Bringing our Post-Communist Childhood into Last Days of Lazarus, out Now on Xbox Series X|S

Hi, I’m Catalin Marcu from GrimTalin, one of the two developers of The Last Days of Lazarus – a dark post-communist adventure that tells a disturbing story about family, loss and sin. George from Darkania Works and I are thrilled that the game will finally be released on Xbox Series X.

I was only able to join the development of this game after a year. I immediately connected with it’s setting in Romania and during a particularly difficult period: post-communist transition. Our goal was to show, using a supernaturally altered lens, how our lives were during those years when we were teenagers.

At the time communism collapsed in Romania, my age was only four years and half. While there wasn’t much unrest in the small town I grew up in, the big cities and our capital, Bucharest, were in a full Revolution. I remember one of those nights, as my dad was leaving for his night shift at the factory, he told me and my older brother: “Stay inside and behave. They’re shooting in Bucharest.” I don’t know how much I understood at that early age the gravity of what was happening, but my dad’s worried face conveyed it was something important and those words stayed with me.

It was a period of transition that followed. They called it a “sacrificial generation”. My parents had to give up their lives to help me and my siblings in poverty. This was very inspiring. This meant that the people who had the connections were allowed to steal almost all of the country. That meant corruption was rampant. This meant that a whole generation was kept in the old ways of living and thinking.

Communism didn’t disappear from our country overnight. The cultural and commercial Russian influences didn’t go away overnight. We imported plenty of items from countries within the old communist bloc. That is the main reason there are so many items in our game that look like they’re from Russia. That’s why there are texts in Russian here and there. Some may mistakenly believe that the game has been set in Russia. Or, they might be wrongly believing we have placed the items there in error. In fact, that’s what our lives in Romania looked like back then.

One of the many ways that people survived communism was by following their religion. That remained a key feature throughout the period of transition. Many traditions of pagan origin have been incorporated into Orthodox Christianity. Although we believe in God, there are also beliefs about ghosts and disenchantments. People who have had a difficult life can become obsessed with their religions and believe in superstitions. Our game was meant to show this distortion of Christianity.

Beautiful scenery has been an asset to our country for many years. It is something that we have worked tirelessly to achieve. We created some stunning locations inspired from our actual places and architecture.

It was a great honor to be able to contribute to a game that honors our nation, its history and struggles. It’s a rare setting in games and I hope you will take the chance to explore it and take in all the details. And, of course, help our titular Lazarus find out the truth about his family’s troubled past and the fate of all of its members. The Last Days of Lazarus S!|S!

The Last Days of Lazarus

GrimTalin

☆☆☆☆☆
4

★★★★★

$19.99

Set in a post-soviet Eastern Europe, Last Days of Lazarus tells the story of a troubled man, long estranged, returning to his childhood home after his mother’s death to spend some time with his sister Lyudmila. But as the country around him seems to fall apart, so does reality itself, with a series of unexplainable events leading him on a quest to find out more about his family’s disturbing past.

Last Days of Lazarus, an adventure game for first-person, features a compelling narrative and rich visuals. It is heavily inspired from post-communist Romania’s troubled past, strange religious beliefs, and bizarre superstitions. As the story unravels, you’ll meet questionable characters whose corrupted version of the truth you’ll need to navigate. With a troubled past yourself, you’ll struggle not only with solving the mysteries laid upon you but also with keeping alive any sliver of hope for salvation.