The Day Before was a game made in Unreal Engine 5, with the game being in development for many years, to the point people began to think the game wasn’t real. The game was released in December 2023 and immediately faced a significant amount of criticism, with plenty calling it a scam. Not only were there legal disputes that Fntastic were facing, but they were also facing multiple accusations of plagiarism and unpaid labor, as well as severe mismanagement. Four days after the game came out, it was removed from sales, with the multiplayer servers shutting down the following months. Fntastic then closed due to poor sales performance but is now attempting to make their return. In a new post on X, they have made a return on their account FntasticHQ, saying, “Everyone deserves a second chance. We deeply apologize to everyone for The Day Before and take full responsibility for what happened.” In addition to their apology, they posted a link to their website, with the title being “The Fntastic Plan for Recovery.”
The website consists of an FAQ as well as pages such as “How you can help Fntastic.” They have admitted that their team has gotten smaller, with some team members helping out on a “goodwill basis,” which somewhat feeds into their previous issue of unpaid labor.
The new game that they are developing is called Escape Factory and is a new game in the Prop Hunt genre. To develop this game, they have created a Kickstarter, asking the community to help fund the game. It’s worth noting that if they do not reach the funding goal, they have stated they will be unable to return. They have stated that if the fundraiser does not meet the specified goal, all funds raised will be fully refunded.
Fntastic not only made The Day Before, but also developed Propnight. However, after the unsuccessful launch of The Day Before, they lost all legal rights to both games. They have admitted that they were “overly ambitious goals on a low indie budget, a team without AAA tech experience, and embellished marketing.”
While people paid for this game when it was released, they fully refunded any purchases from The Day Before. At the time of writing, their upcoming game has 29 days left on their Kickstarter, with eight people currently backing it, raising a total of $217 out of their $15,000 goal. The lowest pledge is $3, with the highest bundle costing $12,000, which grants the backers the chance to meet with the Fntastic founders.
