Who remembers Fantastic? Yes, this is the studio behind the hugely ambitious The Day Before, a multiplayer post-apocalyptic shooter. The game turned out to be a complete scam upon release, causing the game to be pulled from sale and players to get their money back. The makers of that game are now back. With a new address.
The new studio is called Fntastic 2.0 and is making a comeback because “everyone deserves a second chance.” This time the studio wants to prove what it can do with a new game called Escape Factory. The developer also wants to learn from his mistakes and properly inform players about what is happening.
Through a Kickstarter The reformed studio reveals its plans for Escape Factory. The developer immediately introduces an all-or-nothing model: if Kickstarter goals are not met, every investor gets their money back.
But what exactly will the team do? In Escape Factory, it’s up to you and other players to escape factory life through boring assembly line work. A legendary employee once escaped. Now it’s your turn to escape into this challenging physics-based multiplayer co-op game. Sounds a bit like Fall Guys, doesn’t it?
Unfortunately, Fntastic 2.0’s new ambitions also turned out to be empty promises, because some data miners decided to take a closer look at Escape Factory. X user Occular Malice discovered that the game’s communication, compression, and matchmaking mechanics are all examples of “experimental Unity code,” which is typically only used by people learning game development.
Additionally, much of the game’s current code base consists of assets stolen from the Unity Store, which are often free. Funnily enough, any comments that reveal this kind of thing are deleted by the studio on Steam. Social media users who post negative comments are also banned.
So it looks like Fntastic hasn’t changed at all.
It seems @FntasticHQ I deleted my post on the Steam forums about the assets I stuffed into Escape Factory. Fortunately, I saved a copy on the Wayback Machine. Here is the archived topic: https://t.co/3U4JJGNd8m
– Mysterious hatred 🏳️🌈 (@bsimser) September 27, 2024
