The latest update for multiplayer survival horror game Last Year brings both good and bad news. The unveiling of almost three minutes of in-game footage is welcome, showing richly atmospheric gameplay. However this is tempered by the announcement that the release date has been pushed back to late 2017.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skZS-fviHBI
Get Ready to Wait
Those who have been following the progress of Last Year will know this is quite a substantial delay. It was originally scheduled for November 2016, while the revised timetable sees the beta available in August 2017. The early comments from backers are cautiously supportive, but more worrying is the big advantage this gives Friday the 13th: The Game. This rival title has similarly been delayed but will still get a beta late this year, with a multiplayer release in Spring 2017.
I can’t help but feel this will really impact on the eventual success of Last Year, but at least it will be getting released around Halloween next year. Given how many high-profile first-person games have been released recently it might also work to the advantage of Elastic Games. However seeing as how great the footage and two new screenshots look, I’m still surprised at the length of the delay.
There is a bit more good news however, with the appointment of Kevin Scharf as Marketing and Community Director. As well as narrating the gameplay footage, Kevin will hopefully be improving communications with backers. He’ll also be charged with revamping the Facebook and Twitter sites for Last Year (the latter of which hasn’t seen any activity for almost a year).
The other positive note from this is that it is actually getting made – I really had some doubts up to a few months ago.