Black Lazar

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.

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.

Give this one a go if you want a deep and mysterious story but don't want another generic visual novel. Choose your own adventure genre has a lot in common with the visual novels. Both have a lot of text and require you to read to get something from the game. But the biggest difference is that visual novels rarely offer meaningful decisions. This game is all about decisions and changing the story the further you go. The gameplay couldn’t be easier. All you do is read the story and make decisions. You get a couple of lines of text and at least three responses that change how the story is going to move. Although it’s possible to play the game with a keyboard, it’s quicker and less annoying with a mouse. The problem is that, when there’s only one response to choose from, the keyboard refuses to highlight it. The presentation is basic. Text lines show on the left and images or character portraits on the right. However, it works for this type of a game where black and white are the dominant colors. The story follows a secret agent who has to infiltrate a mansion of a criminal. But there’s a personal connection as well. Several years back, they both cared for the same woman who apparently died. There’s resentment in the air. It's all really interesting and profound. Because you're a man on a mission, you must sometimes make difficult and morally dubious judgments. Will you let a wanted criminal go free or murder him in his sleep? Will you fight honorably or stab someone in the neck? You have to live with your choices since you can’t load a few minutes back and try something else. The game only saves when you exit the game. Various choices inspire multiple playthroughs. However, because there is no skipping like in visual novels, this isn't done very well. You'll have to go through all of the text manually, exactly like you did in the first game. There’s not even a chapter select that would help you grab all the achievements more easily. If you want them, you’ll have to go through several times and not make a wrong choice.

An enjoyable espionage thriller visual novel. Pretty well written, interesting art, and some cool ideas - the "Michael" scene in particular was really cool. The only downside is the non-linear structure of the narrative, which I felt really broke my immersion and engagement every time the story jumped forward or back. I understand why the story is told that way, but it didn't work for me.