- The French Revolution, card battles, and conspiracies united… Scheduled for PC release in Spring 2027
- Combining story and deck building… A night of betrayal and sacrifice unfolding in Karm Prison
British developer Dream Reality Interactive and publisher Curve Games have unveiled ‘Lazare’s Sacrifice,’ a new narrative-driven deck-builder game set against the backdrop of the French Revolution.
The game is a PC-based title that was first unveiled through the digital showcase ‘Triple-I Initiative’. Its most significant feature is that it establishes ‘sacrifice’ as its core system, requiring players to put their cards, battlefield, and even their lives up to the line to survive.
In particular, Damien Monnier, the protagonist of the globally popular card game ‘Gwent’ series, participated as a co-designer, and the game has been garnering anticipation from fans of the deck builder genre since the initial news of its development.
An official trailer capturing the grim and dark atmosphere of the French Revolution and the prelude to fierce card battles has also been released, and development of the game is accelerating with the goal of an official release in the spring of 2027.
Prisons during the French Revolution, guillotine if you lose a card game
The game is set during the French Revolution, when the streets of Paris were stained with blood.
The player takes on the role of the betrayed general Lazare Hoche and must survive in 18th-century Carmes Prison. Imprisoned, Lazare is given only one night. The only way to survive is to win a deadly card game against the prisoners. The price of defeat is the guillotine.
The prisoners confronting Lazar are characters reinterpreted from actual historical figures of the French Revolution. While they all desire to escape, their individual goals and methods differ.
Each opponent has a different play style and secrets, so simply winning the card game is not enough. You must explore the prison, build relationships with the inmates, and determine who is an ally and who is a traitor. In this process, the conspiracy and the truth behind Lazar’s imprisonment are gradually revealed.
The developers emphasize a single principle that runs through this world: the currency used here is ‘sacrifice’.
From cards to stamina… to become stronger, you must sacrifice something
‘Lazar’s Sacrifice’ is a deck builder that comes with a high price to win.
Players must lay down what they have themselves to summon powerful beings onto the battlefield or perform decisive actions. They may sacrifice cards from their hand, give up board slots needed for combat, or reduce their own health.
The greater the sacrifice, the more powerful the resulting effect. However, if you give up too much for an immediate victory, subsequent battles may become disadvantageous, or survival itself may become difficult.
Ultimately, the core of the strategy lies in determining ‘what you are willing to give up’ rather than ‘what you will gain .’
The game features four factions with distinct characteristics. Players explore Karm Prison, find hidden cards, and strengthen their own decks by defeating other prisoners.
Card battles and narrative-driven exploration are also interconnected. Through relationships with characters met in prison, choices, and battle outcomes, you gradually approach the truth behind the events surrounding Lazar.
From Story Mode where you follow the narrative to ‘Gauntlet’ where you test your deck skills
‘Lazar’s Sacrifice’ offers a story mode that follows the narrative and a separate mode that focuses on deck building and combat.
In Story Mode, you explore Karm Prison, meet historical figures, and track down the reason for Lazar’s betrayal and the conspiracy hidden behind it. A thriller set against the backdrop of the historical event of the French Revolution unfolds alongside card battles.
On the other hand, in the tower mode called ‘Gauntlet’, you can focus on the card battles themselves by taking on consecutive challenges with a deck you have built yourself.
You must learn the characteristics of the four factions and find hidden cards to strengthen your deck, while the ‘Gambit’ choices, in which you decide which resources to sacrifice at every moment, determine the outcome of the match.
In particular, since even one’s physical strength can be used as a strategic resource, one must constantly judge how much risk to take for a powerful move.
Damien Monnier, creator of ‘Gwent’, returns to card game design
Damien Monnier participated in the co-design of the game. Monnier was involved in the creation of the card game ‘Gwent’, which appeared in ‘The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’, and ‘Gwent: The Witcher Card Game’, which later developed into a standalone game.
In ‘Lazar’s Sacrifice’, based on the card game design experience accumulated over the years, I participated in combining narrative, deck building, and a ‘sacrifice’ system that constantly demands a price from the player.
DRi CEO Dave Ranyard explained, “In ‘Lazar’s Sacrifice,’ I wanted to give weight to every strategic choice,” adding, “At every critical moment, you have to make a brutal trade-off to move forward.”
He added, “I wanted to convey the joy of re-examining historical moments through the eyes of forgotten legends like Lazare, who dedicated everything to the dream of creating a new France.”
Rich Keen, Executive Vice President of Publishing at publisher Curve Games, said, “It is a work that adds a dark and intense variation to a familiar genre,” adding, “It is also impressive that it chose a setting rarely explored in video games.”
The French Revolution Meets Deck Building, Launching in Spring 2027
Dream Reality Interactive is a game development company based in London, UK. It was founded in 2016 by developers from Sony PlayStation and has been developing its own IPs as well as co-developing various premium games.
‘Lazar’s Sacrifice’ is a game that combines the familiar deck-building genre with the historical backdrop of the French Revolution, a conspiracy unfolding in a prison, and a ‘sacrifice’ system in which players give up their own cards, battlefield, and even health as a price.
A game where what you give up becomes just as important as collecting powerful cards for victory. How will Lazar’s night in Karm Prison, where the guillotine awaits, be filled with choices, betrayals, and sacrifices… The answer is set to be revealed by gamers in the spring of 2027.
Information regarding ‘Lazare’s Sacrifice’
| item | detail |
|---|---|
| Developer | Dream Reality Interactive |
| Publisher | Curve Games |
| Genre | Narrative-focused deck builder |
| platform | PC |
| Release date | Scheduled for Spring 2027 |
| price | Unconfirmed |
| language | Unconfirmed |
| Joint design | Damien Monnier (creator of the ‘Guette’ series) |
| Steam Page | Shortcut |
