So I beat Azrael's Tear and upon doing so I emailed Matthew Stibbe at his request and my email not only made his day, but it inspired him to publish the game's proposal and design documents
on his site!
In addition to the things in my first impressions above:
Getting to the end of the game is a lot of fun and very memorable. Actually, the whole game is memorable. When I finished the game, I sat back and sort of ran through everything in my head and took it all in, something I have never really done before once I have beaten a game. But getting to the holy grail is a real challenge and real memorable because of the obstacles you have to face to get to it like the downward spiral of boards or the path you have to take to get out of the grail room. The ending is fantastic as well and given a sequel was planned it makes me wonder what would have happened in the sequel. I HIGHLY recommend Azrael's Tear to anyone looking for a good adventure game to play with a mixture of action. The games only downfall is how it gives you no general idea as to what you're supposed to do next, not even a hint. I had to consult a walkthrough quite often and I felt kinda stupid for doing so, but in reflection I couldn't really blame myself. But despite that issue AT is a fantastic game, easily one of the best I have played, and is well worth a try.