Can we take a moment to consider that this is probably the least graphic death in the game?
Sure, the game's a little tongue-in-cheek at times, but at the end of the day, it's still a survival horror game...- The very premise of the game. Six students wake up to find themselves in a horribly twisted reflection of their high school, and find out they're being relentlessly pursued by a malevolent, undying force that manifests itself in all kinds of fiends eager to kill them one by one in the most sadistic, gory ways possible.
- The official trailer
becomes unsettling as it goes on, with the Eastside High School chant slowly sounding more sinister as the kids are being brutally murdered over, and over, and over...Hit 'em hard! Hit em' again! Hit 'em hard! Hit 'em again! Hit 'em hard! Hit 'em again! Hit 'em again... - Should all your teammates split up and be picked off one by one, you'll get this lovely message...
- The massive amount of locations a serial killer could jump out at you from at any moment. See that skylight up ahead? Don't walk straight under it unless you want an axe buried in your forehead. Do you want to try hugging the wall instead? Probably not much safer, considering a massive brute that would make Chris Walker soil his pants could smash through it at any moment. And stay away from the grates - or the Strangler might pull you in. And those are only the class-specific ambush spots: really, anywhere any of the students aren't looking at at the moment is fair game. You could turn the corner and run straight into the business end of an axe. Or the Strangler could drag you away from the group from behind and shove you into a hole or off a building before your teammates even know what's happening.
- Even worse? The Killer can unspawn at will too. Imagine chasing the killer down a hallway guns blazing, watching him turn a corner, following him around, and finding... nothing.
- This is perhaps worst with the Spider, who can ambush students by bursting out of the floor. Unlike the other Fiends' ambushes, there are absolutely no visible indications where the Spider can use this ambush from. Better stay close to the Scout if the Spider's in play...
- The executions. Once a student's health reaches 0, they become incapacitated and can only crawl around. This is when the Killer can finish off the student in a myriad of gruesome ways.
- The Strangler pulls out some rusty scissors and stabs his victim in the eyes, or in the back. Alternatively, in a similar vein to the Joker's "pencil trick", he can place the scissors on the ground point up, and stab the scissors with the student...
- The Slasher manages to get the bloodiest ones of the bunch, mercilessly bringing his axe down over and over on his victim's head or back with gut-wrenching hacking sounds.
- The Giant's executions are relatively tame, as he usually just punches the kid in the face a couple times or slams them against the floor. However, there is one that can make even the most hardened slasher film buffs cringe: he lifts a student over his head, then brings them down on his knee to snap their spine!
- As of the Steam release, the Giant can now dismember students while giving them a Metronomic Man Mashing. Fun.
- The Spider devours the students' head, or crushes it with its long legs. Alternatively, it can also drench a student's head with point-blank acid spit, melting all the flesh straight off their skull!!!
- And the audio... Between their agonized screams, the Fiend's bloodthirsty cries of triumph, and the sounds of Classmates getting stabbed, mauled, dismembered, or having their heads smashed to smithereens... Even listening to these executions is enough to make anyone cringe.
- Especially at a distance. Picture yourself wandering the school grounds, wondering where the Fiend may strike next... and suddenly hearing your Classmate distantly scream in agony as they're being brutally murdered. You can't do anything to save them. You don't know where they were, or how they got separated from the group - only that you might be next.
- If the Students fail to escape or if they're all killed, you're treated to a Downer Ending cutscene. The Slasher nails pictures of all five Students on a brick wall. The screen then zooms out to show hundreds of similar pictures - all crossed out. Who are these people, and what did the Nightmare do to them? And why?
- Chapter 1 brings forth a new Fiend. And what is it? A giant spider. Unlike the other Fiends, this thing is utterly inhuman, being the literal concept of arachnophobia. It can spit acid from a distance or burst out of the ground to drag Classmates to their doom. It also has some of THE most graphic kills to date - one finisher sees it biting the head of the survivor and twisting it straight off their neck to devour it whole!!!
- The teaser for Chapter 2 of Last Year depicts Last Year's most sinister Fiend yet - the Father, a Sinister Minister that looks like a male version of the Nun, wielding fire magic and chanting foreboding Latin messages. There's nothing even remotely campy or cheesy about the Fiend's design this time around. And unlike the first four Fiends, who come from horror archetypes that usually put helpless teenagers on the chopping block, the Father looks like something straight out of Gothic Horror. That's right - for the first time in Last Year, the Classmates are fighting something that typically preys on adults.
- The Father's far more experienced in the arcane ways of the Nightmare than the students and the Fiends. In other words, once Chapter 2 starts, the Classmates won't be the only ones using unpredictable spells...
