Black Lazar Reviews

I’m surprised this game doesn’t have many reviews as far as I could find, but then I realised I hadn’t written anything about it just yet, hopefully, my personal opinion on this game can help inspire others to talk about it even if it is just one word. This is definitely a hidden gem as I was lucky enough to discover it on Steam when I was hunting for any visual novel game and after seeing some of those odd screenshots, I knew I needed to play it. Let's start with the character's design while we're at as it is the first thing that got my attention. Each of them is hand-drawn to look disjointed, disarrayed, and flawed, making them look human in a uniquely realistic way making them stand out. They even complement the dark gritty atmosphere of this game with their weird appeals, (not in a negative way). On to the story, all I could say after completing this game was that I wanted to play more. Seriously, 'Lore-rich' isn't just a buzzword thrown away, a lot happening in terms of the subtle supernatural elements that are pocketed here and there. There's a mystery concerning the love interest, as well as the drama between the protagonist and the antagonist that's more than defeating the 'bad guy' and more so you are me are the same monologue. As for the gameplay, it's your usual point-and-clicks game with a lot of decisions to make, and I feel like a lot of my choices had an impact on the playthrough. Not to spoil too much, but throughout the majority of the game, you're playing as a character trapped in a labyrinth-like building, so your mission is to find a way to escape from that situation by choosing the places you do go and activities you want to do affecting, how further or closer you are to the destination. For me, I was truly invested throughout the whole game by trying to make the right call and paying attention to small details like a code or a message because they could come in handing soon into making the great escape and it really helped in the situation. If you're still reading this, give Black Lazar a try. This game is more definitely a chest full of treasures inside.

This review is more neutral than positive because Steam won't allow such one (lame). First thing you probably will need (but don't want) to know is how this game failed funding on Kickstarter, collecting only ~900$ out of asked 2700$. So, it's not "true" small indie per se, but devs seem more passionate about game itself than it's promotion or huge profits - that's good. Story and plot are both good and bad parts of game. Narrative is first-person perspective without unasked commentaries from author, granting bigger immersion. Story is going smoothly, jumping between current day of operation and flashbacks of detective. Few twists are prepared, you can say "classic" for such genre of mystery novels. It overall was likable, but there are two moments which felt weird. [spoiler]First one was "fight" with AI - I expected some sci-fi and occult themes in game, but it was still was too sudden and out of left field. Second one is ending, which suggest story is not over and will continue in some sort of sequel - but with twists and multiple endings like that it's kinda weird to imagine how story will go afterwards and I'm not sure if half-open ending is better than huge final confrontation game kinda lacked.[/spoiler] For gameplay and artistic filling I want to compare this game to Omen Exitio:Plague (OE for shorts), other "read-and-choose" adventure game I've played, because as standalone description of Black Lazar (BL) hardly would sound commercial-friendly. 1. OE takes place in past with occult theme thrown in. It allows it to use books and maps naturally adding to atmosphere. BL does same, but since it's "modern" day detective action it uses aesthetics of text adventures from 90s and smartphone chats screens (without emojis though - cool!). 2. OE kinda spoils it's premises and incoming stuff with description and main menu. I was waiting for something weird from BL and [spoiler] occult and some sci-fi themes were present, but not enough to feel game world as very different from real life. I'm not sure if it's good or bad thing. [/spoiler] 3. OE is more of linear text RPG in which you put points into few stats in hope game will allow to make rolls of them for specific challenge. BL is quest-like with few search/escape room chapters in vein of old school text adventure games. While OE is more player-friendly in these regards, I really liked some hardcore bits of BL more. 4. As many people who saw this game stated - faces of "evil" characters in BL are... weird and nightmare inducing. Especially if you are more into anime style. OE was more simplier and smooth with portraits and I think their style was more interesting, but I'm making point in not putting graphics of BL into minuses - if you can't stand them, you are sissy, go away from here. 5. Both games got cool sound design and music, which adds to immersion and emotional effect on player. Well played. I've finished game in 2 hours, but with my fast reading and skipping of few descriptions, game should have somewhere like 2,5 or 3 hours of playthrough as average. It's probably fine with such cost, especially if you'll remember how in modern day there are many "buy ability to pick option" stuff going on mobiles, which could hardly satisfy thirst of mystery novel fan. Only big problem with game I could mention aside of stuff from above is questionable replayability. Yes, you are supposed to play game blind for first time and then less blind for other times (probably even never touch it), but since game got achievements and some story bits are hidden depending on your actions it became good manners to add some sort of "already chosen" option markers, chapter selection or even flowcharts into games of such genre. Black Lazar lacks these (maybe for now, but this is bad since game was in development for some time already), so if you are planning to go through story for completion or secret revealing you should consider not buying this game until some QoL features are present. If you have played 999 on DS or Omen Exitio until they added NG+ with patch you can imagine this pain already.

I bought this on a whim and really enjoyed it. It’s a visual novel style choose your own adventure game where the choices do really matter. The art work was beautifully creepy and did take you to another world. I was completely engaged in the story and my play time reflects reading all the background documents to understand all the aspects of it. I don’t want to spoil the story, but it’s a detective, escape, conspiracy thriller and I had a great time going through it. As other reviewers have stated, it seems repeat playthroughs will mean starting over with no skips, but a lot of the reading will go much faster or skipping the tablet to speed up the playthrough will cut down on time. Given the size of the game, and beautiful art and story, I think it is well worth the price and I recommend to those who like these types of games. It’s a good one.