving on their own might opt to join one. Developers said that there will be safe-zone hubs in the game where players can meet and interact. They can also trade loot with each other or with NPCs. Speaking of NPCs, they will also give quests.

Vehicles

"The Day Before" will feature vehicles based on the released trailer where developers commented that players could get stuck if their vehicles are not properly equipped. While the vehicle's noise can alert zombies, it allows for faster travel and will probably be better used when traveling in groups.