Developer Fntastic may not have been the biggest name out there until not too long ago, but the studio recently grabbed headlines with it debuted gameplay footage of its upcoming open world survival MMO The Day Before. It wasn’t just that the game looked visually stunning (which it did), but that on top of that, with an open world setting, loot and scavenging driven mechanics, base building, and more, it also promises to deliver an engaging experience. Certainly, The Day Before has made a strong first impression.
We’re more than curious to learn more about the game before its launch later this year, and to satisfy that curiosity, we recently reached out to its developers with a few questions. You can read our conversation with Fntastic co-founders Ed Gotovtsev and Aisen Gotovtsev below.
"In The Day Before, we created the real world of the post-apocalypse, which means players have absolute freedom."
The Day Before clearly has a strong PvE component, given its setting, but what can players expect from the game in terms of PvP?
In The Day Before, we created the real world of the post-apocalypse, which means players have absolute freedom. Complete tasks with other players or alone. You can meet anyone and whenever you want, act as you want, cooperate with people or rob them – it’s your choice. And of course you can loot the defeated players.
It seems like restoring and expanding a colony of survivors is a crucial element from the game. How will this tie into the meta-progression and the story?
The possibility to gather with friends, meet and make new friends in a safe place will create many personal stories from those who will play The Day Before. In Woodberry Survivor Colony, you can not only communicate with other players, but also talk to the inhabitants of the colony, take tasks from them and reveal more details about the world. Also we’re testing a system of reputation within the colony, so your activity will affect your progression in the story. More information will be revealed in the future videos and posts in our social media.
What can you tell us about the loot game in The Day Before and how it will tie into progression?
In The Day Before there are no colored items of different value, everything is real, weapons act as in real life, a light bulletproof vest will only save you from a pistol, boots will not give you protection from shots. It is important for us to give the player maximum immersion in the world of post-apocalypse.
It seems like vehicles and vehicular exploration are going to be an important part of the experience. Can you tell us more about this? Will building, repairing, and maintaining vehicles be important mechanics in the game?
Travel off-road, knead the mud, but be careful – if you get stuck, you will become an easy prey. The car can either save your life or become a trap. You need to keep an eye on the fuel, otherwise you can stall at the most inconvenient moment. We have carefully approached the details of the game, for example, in order to fill up the fuel you need to pick up a canister and really pour it into the tank of the car, the same way the car is repaired, you have to go out and fix it. The game will include not only ordinary cars, but also armored vehicles. Just imagine, we are walking together along the lifeless streets of the city, and skyscrapers once filled with people hang over us. We have the best assault rifles, and then we suddenly see a running armored vehicle ahead that notices us! To deal with such an enemy, you need a completely different approach.
"Travel off-road, knead the mud, but be careful – if you get stuck, you will become an easy prey."
What can players expect from The Day Before where enemy variety is concerned?
Let’s imagine that a zombie apocalypse has come to your city, what danger will you face? We at Fntastic believe that during a real post-apocalypse there’ll be lots of wonderful people who help others no matter what, but inevitably there’ll be those who won’t hesitate to use force. So in the game you can meet zombies, real human-players, human NPCs, but unlike the civilians of Woodberry, they are more likely to shoot you in your head instead of a greeting. As for types of zombies, they are divided into realistic varieties, for example, by their physique. Zombies react to sounds and rely on sight, and by the way, if you carry too many things, the sounds you make will be louder and the chance that you will be heard will increase. Each contact with the infected may be your last. It is important for us to convey the same emotions from meeting a zombie, as if it happened in real life.
Endgame content is obviously crucial in any game such as this one. What can players expect from The Day Before in that regard, in terms of things like dungeons, raids, and the like?
If you watched our last trailer, then you probably saw a strange corridor. This corridor is a part of a large laboratory complex of the mysterious Azure Initiatives corporation. In general, such PvE places provide an opportunity for us to show the game in a different light. It will be like a cold shower after a boiling hot day! For us, game development is an art where we have no limits to our imagination.
What are your post-launch plans for the game in the months following its release? Are you planning on adding additional story or endgame content to the game soon after it releases?
We have so many cool ideas for upgrades that screw seriousness, sometimes when we think about it, we can start running and jumping out of excitement and too much energy. For example, we are all inspired by holiday events, concerts with stars in the survivors camp, new locations, new weapons, cool skins, racing cars. There is so much fun you can do to brighten up post-apocalypse everyday life! Write what you would like to see in the comments below. As for the store, we don’t care about that. It is not the main thing for us. The main thing for our team is to create the greatest MMO survival game.
How large is the game’s open world setting going to be?
The Day Before features a large open world that you can freely navigate both on foot and by car without any loading screens. The focus is on the big city and its surroundings, but players will also be able to explore farms, vast meadows, small settlements, majestic forests and snow-capped mountains. It is a hand-detailed world aiming to convey the romance of the post-apocalypse, and in which players could live their own stories.
Roughly how long will the main story in The Day Before be?
Everything will depend on your style of playing and updates. We’re creating a huge world with many stories, not just one main story. It will be a world where you can feel the atmosphere of post-apocalypse, live in, and look forward to the new stories to happen.
"We will not be able to port the game to your NES, but we are considering the next-gen consoles. Wait for a special announcement."
Do you have any plans for a pre-launch beta or demo for The Day Before?
We will have a pre-launch beta, but only for thousands of lucky ones. It’s great that our publisher has so many employees!
Let’s talk about the footage that was revealed. Was it a part of the actual and will the final game look like that?
We intend to take the survival MMO genre to a whole new level! We are constantly improving the game, including graphics and animations, every week our team makes new breakthroughs in order to give players the highest quality game. So the final game will be much better.
Do you have any plans to bring the game to PS5 and Xbox Series X/S?
We will not be able to port the game to your NES, but we are considering the next-gen consoles. Wait for a special announcement.
Is there anything else you want to tell us about the game?
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