In a move that one could describe as downright puzzling, the disastrous not-a-zombie-mmo-but-definitely-was-a-zombie-mmo-at-one-point shooter The Day Before seems to have returned to the Steam platform.
Packing a far more attractive price of $5.99, the listing had all the signature notes that you would expect – Name, developer, screenshots and even trailer details all seem to line up. But a little digging has revealed that this is all a masterful hoax – albeit a slightly sinister one.
I had to look to see if this was real
— TactiGamer | Gray Man Lifestyle (@tactigray) February 15, 2024
The Day Before is....back up on Steam? pic.twitter.com/ynXbB00KkA
Keen eyed observers were quick to check the history of the page with resources such as the WayBackMachine to see that this page had an identity (or two) before it appeared as the doomed extraction shooter.
Change logs tell the whole tale, revealing the duplicitous nature of the listing:
This also 😳 pic.twitter.com/2YR5mLNTtJ
— HM Gaming Station (@hmgamesnsoftwa1) February 16, 2024
So for the most part, some gronk has decided to make use of their floundering Steam page to set up an elaborate scam, imitating The Day Before for folks that may be dying to see what all the fuss is about. Details display that the page actually belonged to a game called Carrot the Cat, before it was rebranded into something titled Grand Theft Auto: Brasil, clearly for a similar sneaky attempt at pinching peoples pennies.
Some dug deeper to reveal that even if you did part with your hard earned cash and install the game, you’ll find that it has no files – so there isn’t even a fake game to drown your sorrows in.
— Tebow (@MinEffPodcast) February 15, 2024
So, what did we learn today? I personally came to realise that it is remarkably simple to imitate something (or someone) on Steam if you have all the requisite files. While it is entertaining to see such a doofy attempt to cash grab, the sad part is that it is convincing enough I have no doubt people will be attempting to refund their doomed purchase. It’s also quite eye opening that Valve doesn’t have better protection to stop such a thing from occurring; though admittedly this is the first I have ever seen such a blatant attempt to deceive via Steam.
Feel free to point and laugh for now, but please for the love of all, don’t engage with this dopey imitation.
Shoutouts to PCGamesN
Known throughout the interwebs simply as M0D3Rn, Ash is bad at video games. An old guard gamer who suffers from being generally opinionated, it comes as no surprise that he is both brutally loyal and yet, fiercely whimsical about all things electronic. On occasion will make a youtube video that actually gets views. Follow him on YouTube @Bad at Video Games
