Last Days of Lazarus Review (Xbox Series X)

STAFF REVIEW of Last Days of Lazarus (Xbox Series X)

Monday, November 28, 2022.
by Adam Dileva

I’m not sure if I’ve previously played a game quite like Last Days of Lazarus. I honestly wasn’t quite sure what to expect once I installed it and started playing, as I hadn’t even looked at a trailer beforehand, going in without any preconceived notions or expectations. What I got was definitely something I wouldn’t have guessed. A story about a grieving family, suicide, supernatural events, religion and a healthy amount of blood and gore, all set in a post-communist Romania at the turn of the century.

You play the titular Lazarus, a man who is coming home after the death of his mother. His sister pleaded for him to return home for the funeral, but he refused due to having ‘important work’. He eventually does return home shortly after to meet with his sister Lyudmila but she seems to be missing upon arrival to their mother’s apartment. It seems something terrible has happened, and this isn’t even about how your mother hung herself in the closet, it seems as though something supernatural is occurring once you see a monster appear in the bathroom.

It’s from this moment on it’s as though two different worlds are blending in some way, and as you unearth the mystery of what’s going on, it goes much deeper than you expected, going a completely different way than I anticipated early on. The apartment is strewn about with religious symbols, ornaments and just enough oddities that you are intrigued to figure out what’s going on. The phone rings and someone familiar answers...

The narrative is interesting at first, as I wanted to find out what happened to Lazarus’ mother and sister, what happened to their dad, and see why they were such a troubled family. The supernatural elements surely adds some intrigue, and while the cast of characters is quite small, it eventually goes in an unexpected direction that I found a little difficult to follow along near the end. It’s a disturbing plot that I don’t want to spoil, as its runtime is only about 3 or 4 hours.

As for its gameplay, Last Days of Lazarus at its core is essentially a first person walking simulator with some light puzzle elements. I’d hesitate to say there’s much exploration due to how linear it is, but there are some collectables to find for those that want to check every inch and detail. Expect to walk around everywhere, simply searching for objects that can be interacted with or collected, as this is how you trigger the next set of events or cutscene.

If this sounds unappealing or boring to you, unfortunately there’s not much else for its gameplay to look forward to aside from the odd few puzzles. The majority of your time is exploring the small and linear confined areas you’re placed within the 8 chapters, simply moving your cursor across every object you can find to see if it’s interactable. Can’t figure out where to go or what to do, you probably didn’t notice the tiny reticle change slightly when it’s over an object you can pick up or interact with. Missed a collectable in a level and want to go get it for your achievements? No problem, there’s a handy chapter select so you can gather all the relics and documents without having to replay the whole game thankfully.

The white cursor over a white item basically makes it impossible to see and surely had me waste a bit of time not knowing it was the item I needed to progress. So many times I was wandering in circles, unable to continue for an unknown reason, turning out to be an item I didn’t at first notice was clickable. This resulting me in mindlessly hovering my cursor over every book, item, painting, doorway, rock and plant to see if it was something I missed (damn you piece of gold ore).

There’s no risk of failing or dying, as there’s no combat or anything that can hurt you. Even though the world is filled with grotesque monsters, especially the apartment you frequently visit every few chapters, there’s no danger. You can even walk right up to these snapping tentacles with teeth without worry of anything happening to Lazarus. I guess this classifies the game as a horror game given how much blood and gore there can be at times, but without any consequences or worry of death or failure, there’s nothing to be afraid of.

There’s only a few puzzles in the whole game, and these are very simplistic for the most part. Most of these are simply interacting with them with the items you’ve already found, and if it doesn’t work you simply haven’t found one of the items lying around nearby. The few that were actually ‘puzzles’ simply had you rotating some knobs or valves or figuring out a positive/negative battery puzzle. These shouldn’t stump you and can usually be brute forced with enough effort if you don’t want to look up solutions online.

As for its presentation, it’s a mixed bag. The inside environments do look quite detailed, with the apartment you frequent often looking as though it’s actually lived in, as not everything is perfectly symmetrical, full of clutter and some mess. While I’m no expert on Romanian culture, the details of the religious symbols and artifacts really do give a level of detail I wasn’t expecting from a smaller studio. The outdoor chapters don’t look nearly as good, actually quite dated, and while most of the characters are created decently, they move quite stiff.

The soundtrack is actually quite decent, setting a certain tone and atmosphere and you explore your surroundings. When something drastic happens, you can really hear it in the headset. This one part where a monster was pounding on the door sounded fantastic, and the first time the classic phone rang for Lazarus I legit thought it might have been in my apartment. Then there’s the voice acting. There’s no emotion and it simply sounds as though the lines are being read from a piece of paper. Even when Lazarus sees a dead person, it sounds completely monotone and devoid of any real feeling. It’s not quite the absolute worst voice acting I’ve ever heard, but it’s certainly a contender.

What starts out as a legitimately interesting story turns into something completely else by the time the credits roll. The whole jaunt with Lazarus will last about 3 to 4 hours, as anything more would have worn out its welcome, and I’m not sure how much more of the voice acting I would be able to tolerate. Certainly a unique game and setting, what’s most important is that yes, you can pet the cat.

**Last Days of Lazarus was provided by the publisher and reviewed on an Xbox Series X**

Overall: 5.3 / 10
Gameplay: 6.0 / 10
Visuals: 7.0 / 10
Sound: 3.0 / 10

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STAFF REVIEW of Last Days of Lazarus (Xbox Series X)

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