Hello everyone!

We know it has been a long while since we last updated you all on the state of Last Year and the Unreal Engine 5 update. We would like to update you on our progress and what is the next step for the Last Year franchise.

During the development of our Unreal Engine 5 port, we decided to package the update with Chapter 2 as new a game, alongside a rebranding of "Last Year" to "Forest Hills: The Last Year." We wanted the game to go beyond East Side High and explore the mysterious town and it's connections to the Nightmare. The game will take place in the same universe while introducing new Fiends, Displaced (formerly Classmates), Maps, Classes, and Revamped Content!

The Fiends that will be introduced in the Forest Hills are The Warlock and The Dryad. Abigail will join the gang as the new Displaced. The new map will be The Cemetery.

For those attending PAX East this year, you will be able to see the Warlock in full action and the new Cemetery map at Booth #13085. Stop by, say Hi, and play a match with us!

Since Forest Hills is a sequel, this means there will be a new store page along with a price tag. The price tag is not concrete but it will be fairly priced with adjustments for other regions. We understand that this is not what everyone may have expected but, this decision was not taken lightly and was made in the best interest of making sure we can keep ourselves afloat while continuing to produce amazing content for the community!

If you're excited for this brand new start for the Last Year franchise, you can now wishlist Forest Hills: The Last Year on Steam!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2864310/Forest_Hills_The_Last_Year/

Follow us on all our socials as well, we tease a lot of new content there as well as chat with our community.
https://discord.com/invite/foresthillsgame


See you in the Nightmare soon...

Greetings East Side High!

We know it has been a while since our last patch. The team at Undaunted Games has been hard at work porting Last Year over to Unreal Engine 5 and refactoring the source code to allow for more consistent updates, hence our silence during this period. If you join our Discord, you can keep up with the progress we have shared with our community so far! We want Last Year to be better than it's ever been but, it takes a lot of time and work. We're hoping that we can get the update finished and pushed by the end of the year. In the mean time, our community has brought some issues to our attention that required an imminent patch. This patch hopes to address those issues.

Before we proceed we have removed The Sawmill from the random map pool, therefore making it impossible to select the map now until further notice. We desperately tried fixing the map to no avail, thus the map will have to return sometime after our engine update.

With Patch 1.0.23, we're introducing:

1) MATCHMAKING CHECK: There is now a matchmaking check from this patch moving forwards. You can no longer matchmake with other players that are playing on an older version of the game.
This was implemented to avoid cheaters using older builds of the game to ruin matches for other players.

2) FIEND COLLISION: After a classmate is freed from a grab ability, they will lose collision with the Fiend for 3 seconds. This was done to crackdown on methods that abused trapping the classmates in corners.

3) DOOR COLLISION: Tired of those pesky doors slapping you in the face when running away from the fiend? Fear the doors no more as when doors open, they will have no collision now! We hope this will reduce frustration of deaths not caused by individual fault.

4) OBJECTIVE RESET DISTANCE: The objective will now begin de-spawning if all classmates are 10 meters away.

We have also taken this opportunity to do some balance adjustments following our last patch. We were overall happy with the reception from the community however, with this new patch we wanted to experiment further. Unfortunately, we still couldn't address some larger issues with the balance such as a Strangler rework or a Deep Wounds nerf. Those will have to wait until after our engine update with proper reworks. Nonetheless we hope you will enjoy the changes and please remember to leave us feedback on our Discord!

Map Changes:
- The Mine's crank completion time has been reduced from 50 seconds to 40 seconds
- Cryptids will spawn in batches of 3 instead of 5 on The Mine

Classmate Changes:
- Gas Traps no longer reverses the affected classmate's controls
- Classmates speed when afflicted by Gas Traps has been changed from 0.5 to 0.65
- Assault Pipe damage has been decreased from 20 to 15
- Assault's Helmet scrap cost reduced from 12 to 10
- Assault's Molotov damage against Fiend reduced from 1.7 damage per 0.1 seconds to 1.2 damage per 0.1 seconds
- Assault's Molotov damage against classmates reduced from 0.8 damage per 0.1 seconds to 0.5 damage per 0.1 seconds
- Medic's Gas Mask scrap cost reduced from 12 to 10
- Medic’s Pipebomb scrap cost reduced from 22 to 18
- Scout's Tracker recharge increased from 20 to 25

Fiend Changes:
- Strangler chokehold reduced from 5 seconds to 3 seconds
- Giant's sprint speed has been increased to Slasher's base walking speed

When working on the balance, we took the opportunity to fix some small bugs with Fiend and Classmate:
- Fixed an issue where Classmates were forced off of the crank after 25 seconds on The Mine
- Fixed an issue where Strangler pulled you indefinitely when on a different elevation from the Classmate

Thank you all for your continued support and patience for the engine update. We’re all working very hard to bring you the best Last Year experience possible. We hope to share more exciting information with you soon!

See you in the Nightmare!

**Hello East Side High!**

Today I want to announce our first Balance update, and walk through some of the decision making. Our goal was to bring some of the overtuned damage elements down, and make CC more of a skilled use scenario. The goal is to bring a smoother balance between roles for the game, and we’ll be monitoring and adjusting as we go.

**Medic** has been changed to heal 3hp, 0.5 second to use the charge, 1 sec to recharge medkit charges, and maximum charges reduced to 6.

**Giant**: throw damage has been smoothed out to a minimum of 30 at short range and a maximum of 60 at furthest range. On top of that, his base attack damage has been dropped to 15 from 25, as he was dealing far too much damage in conjunction with his other abilities. Finally, we’ve added a 8 second cooldown to his missed throw ability, and a 15 second cooldown when it hits.

**Strangler**: this was a tricky killer to balance and realistically we know that a rework in the future is probably needed. However, we’ve done some changes in the short term to make him feel better to play. His chain speed was sped up to 3200, twice as fast. His chain now deals 18 damage on a hit with the chain, and its min damage total from short distance is 20 more, and 36 damage for max distance. This should make the chain a key element in his damaging output, more akin to a hit and run style. His base movement speed is now 270, which is faster than before but still below classmates speed. Lastly, his stranglehold now holds for the full duration of time regardless of chain distance pull.
All killer resistances/weaknesses were set to a miniscule value as to not be noticeable in gameplay. This should make Slasher easier to harm, and Spider able to live longer in a fight.

The **Scout** tracker flash duration was reduced to 2.5 seconds, from 3.5, and it’s recharge rate reduced to 20s from 25s. The idea here was to make flash an available tool for CC but minimize it’s length so that it’s still a skill shot. Smoke duration was reduced to 4 seconds as well, to make it more of a decision when to use it. The shotgun scrap cost was increased to 32, and it’s overall damage per charge reduced to 70. This was done as it’s a ranged weapon and thus less risk involved in using it.

For **Assaults**, the Molotov scrap cost was increased to 22 from it’s low 18 cost. Baseball bat scrap cost was reduced to 30, as it’s a melee weapon and thus presents more danger in using it.

**Technicians** only real change was the flamethrower. It’s damage was increased from 6.2 per proc to 9 for a larger potential damage boost. However as it’s a ranged weapon, we’ve upped it’s scrap cost to 34.

We’ve finally tuned some of the more overperforming spells. Pent Up maximum damage reduced to 25, Healing Hands bonus reduced to 25%, The Wall bonus reduced to 15% and Human Tank spell reduced to 30% bonus. These are sharp drops, we know, but the core mechanics come first and spells are the cherry on top in terms of power. In the future we’ll be redesigning spells entirely.

Now, the future. We love the reception everyone has had and we’re aware of the desire to see more. Our next step is getting the store properly relaunched, and new cosmetics made to come out periodically. We’ve also began work on the game engine updates and code cleanup, so that we can make the game run smoother and look nicer! Finally, Chapter 2. Yes it’s coming, after we do the hard work we’ll have more to share in later months, including the newest Fiend!

Hope to see you in the Nightmare!*

Hello again, classmates of East Side High!

For our returning players, welcome home! We've missed you!

And for our new players, welcome to the Nightmare!

The action-packed asymmetric horror experience is back on Steam and is now free to play!

Special thanks to Kazeath for the promotional artwork.

To celebrate Last Year's 1 YEAR anniversary on Steam, the game is on sale for a limited time as part of the Steam Winter Sale!

We'd like to thank the dedicated fans of Last Year for supporting the game over the past 12 months.

Hello Last Year fans,

Positive news to share…

As many of you already know, the development of new content had to be put on pause due to
lack of funding. It is no secret that Last Year didn’t sell a huge amount of copies, and
unfortunately this caused a problem where there wasn’t enough money to pay a team to
continue making updates.

But today we are announcing a potential new opportunity for the updates to keep coming.

But first…

We want to thank all of you who have been true fans of the game and offered positive support.
We want to let you know that even though this has been a difficult uphill battle, we *still* have
committed team members who want to keep developing and releasing new content updates.
There are multiple maps, fiends, and other awesome new features that were in the pipeline
that are waiting to be finished and released. In order to do this we need to find creative ways to
make it happen.

To celebrate this year’s Halloween and the anniversary of the Last Year Discord beta exactly
two years ago, we are announcing that Last Year: The Nightmare is coming to Steam for the
very first time and it is available to buy now.



Previously a Discord-only exclusive, this Classic Edition is the true OG version of the game,
complete with the original open-style maps like classic gym, no cryptids, original matchmaking,
and original game mechanics for Strangler, and much more. We also added new updates like a
balancing pass for the Killers and Survivors and Steam achievements like the infectious Covid-
96. If you die from someone who has this achievement, you become infected with it then you
can pass it on by killing others. Go try it! But remember to wear your mask in the real world
cause Covid-19 sucks!

We wanted to bring you the original Last Year in its truest form so we’ve also given this version
the ORIGINAL look and feel from the early days. The original poster, logo, and design have all
been included, plus we’ve also made an official soundtrack and official art book that showcases
the process that went into creating the original game.

With enough proceeds from the classic edition, we could Resurrect ongoing content and keep making maps and features, and hopefully still bring it to platforms like Xbox and PlayStation. Devs are here and excited and ready to make awesome cool new stuff, we just need the resources.

We hope you’ll join us on this nostalgic trip back to OG Last Year: The Nightmare and we look
forward to seeing how you spread Covid-96 through Forest Hills.

-Last Year Squad

https://store.steampowered.com/app/511440/Last_Year_The_Nightmare/?beta=0

Greetings, Brother and Sisters!

We’ve put together a small patch for our last major update: Last Year version 1.0.20! If you do not see the prompt to update, you may need to restart your Steam client.

With Patch 1.0.20, we’ve made several bug fixes and introduced a NEW WEAPON! Here’s a look at the some of the changes we’ve made in this update:

NEW WEAPON: THE SLEDGEHAMMER!

The Sledgehammer is now findable in our new map, The Mine! Dealing a whopping 45 damage per hit, but with only two hits, The Sledgehammer is a quick way to turn a fight with the Fiend around in your favour!

BUG FIXES:
• The Tab Screen now displays the proper objectives in The Mine map
• Helmets’ health bars now display proper health
• Trap Skins can now be seen by all players
• Hole in The Mine between 2nd and 3rd sections has been filled in
• Full objective score in The Mine map is now possible
• Removed buggy door in section 1 of Mine map
• Fixed the Gear objective not updating for the Fiend
• Fixed being able to pick up the fuel that is not selected and complete it first in Mine map
• Fixed second Invisible Fuel quest giver (Now visible but doesn’t give fuel until first is completed)
• Fixed Crank outlines not disappearing after being completed
• Fixed Bottom cave out of bound exploit
• Fixed Top of barn in section jumping exploit
• Fixed Top cave rock exploits
• Fixed Third section out of bounds exploit
• Fixed many infinite fall spots/stuck spots in section 2 of Mine Map

We’ve also received reports of slow performance. We realized that Steam defaults the game to DX12, which can cause low performance on many computers. We’ve changed it to DX11, which should greatly improve performance for most players!

Unitas,
Brother Justin

Last Year is 75% off until July 9th for the Steam Summer Sale!

Come join the mayhem!

- 6 Playable Classmates
- 4 Playable Fiends
- 5 Unique Maps: The Gym, The Library, The Belltower, The Sawmill, and the brand new Mine!
- Hundreds of Character and Weapon skins to unlock!
- Full Progression System for both Classmates and Fiends!
- Full Tutorial & Tool Tips to help new players!
- Buy Cards, Ore, and Skins in our in-game store!

Hurry to get an amazing deal on an ever-growing title!

Greetings, Brother and Sisters!

We’re back! Elastic Games is proud to present Last Year version 1.0.19! If you do not see the prompt to update, you may need to restart your Steam client.

With Patch 1.0.19, we’ve made major improvements to your Last Year experience:

1) BRAND NEW MAP: Last Year 1.0.19’s major feature is The Mine map! The second of the Afterdark Forest trilogy of maps, The Mine continues the adventure started in The Sawmill as the Classmates continue to try to find the origin of The Spider and its army of cryptids by finding a way through the abandoned Mine in the forest. Break into the Mine, climb it heights, and run for your life to escape!

2) FIEND WEAPON LOCKER: 1.0.19 adds brand new skins that can be equipped to the Fiends’ arsenals! Skins for Bear Traps, The Slasher’s Axe, The Giant’s Shackles, The Strangler’s Chain, and The Spider’s Venom now allow you to customize your Fiend even more. Purchase them with Cards, Ore, and grind in game to unlock the awesome new Legendary skins!

3) 3D HEALTH BARS: Tired of not knowing exactly WHOSE ass you’re kicking? New 3D health bars make damage dealt that much easier to understand. Visible on Fiends, Classmates, Cryptids, and Nests, this feature makes the action in Last Year much clearer.

We’ve also made a few balance changes and bug fixes. While they are very numerous and subtle, here are some of the bigger, more noticeable changes we’ve made:

- Flamethrower now deals its damage much more rapidly
- Strangler’s Chain aim responsiveness has been improved

There are a few known issues, which we’ll be aiming to repair in the coming days, along with anything major flagged by the community:

- Objectives in Tab Screen of The Mine are incorrect
- Helmets incorrectly display partial health when crafted
- New Mystery Weapon missing from The Mine (our bad! Coming very, VERY soon…)
- Bear Trap skins not visible to Classmates
- Fiend Weapon Skins not visible in Home/Lobby/Fiend Deck screens
- Sometimes, VFX for The Wall or The Giants’ Shackles can be seen by other players while Spawned Out. WORKAROUND: Spawn in and out again.

We’ll be monitoring the community to ensure these changes and fixes are working and being well received.

Thank you all again for the continued support of this title, and your faith in this dev team. We’re all working very hard to bring you the best Last Year experience possible! We can’t wait to show you what our final, major update for Chapter 1 in August will be, so stay tuned to this channel for more news soon!

See you in The Nightmare!

Unitas,
Brother Justin