20 Most Controversial Games of the 2020s (So Far)
3. The Day Before
And now for a game that definitely wasn't ready, we have The Day Before.
The post-apocalyptic multiplayer survival game was first announced in 2021, with some admittedly impressive gameplay footage helping it become Steam's most wishlisted game by May 2022.
However, many questioned whether little-known developer Fntastic truly had the chops to deliver the experience they seemed to be promising, and as time passed without Fntastic clarifying precisely what The Day Before was, scepticism reached a fever pitch.
Would it be an outright scam or merely a dud that over-promised and under-delivered?
We finally got the answer in December 2023, when The Day Before's early access launch was panned into the Earth's core by critics and players alike for its technical issues, lack of content, and general failure to deliver the advertised game.
The blowback was vitriolic enough that, within four days of release, Fntastic removed The Day Before from Steam, while publisher Mytona refunded all customers and Fntastic closed down a short while later.
Former developers of the game also went on to accuse Fntastic brass of mismanaging the production, namely constantly pivoting aspects of the gameplay to chase whatever was trendy at the time.
The lesson here? If a game looks too good to be true, it probably is.