On December 10, Last Year will get a second chance at life after disappearing into Discord Store obscurity, this time releasing on Steam as Last Year: Chapter 1 - Afterdark. The update also includes a new playable spider monster, which sure looks like a spider does: Gross.
Last Year really impressed me at PAX a few years ago. It has a unique spin on the asymmetrical horror framework popularized by Left 4 Dead and Dead By Daylight, pitting five students against a single monster while they move through a level, look for upgrades, and complete objectives.
But what Last Year has going for it are class-based teens—jocks, nerds, and the like—and a monster that can spawn in and out at will, as long as it can't be seen. And while the monster is invisible, it can spy on the kids, lay traps, and knock stuff around to distract and terrify the opposing team. It's the closest a multiplayer game has come to capturing the B-movie experience, a playful, gory framework where the monster actually feels supernatural.
Unfortunately, Last Year was a timed Discord Store exclusive, and while Discord has become the go-to place for people to hang with their friends while playing games, the store never really caught on, which led the company to remove the storefront from the app earlier this year.
It's still possible to purchase games through Discord, but only through verified servers. So to purchase Last Year right now you'd need to have heard about the game already before seeking out the official Last Year server, which isn't the best means of discovery, especially for an exclusive.
I'd just wait for that December 10 Steam release.
