Last Year: The Nightmare is an asymmetric horror game where one player is a very powerful killer and five players are high school students stuck in a nightmare world (called, for some reason, The Nightmare) where they must try to escape, or be killed trying. Fortunately for them, dying is not permanent in The Nightmare, and if their friends can be relied upon to rescue them, they might still escape if they can get out before the time limit runs out.

Their friends might be assholes, though, and leave them in the closet, alone with the killer forever.

Killer players can select from three distinct characters: the Brute, the Slasher, and the Strangler. Every killer has their own unique characteristics, including weapon (or lack thereof) and instant kill location.

The Brute is extremely physical, with the highest health pool of the three characters, but he is also the slowest. He has a charge skill to make up for this lack of speed, but he roars for like an eternity before charging so survivors know to GTFO or get turned into paste. He uses only his bare fists, but that's all he needs, really; even with just his fists he still outputs tons of damage (though not quite as much as the Slasher). His instant kill is that he bursts through the walls before headbutting an unlucky victim and smashing them on the ground.

The Slasher is the middle-of-the-road killer. He has a medium-sized health pool, average speed, and no special skills. Instead, he has the highest raw damage output of any killer. If you let the Slasher get in range, you're gonna have a bad day. His instant kill is dropping from a skylight and planting an axe in someone's forehead.

The Strangler is the fastest killer, although he is also the weakest and most fragile. He requires some advance planning to be effective, because he relies on a hook and chain to pull survivors to him from a distance; think the Smoker from Left 4 Dead. He can also use his chain to separate survivors and pick them off when they're isolated. He uses a rusty pair of scissors as his weapon (although only for kill moves; otherwise he just slashes with his fingernails). His instant kill is hooking a survivor from a grate and pulling them in where nobody can help them.

All killers also have access to something called Predator Mode, which is the main appeal of this game when compared to others in its genre like Dead By Daylight or Friday the 13th. In Predator Mode, you're (mostly) invisible to the survivors and you move hella fast. While moving about, you can lay traps for the survivors, plant gas in places they might search for crafting materials, enter instant kill spots to try and eliminate kids who are too careless, or just plan out your next move. As long as you can't be seen by survivors, you are free to enter or exit Predator Mode at any time. This gives the game a horror movie feel where the killer could almost literally be around any corner, and survivors have to watch each others' backs, or they might just get hooked from behind...

Unfortunately for the killers, the survivors can fight back, although dying is not the end for them either. Once a killer dies, they select a different killer and come back after a bit.

This is your well-intentioned group of high school stereotypes, and although each character boasts her own distinct personality, they are not currently restricted to class.

The classes are:

Assault: Meant for direct confrontation with the killer. Their whole schtick is protecting their teammates and trying to bash in the killer's face whenever he's dumb enough to show it. Their craftables typically revolve around being better at smashing killers.

Medic: Basically the opposite of the Assault class. They want to heal their teammates and keep them on their feet so they can all survive and escape. This doesn't mean they're helpless; they can craft some defense items so that it's not hopeless if they're the last one left alive and teammates need rescuing. For the most part, though, they're there to undo all the killers' hard work.

Technician: Think the Engineer from TF2. They construct defenses and craft weapons for the team.

Scout: The Scout is the most unique class. They have access to a scanner tool that tells the team if the killer is nearby. It doesn't spell out their exact location, but it will show if the killer is hiding in an instant kill spot. It will also show whether or not they are in Predator Mode. They can also craft a variety of useful items so that they can defend themselves.

As of today, 12/18/18, the game has released on Discord First. Next year, Last Year (hmm) will release on Steam and probably consoles. Eventually they'll move to dedicated servers for cross-platform play.

The developers have said that new survivors/killers/maps/game modes/progression systems/etc. will be released over time and will all be free unless it's licensed content.

Game looks real neat! Come play it with me!

My Discord is joshofalltrades #1273