2.5/5 ★ – MPT's review of INDIKA.

a weird little surreal tragicomedy adventure/ walking sim that uses its title character, a young nun, to take a look at the inner turmoil and doubts of faith surrounding religion. it asks quite a few interesting questions linked to: human nature vs religious devotion, Indika as a young woman vs Indika as a nun, and the most interesting one to me, regret. it shoots for the stars narratively but plays it safe at the same time, and ends up being a pretty surface level mixed bag. as a dark comedy it can be hilarious. the voice acting is superb particularly when it comes to the 2 main speakers, Indika and her Demon. she’s so blunt and dismissive of every weird situation she finds herself in and the Demon is the opposite, always extremely expressive and in her ear talking mad shit. it helps its dialogue is really witty and energetic compared to Indika’s lifeless, straight to the point attitude, especially during moments where she’s having to really struggle to ignore it, and when it speaks on the dark thoughts she has and doubts she’s feeling it really helps you understand the conflict in her head about her faith. this sharp writing and spot on voice acting crash together with loads of other elements to give the game a goofy little tone. it’s also absolutely absurd. apart from Indika’s silly hallucinations caused by whatever the hell storm of regret and doubt is going on inside her head, the strangeness of the world around her is just insane. weird steampunk machines, a comically large fish and tinned caviar factory, huge demon dogs - still not sure what sort of 19th century Russia this is but it seems like a fun place to live. this, the quirkiness of all the characters and their dialogue, and the Whoville ass music on top of everything give the game a surreal vibe. it feels like a David Lynch film sometimes. it’s a lot more clear cut in its themes though, with the one it explores best in my opinion being regret. a traumatic tragedy occurs when Indika is young involving her gypsy lover being blown to bits by a shotgun, and it’s directly caused by her lying. after this she turns her life around completely to become a nun. her “Demon” constantly tempts her and questions this new life, acting as the part of her subconscious that doubts religion, ignores good, and constantly tries to put ideas in her head that question her faith. turning to Christianity seems to be fleeing, and her “Demon” seems to be a coping mechanism for what she did. it’s like a separate entity that inspires her to do bad things, but Indika herself is good. come the climax of the game, it disappears along with her faith in religion. a mirror in the final section shows the Demon as her reflection, but after this loss happens, her reflection returns to normal - just her. both religion, the thing she turned to to get away from her past, and the Demon, the coping mechanism she blames for making her bad choices, are false. she’s been the only real thing the whole time, responsible for everything, the drive behind her own choices. it’s very well done. what’s also well done is Ilya, a prisoner who Indika spends most the game with. their dichotomy is great. he’s a criminal fugitive who has great faith and says he hears the voice of God vs Indika, a nun who struggles with faith and has the voice of a demon following her. their conversations are usually pretty on the nose and they do often sound like two first time stoners though. a lot of what they talk about definitely contributes to Indika’s doubting of faith, but it feels like many themes they touch on are just discussed to be ticked off a list of deep thoughts and they’re just there to make the player stroke their chin and nod for a brief second. free will definitely isn’t explored as smartly or deeply as regret i’ll say that much. but what Ilya and Indika represent, and where both end up, is very fitting and very bleak. all the differences in their situations but still having the same goal, to reach the Kudets religious artefact, doesn’t stop them from coming to the same conclusion - faith isn’t the answer to anything, it’s hollow and meaningless for the both of them. Ilya ends up a silly armless drunk realising God won’t help him and Indika ends up an ex-nun realising the Demon is just her. there’s a duality that ends up being a non-duality, which is also a theme done really well throughout the game. what makes certain themes in Indika so rich is that it uses certain gameplay features to suggest, represent and explore them. the pixelated flashbacks represent a simpler time for Indika, more carefree, more fun, more innocent. the basic but enjoyable mechanics and graphics literally reflect this, vs the grounded art style and slower paced walking and puzzle solving of the present. it looks and feels much more gloomy now that she’s at such a point of struggle. the leveling system too which is simple enough on the surface (complete objectives/ find artefacts/ pray to get “points”) literally means nothing. the only upgrades you’re rewarded with help you get more points. as she tries to be more devoted, she just wastes time and effort on something that amounts to absolutely nothing. it might just be me, but a lot of those artefact collectibles you can find (specifically the religious tales of the saints) are the dumbest little stories ever, which is probably also the point. Indika’s dedicating herself to something that’s a load of baloney. but that doesn’t stop these and the other items you can find being really neat, they have great little models and you can rotate and examine them Resident Evil style. so the game asks interesting questions in (mostly) interesting ways and has a lot of cool little features, details and mechanics that are great at suggesting rather than telling, but a lot of what isn’t related to its story is brief and surface level. it’s largely a walking sim, and there’s nothing wrong with that - plenty of great games with a focus on just moving from point A to point B with some platforming or puzzles dotted around work very well. but in Indika the platforming and puzzles just feel as if they’re there for the sake of it to legally save the player from falling into a deep sleep. it’s like they exist to avoid having a walking sim that’s JUST walking. it’s not like you should have to be Einstein to win, this is a video game not a degree, but what’s here is extremely simple. give the controller to a rock and it would be saying the same thing. the many elevator and moving platform parts take 1 nanosecond to beat, the puzzles are so simplistic, and you just sleepwalk through the many sections where you’re forced to go at a snail’s pace from point A to B. gameplay wise, Indika is extra surface level and for the most part pretty unengaging. even sections injected with a bit of excitement where you’re being chased by dogs didn’t make me feel a thing. there’s for sure some moments that shine and reel you back into the game, like when the themes come into play, or there’s funny writing or super surreal and absurd moments. the pixelated flashbacks and the fish dryer are standouts, as well as the platforming segments where Indika has a crisis of faith, the world splits apart and the Demon starts yapping. the visuals, dialogue and voice acting here make these some of the standout moments of the game. there’s also this one puzzle room where gravity is toyed with that’s a fun for the short time it’s got you. but parts like this are few and far between - even the crisis of faith sections, arguably the highlights of the game, number at just 2 total and take about 20 seconds and zero brainpower to complete each - and most of the time it’s just bland, shallow, super quick puzzles and platforming. even visually (aside from the absurdism) there isn’t much to draw you in. many walking sims work largely because of how graphically impressive they are. first and foremost, if you judge a game based on how realistic it looks you’re a dumbass, but that’s not how these things succeed, it’s art style. art style >>>>> graphical quality every single day of the week, and although Indika goes for a pretty realistic look, it struggles with the art style. i mentioned before the present portions of the game are visually more grounded and gloomy, but damn it can be pretty ass to look at. it might fit the game thematically, but how washed out and grey everything is on top of some dodgy textures doesn’t make it the most appealing thing in the world to look at. it’s also plagued by a decent amount of jank. i’m not one to complain about glitches unless they’re game breaking really. one off glitches might kill the vibe of a scene of break immersion for a bit but they’re usually pretty funny and remind you you’re playing a funny video game. a lot of them in Indika aren’t game breaking at all but happen so consistently they feel like annoying features instead. for one the voice audio goes literally between 0 and 100, normally in the same conversation. one character speaks like a regular person and the other speaks so loudly and with so much bass it’s like the mic is down their throat. i felt like i had to switch between 2 different volumes every time two characters spoke. there’s also just general weird, jerky movements in platforming, and cutscenes just slamming to a black screen whenever they end. a game doesn’t need to be technically flawless for me to enjoy, but if there’s a word to describe the issues in Indika, it’s jarring. it’s not like they’re even in the same category of bugs as a character model spazzing out or clipping into a wall, or even bugs at all, it’s just general jank. the game is also very short. where it could balance its basic gameplay with even more creative moments, or dive more effectively into wider themes like free will or human nature instead of dipping its toes into them, or plunge itself more fully into absurdism, it stops a few paces short. how brief it is 100% feels like the reason for some of its key issues, like certain themes being spelled out in dialogue, or the fact good puzzles and sections that tap into the absurdism and surrealism are so rare, like the crisis of faith sections. WHY is there only 2 of them man. at its best, Indika is a wacky, pretty hilarious walking sim with great voice acting and creative mechanics that suggest way more about the game’s lofty themes than they tell. parts like the flashbacks, visually stunning crisis of faith segments, the absurd fish factory and the ending are Indika at its creative and thematic peak. but the highs of these sections get lost in a lot of the rest of the game being very surface level: set 5 puzzles and themes that aren’t as smartly explored, a bland art style, brief length and a jank that hangs over everything. i really respect this game when it’s the swinging for the fences fever dream it was born to be but really wish it gave itself the chance to be that thing more than it does.