Last Year

Last Year is a survival horror game developed by independent studio Elastic Games and brought to PC thanks to a successful crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter. The team behind the title consists of experienced developers who previously worked on such game series as Far Cry, Hitman and Tomb Raider. Besides, Last Year draws much inspiration from slasher films.

Mechanics

At the core of gameplay in the Last Year lies asymmetrical multiplayer designed for up to six people. While five of them play as stereotypical American teenagers, the sixth assumes the role of a psychopath, hunting them down. Regardless of which character you choose to play, the events are observed from the first-person perspective.

In the game each character has a specific role to play – since the heroes are students, some of them are good at medicine, others excel at engineering, yet others are athletes able to help others with a strong arm. The key to success is cooperation, skillful use of each character’s strengths, and gathering resources needed for creating impromptu weapons. In combat you use mainly melee weapons, however, you can also craft more elaborate tools of destruction, e.g. a bomb assembled in a chemistry classroom. Individual killers also offer various abilities: while The Strangler prefers to drag his victims into secluded places and strangle them, the more aggressive Slasher makes use of knifes, machetes or even saws. Besides, the oppressors can use the so-called Predator mode, in which they become invisible and almost undetectable for a potential victim. The primary objective for the young people is to survive the nightmare-come-true, whereas the killer’s job is to spill as much blood as he can.

The deadly competition takes place in various locations – starting with the East Side Highschool, through to a mall, to a summer camping place. Each map contains useful items and various hideouts as well as places perfect for an ambush.

Technical aspects

Last Year for PC is powered by Unreal Engine 4, thanks to which the game’s 3D graphics looks good. The overwhelming atmosphere is build up by low-intensity colors and proper lighting as well as original soundtrack.

Last updated on May 5, 2017