The Last Days of Lazarus has an interesting feel to it. The game’s aesthetic is interesting and the fact that it was developed by one person gives it a distinctively personal feel. Unfortunately, due to the fact that this project feels so personal, it makes it somewhat hard to relate to and the game’s technical shortcomings also make it glaringly obvious in certain moments that this thing was created by one person.
The Last Days of Lazarus is out now and is available on PC, PlayStation and Xbox consoles.
The most disparaging thing that I can say about The Last Days of Lazarus is paradoxically also my favourite thing about it and it is entirely unintentional, (at least I am assuming it is.) The Last Days of Lazarus is one of the most unintentionally funny games that I have ever played through.
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The monotonous way in which the voice actor for Lazarus delivers his lines instantly calls to mind the classic delivery of Leslie Neilson in The Naked Gun movies. Even the way in which he constantly uses his inner monologue to narrate the most blaringly obvious facts to the audience.
In total earnest, this guy will stare at a lamp and say something like; “The bulb in this lamp is emitting a bright light.” Or he will stare at a completely mutilated, eviscerated bloody corpse and utter, “This is rather disturbing,” in the most monotonous way which you can image with his only emotion seemingly being minor perturbation.
My absolute favourite moment came fairly early in the game after Lazarus first arrives at his sister’s empty apartment. An apocalyptic earthquake was literally shaking the foundations of the house and there was a spiky monster which looked like something from The Upside Down growing out of the toilet pan. Lazarus took this reality-shifting moment to look at the unwashed dishes in his sister’s sink and comment on how she was even lazier than he is.
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Whilst this moment, along with a few other points in the game did induce instances of pure merriment within my soul, the fact that none of them were intentional means that I can’t lapse too much praise onto The Last Days of Lazarus. Then again, if I was to discover that these moments were indeed intentional, then they likely wouldn’t be quite as funny.
The rest of the game is largely unremarkable. Whilst the models, textures and lighting used in the game’s environments yield mostly appealing results, the character modelling and animation leaves quite a lot to be desired. This results in a noticeable contract between the quality of the game’s environments and the game’s character design.
The gameplay is extremely one note. The Last Days of Lazarus is essentially a first-person point and click game with awkward puzzles. Whilst none of the puzzles are particularly challenging, they do become extremely tiresome towards the game’s conclusion. This led to me just clicking everything within the environment until I found the solution to move on and roll the credits. This is also a completely viable way to tackle this game from the start, which just signals poor puzzle design.
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Overall, whilst I did enjoy the unintentional laughs that the game provided as well as the ethereal feel of the game’s environmental design, The Last Days of Lazarus is a lacklustre experience. Many aspects of the game feel dated, and it is a real challenge to remain engaged with the plot until the credits roll. That last point of criticism is particularly damning when you realise that the entire game is only two and a half hours long.
The Last Days of Lazarus – 4/10
The Last Days of Lazarus was played on PS5 with a code supplied by Perp Games.
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