Warning this will be a long review, please take as many breaks as humanly possible. I don't want you to get strangled or chopped up into pieces.
Hello everyone I'm Jack Red, I had to be patient since not a lot of people play this anymore. I should point out according to a more recent update, no one from the team has been working on it. COVID-19 hit them hard but it's community keeping the game alive. I am talking about Last Year: The Nightmare, which does get compare a lot to Dead by Daylight.
Last Year: The Nightmare is a newer version of the same game. Steam actually sells two versions of the same game I'm not kidding. You can play as one of the class mates or the killer. As the class mates aka our survivors you can select which role you want to play. You also have the option to switch roles during matches, a nice touch.
In vice versa, the player whose the killer has several advantages. For starters, in setting traps mode they can teleport a notable distance including above or below. You also can switch between three killers to play as. If one of them dies, don't worry at some point during the match that killer will be revived.
Each map has different objectives while attempting to attempt. Let's be honest, some of this got copied by Resident Evil: Resistance in some way. Even I confess that game is more of a clone to this game than DbD game play wise. The graphics are truly amazing with beautiful artwork. Speaking of that, you also can buy the artbook for this game.
You do need to find it within Last Year's files through Steam. But the pages are just the correct length to make looking at every page not seem like a chore. Like Dead by Daylight on Steam, you also can buy the soundtrack. Now going back to the killers, sadly I am not sure how to get the most recent version that includes one additional class mate character as well as the new killer.
Unfortunately until that problem gets resolved I can't talk about those characters sorry. Update: remember I said there's two versions on Steam? It turned out the release in 2019 so happens to be the newer Afterdark version, oh okay how come they didn't call it that? I'll tell you what if the game remains online, I'll buy that version too to talk about a handful of stuff I can't right now.
I should point a few major things out about this game. It actually started as a Kickstarter game. Like Friday the 13th: The Game and Hide or Die. To me, it seems those games are getting the short end of the stick. Also, unlike DbD there's five class mate players against one killer player during matches. I probably should talk about the original three killers since they all play differently.
The Giant is a huge maniac that has powerful punches as well as easily throwing people from over his head. He can take the most damage out of the three but he's so slow in comparison. The Slasher is wielding an axe, he's the all around killer choice. I still wouldn't say he's the best one. The Strangler has a couple stuff going for him.
He has a nice long range chain attack to pull survivors closer to him. He also can attack quickly but he's also the weakest out of the three. Honestly, I just like being this guy during an match. He was the first killer I tried out, I didn't think I would like him so much right off the bat. The soundtrack is beautifully done as well.
The killer has two ways to win an match. Either by getting the other players timed out or kill em all. The good news for them is you can die several times during the matches. You can be revived in a weird method of spawning behind a locked door. You have to be rescued by another class mate player to return to the game.
Personally, I like having multiple chances during a multiplayer match than just one like DbD's case. This is the only game developed and published by Elastic Games. I also liked how team work is more of a factor here than DbD as well. I know I been bashing DbD recently. It's just when you start to pay attention to the competition even the top dog isn't perfect.
There isn't many achievements either but considering not a lot of people are playing it I guess that's fine. Yes, I am listening to the soundtrack while writing all of this. I also liked they are making an interesting horror story that strangely all connects together. Now that's difficult to pull off right.
Last Year: The Nightmare is a surprise in many ways to me. Each class mates has their own animations as well as voice overs. Which also applies to the killer characters as well. Just not as much speak in comparison. The killers also can set traps while de-spawn from the game. There's a golden rule where they can't respawn or plant traps if a class mate can still see them or too close by.
Personally, that's a good rule because just imagine for one moment that wasn't there. We are talking about cheating here. Each class the class mates has in some way affects the game play. Like Assault is being the fighters in the group. There's also Scouts that help locate key items as well as blind the killer.
Medics are well the healer of the group not much to explain there. Finally we get to mechanic where they can built power ups or turrets. I don't know if the loading screen prior to the matches might be a problem in the newer version or not. They do differ in length but most of the time I'm hoping it doesn't crash or I get kicked out of the match.
I will say the maps I played not including the newer ones in Afterdark version are decent. They are well designed with the best objectives for each map. Elastic Games has given us a game that may get labeled as a DbD clone. There's a couple people who actually label this as the DbD killer.
It may not has so much DbD has going for them. But the fact each killer has a lot more killing animations is a huge step up. Usually in DbD, either you sacrifice survivors on the hook unless you're Pyramid Head with his exclusive sacrifice method or use a mori to kill them. Which also includes depending on the variation of mori to hook an survivor at least once.
In Last Year, you can weaken or sometimes flat out kill an class mate on the spot. Some killers can use a few spots as death traps to instantly kill a class mate as well. Thus, it is actually easier to die in this game. The additional stuff I talked about earlier does help out a lot against five players.
You have no idea how frustrating it is to keep up with four players as the killer in DbD. Yes, this may differ depending on the killer you're playing as. My point is those extra features makes it more a fair match. I will be honest despite not nearly having as much content as DbD. This game is still more balanced in a lot of ways.
Another thing a lot of people likes more is being able to fight back even kill the killers. In DbD, either getting the killer stunned or running away are your only options to survive. You also get those with ways to fight back against the killers. You also can barricades trap doors and actual doors to slow down the killers too.
There's more paranoia due to those extra features on the killer's side. At the end of a match either you activate the escape scenario or the game low on time will. Thus you need to hurry to the exit. But the killer is likely going to be chasing you or simply waiting by the exit to kill you. I do like the animations for escaping or not in this game.
Honestly, Last Year is much better than I personally give credit to. For a smaller team to create something this good, I must give them respect. I am not going to lie, if they do return to working on this. I actually think this could become DbD's biggest competitors that's still going. F13 & Hide or Die already died with no more content coming to Resistance.
There's no question this is way better than the famous DbD rip off game Soul at Stake. Even if this was inspired by DbD, they made great changes. They clearly made it their own here, I love it. This game can be so much more than in it's current state which I can't fully judge until I get that version or talk to someone who has.
I do need to point out like Horror Legends, there is a discord channel. One of the best places to get people to play with you in this game. Sometimes, a handful of people at times is on. If you want to experience something like this don't let too many opportunities get away. Trust me, this game is well worth the time, money & patience.
The mechanics needs to collect scrap to build stuff is such a great idea. It is common enough to not be tedious. It just depends how well you put the amount you have to use. I do like other class mates can get you out of the killer's grasp or traps. It is important to learn the killer's weaknesses because it will make killing them a lot easier.
To me, it felt like there's more strategies involve then you even realize. Like you may need to hack a computer or find some gas. Suddenly, out of no where the killer shows up to prevent you from achieving those goals. Almost no where is save that's something you must remember while playing.
I do need to point another easy to miss fact about this game. There was a discord gaming service where this game had 90 days exclusively deal. Which got cut a bit short due to not making money or not even making it clear they had that service. Kinda like the movies & shows Steam had to a degree before they chose to start ending that part of the service.
This meant, it wouldn't be on Steam until the deal was over. Chances are this sudden change of plans could've delayed it's Steam release a bit. I'm not a expert in marketing so I wouldn't know how stuff like that works. What I do know is we can play it without spending additional money to do so is a plus in my book.
I also liked that some of the maps in this version of the game are sections of the class mate's school. Which I felt was a clever concept. This makes the possibilities even more interesting to think about. In this version, there's three maps with Afterdark having a fourth map. Once again, it's one of those things I may get the chance to come back to depending on things.
Last Year is something that won't go quietly in the night, it's going to be loud and scary. This game has the potential being one of the greatest underrated horror multiplayer games ever made. Yes I just said that because it truly deserves that reputation or greater. We have something that you think plays like DbD but much more of it's own thing in so many ways.
Special thanks section
I would like to take this time to thank everyone from when I started officially playing matches to a couple of them last night. I really wanted to give this game a try because I believe it had potential. It looked rather interesting as well as unique. I wouldn't have that opportunity thanks to every single one of you that helped to making this also a possibility.
Last thoughts
It is a real shame this game is barely getting live streamed anymore. I kinda curious to know why rather than they believed the game was dead. I don't think it's dead just yet. We have something that was worth going out on a limb to getting. Honestly, this game deserves much more attention than it recently getting.
