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Review
Curse, curse, another curse, July 4, 2025Having enjoyed Radiance Inviolate a great deal, I played and rated Lazarrien last month, but I thought I might write some words about it now. It has only one review at the moment!
I’ve said–somewhere–that that I enjoy the “adjectival opulence” of DemonApologist’s prose. It feels lush and indulgent without ever overdoing things. It has the savor of smoke, salt, and a bit of fat. The initial setup of Lazarrien reminds me of a more darkly-inclined William Morris story, if only Morris were a better writer. I should qualify myself. What feels like Morris are its grounded assertions of otherworldly types. Tarot archetypes for instance, or clothing-as-signifiers. The whole work feels drunk with significance.
“Drunk” is a fine word in this case, as protagonist Lazzien is as confused as we are by the horrors of a land under an unnamed and unexplained curse. As in allegory, our protagonist stumbles through a world of symbols.
Even without choices, the mystery of the world will pull many of us through. We learn more, but not enough. Information is artfully drip-fed. Others know us, even though we do not know them. Lazarrian is a lousy son, it seems, and a musical–witch? is it a witch?–finds us amusing. A High Priestess, straight out of tarot, is frozen solid. Are we the Fool, then?
(Spoiler - click to show)Mystery compounds upon mystery when we learn that Lazarrien is the lover of demon Agramith. We thought he was stalking us! Our only choice looms: spare Agramith, or sacrifice him before castle?
The choice doesn’t matter much programmatically, but it does matter. The zinger here is as good as any Twilight Zone episode (I am a Twilight Zone superfan): Lazarrien is playing a game to free Agramith, a prince of hell. The game? Reaching the castle with a ring, a sword, and Agramith. Player Lazarrien can choose various factors for his “run.” This is a sort of roguelike game. In the other room: a mountain of swords stories high, one for each failed attempt.
This a good story. It’s just really good. There’s a very clever self-awareness with the roguelike backgrounding. </spolier>I feel Lazarrien draws from a number of sources and uses them effectively to weave a surprising and satisfying tale.
