Dead Island: Riptide, a zombie survival game released in 2016, has seen a sudden surge in popularity with thousands of concurrent players on Steam, eight years after its launch. The game, often overshadowed by other titles, experienced a spike in player count ahead of the upcoming release of Dead Island 2 on Steam. Another possible reason for the resurgence could be the success of a new zombie survival game on Steam.
The Day Before, a zombie survival MMO developed by Fntastic, has finally been released on Steam after multiple delays and controversies. However, according to the overwhelmingly negative Steam reviews, the game falls far short of expectations. Players criticize it for not delivering on its original promises of an open-world survival MMO, instead resembling a poor imitation of Tom Clancy's The Division. The game is described as lacking depth, with an empty and uninspired world, repetitive gameplay, and numerous missing features. Many reviewers express disappointment and frustration, leading to accusations of the game being a scam. Fntastic has yet to address the negative feedback, but they have been removing pre-release marketing content from their YouTube channel.
Ken Levine, the creator of BioShock, reminisces about his abandoned zombie survival game, Division 9, calling it "the best game we never got to make." The game, which would have been released around the same time as BioShock, featured a group of survivors gathering resources and taking risks in a mall setting. It also had strategic elements and a unique concept of infinite zombies. Unfortunately, the game was cancelled due to "unfortunate timing" and remains lost to the passage of time.
