The Day Before's Highly-Anticipated Early Access Launch Is A Giant Mess

One of Steam's most-wishlisted games, The Day Before, has officially launched into early access after multiple delays--although judging from some of the game-breaking bugs and issues that are currently affecting players, maybe it shouldn't have.

The Day Before, as of writing, is the top-selling game on Steam and has more than 34,000 concurrent players. But that doesn't tell the whole story. Though the subreddit for the zombie survival game seemed ready for a not-exactly-stable launch experience, The Day Before's launch seems to have gone even worse than expected, with one major bug in particular causing players significant problems at the very start of the game.

As shown in various clips shared on The Day Before's subreddit, players in the game's opening moments wake up in a hospital bed with a doctor overlooking them. The doctor then asks players to "try and get off the bed." The only problem is that as soon as players begin to do so, they instantly fall through the floor into a gray void and are killed. Others, however, are unable to even talk to the doctor and therefore progress the game. Users have also reported getting stuck behind walls, or receiving fatal errors that cause the game to crash following The Day Before's opening moments.

Yet several players don't seem able to even get that far. The game is currently plagued with server issues, with many players reporting that they are unable to connect or even find a server that isn't already full. Some on the subreddit say they've been misled by The Day Before's marketing, which sold itself as a survival MMO, but players are now reporting is more in the vein of an extraction shooter.

Mere hours after launch, The Day Before is currently sitting at a "Mostly Negative" user review score on Steam, with players commenting on the game's lack of functional settings, servers, and its already infamous falling through the floor bug.

"The UI broke the second I logged in," SirAngryStoic writes in their user review. "Then couldn't connect to a server. When I finally got into a server I fell through the map and died. Do not play this game."

Another user, biffa, commented on the game's lack of open-world MMO elements, calling The Day Before "just an extraction shooter, and a bad one at that."

"This game is not an MMO, despite being advertised as such," biffa writes. "It's completely misleading, runs like ass, looks like ass. Just don't buy it."

According to an early access FAQ from the game's developer Fntastic found on The Day Before's Steam page, the game will be in early access for "around 6-8 months, but this could change." The plan, according to the developer, is to address bug fixes and gameplay balance, alongside introducing new content like additional weapons, vehicles, and houses, over the course of early access. According to Fntastic, The Day Before, which is currently $40, will increase in price following its early access period. Despite player statements to the contrary, the game still lists itself as a MMO, with the FAQ stating The Day Before allows players "to fully immerse themselves in a post-apocalyptic open-world MMO."

So far, Fntastic has only issued a single post on X (formerly Twitter) in regards to The Day Before's launch issues, stating "Overload on North American servers. The Servers are working. Fills up too quickly."

The Day Before has had a rocky road to launch. It's been delayed multiple times, and earlier this year the game was pulled from Steam following a trademark dispute. The developer, which is an all-remote studio that has never released a game prior to The Day Before, has previously come under fire for using "volunteers" to develop the game.