The developers behind 2023’s disastrous survival MMO The Day Before want a second chance. More than nine months after studio Fntastic announced it was closing down in the wake of The Day Before’s spectacular flame-out, former members of that dev team announced Fntastic 2.0, which they describe as “a plan for recovery” for the beleaguered company.
Fntastic 2.0 will focus on honesty, transparency, and professionalism, according to a PDF of the company’s plan. “From now on, our development and marketing will be based on the principle of honesty,” developers said in the document. “We understand the mistakes and absence of past communications. We commit to ensuring transparency in development and openly providing honest and comprehensive information.”
The studio also pledges to move from a volunteer-driven approach — unpaid volunteers were behind some of The Day Before’s development — to “one firmly rooted in professionalism,” though it’s unclear exactly what this means. The people behind Fntastic 2.0 use non-specific language, saying they will “gather industry professionals and specialists,” “improve our existing employees’ skills,” and “continuously raise all standards and practices.”
According to an FAQ published by Fntastic, the team has become “smaller, but it still consists of the same people who created all of our previous games.”
Alongside the announcement of Fntastic 2.0, the developer launched a Kickstarter campaign to help fund a new game at the studio. The game, Escape Factory, is pitched as a physics-based, multiplayer co-op escape game in which players navigate their way through dangerous factories. Escape Factory appears to be inspired by multiplayer games like Fall Guys and Party Animals, with a cast of cute factory workers trying to survive a series of deadly traps. A demo is available on Steam.
Escape Factory’s Kickstarter campaign appears to be on track to fail. The developer has raised just $2,348 toward its $15,539 goal in its first week. The campaign has 23 days left to go. Fntastic says that if Escape Factory’s Kickstarter campaign is unsuccessful, “we won’t be able to return,” and the game won’t be released. Developers said on Discord that they’ve also been trolled by Kickstarter users, with one large contribution pledged and then retracted.
While the people behind Fntastic’s attempted return say they’re committed to transparency and open communication, the general tenor of discussion from would-be players on Escape Factory’s Kickstarter page and on the Fntastic official Discord server is pessimistic and accusatory. Many say Fntastic’s latest project and its attempt to return are all a scam, a common refrain in discussions concerning The Day Before.
Polygon has attempted to contact Fntastic founders Eduard and Aisen Gotovtsev, via their official and personal email addresses, but has not received a response to multiple emails and Discord messages. We’ve also contacted others listed as developers on the Fntastic Discord and have not received a response.
Fntastic shot to fame in 2021 when it first revealed The Day Before. The “open-world multiplayer survival game” set in a “huge, stunningly detailed post-apocalyptic world” wowed viewers with its visuals and pre-release gameplay footage. But after experiencing multiple delays and amassing a massive fanbase, The Day Before landed with a thud, suffering from shallow gameplay and major technical issues at launch. The Day Before was shut down within weeks of its debut, and Fntastic fell out with its publisher, Mytona, losing the rights to The Day Before and a previously released prop-hunt-style game, Propnight.
If Fntastic’s return hinges on Escape Factory’s Kickstarter campaign being successfully funded, the company seems unlikely to get its second chance. The developer says it has “many exciting plans for future games,” including a new version of Propnight, but its “2.0” plans, thus far, do not bode well for a revival of Fntastic.
