Are you familiar with The Day After? A solo developer has created a worthwhile parody of the failed zombie survival game – for a measly 1,500 dollars
The scandalous game The Day Before famously made false promises to thousands of fans and then bitterly disappointed them – well, except for the one fan who was the only one who played to the last second.
What would The Day Before have looked like as a good game? This question has also been on our minds. The answer is provided by, of all people, a single developer who, in his private time with the help of purchased assets amounting to 1,500 dollars delivers a result worth seeing both visually and in terms of gameplay.
The Day After reaps heaps of praise
The Day Before was officially in development for over five years. We now know what came out of it – a horrible game that we have awarded the title Disaster
The Day After was created in just under 13 days. According to many YouTube commentators, the tech demo, which was explicitly described as a parody by just one person, can already outdo the original.
The visuals, in particular, are praised as prettier and more technically clean. The lighting looks very realistic in places, the co-op mode seems to work, there is a zombie AI and the snowfall in the video even has its own physics to react to objects like the game characters.
We have created an image comparison based on two similar scenes. Please note that YouTube’s compromise does The Day After’s image sharpness no favors:
But The Day After also impresses in terms of gameplay with some elements that do not exist in the original game. For example, at one point the character attracts zombies with the help of a car siren in order to get past the mob unmolested – this is almost reminiscent of AAA titles such as Dying Light
A small selection of the more than 200 almost exclusively positive comments:
Very good try! Unfortunately, there are far too many zombies for it to resemble the release version of The Day Before.
That was GREAT! Totally inspiring to see a solo developer do this. Well done!
It’s amazing how much better it already looks in so many areas! I’d love to see a game like this become a reality!
A co-op game is already planned
By the way, the last comment corresponds to the general tenor: Please make it a real game!
And that’s exactly what developer Crimson seems to have in mind. After the release of his current Steam game Suit for Hire he wants to realize his own zombie survival game with a co-op focus, as he announces in the video description:
This version will not be released, but I am very much looking forward to developing a much more detailed (mechanically and visually) co-op version for a real game later this year.
Are you one of those who were bitterly disappointed by The Day Before? If so, what do you think of the above? Would you still be in the mood for a co-op survival game in the urban jungle if it was developed by capable hands? Or has The Day Before spoiled this setting for you forever? Let us know in the comments!
