Last Year

"FACE YOUR FEARS"

***Last Year*** is a 1v5 asymmetrical survival horror game following a single Fiend working against a team of classmates on several maps. The game's cast consists of 6 classmates and 4 fiends. The classmates must work together as a group in order to complete Objectives and escape, they are aided by the 4 classes and the ability to Craft items using Scrap in the game against the fiend, who can choose to then become a different fiend between deaths in order to adapt to the situation at hand. The classmates are able to collect scrap to craft new weapons or utility items to fight off the fiend, and must work together to stay alive while they complete the objective of the map, open the gate, and escape before the timer runs out. They are encouraged to stick together to use their classes to fight off the fiend and look out for one another to survive the round.

## Development

Last Year was initially developed by Elastic Games, they would raise funds using a kickstarter campaign in 2014.

## Original Discord release

The game launched on the experimental Discord Store on December 18th of 2018 under the name of "Last Year: The Nightmare". The choice to launch on the Discord store would prove to be a poor one, causing many to avoid checking out the game.

## Steam re-release

Almost a year later, on December 10th of 2019, the game would re-launch on Steam under the title "Last Year: Afterdark". This new chapter added 2 new characters, Raj and The Spider, cosmetic additions to the maps to fit the new theme (alongside a rework of the entire layout of The Gym, the spell system, and an AI opponent being brought in with the Cryptids). Many of the older playerbase checked out Afterdark, but an array of factors would bring the game down once more.

The game experienced its last name change under Elastic Games with the Bloody Valentine event on 13 February 2020, being simplified to just "Last Year". The event brought in one new map, the Sawmill, and an array of interesting skins for players to purchase (however some were given out for free). It also brought in a free weekend that brought the game to its peak of ~3300 players. It had a drastic price drop after this, but never went completely Free To Play and experienced a loss of players once more.

In late 2021, Last Year would shut down as Elastic Games went bankrupt. A separate game, Nighthunt, would be made by Neighborhood Games using reused assets from Last Year, but it never gained traction and the Last Year IP would go untouched for a long time.

## Last Year: Resurrected

It would only receive attention again years later in March of 2023, after a group of modders had spent nearly 2 years working to make the game once again playable under the title of "Last Year: Resurrected".

## Undaunted games's acquisition of the Last Year IP and revival

Shortly later, on 1 April 2023, Undaunted Games would announce through a tweet that they had purchased the rights to the Last Year IP after Elastic Games had gone completely bankrupt and would be working with the modding team of Last Year: Resurrected. The game would officially "soft-launch" on 4 May 2023.

## Reference

1. ↑ Last Year official kickstarter
2. ↑ Last Year: Resurrected trailer
3. ↑ Undaunted Games's tweet