Man, this year just keeps giving it to us. All the good stuff, and I don't have the money to try out the bigger titles, or yet the console too. This one has intriguing prospects, because it was made by Russians, but the ones who left the country away from the war and propaganda.
Most people know Russians to make Escape From Tarkov or recent Atomic Hearts. Well, they've been making games for a long time now. In fact, before it became the autocratic nightmare that it is today, most Russians were very passionate about video games dating back few decades. Indika is something different, a unique, silly yet terrifying product of pessimism and superstition.
I mean, easily to sum up would be nun has voices in her head, her monastery doesn't like her, and then sends her on an errand far away. What ensues is existential crisis in the most quite sense possible, as she deals with post-modern issues stemming from an alternative 19th century Russia.
Indika starts off with a 2D pixelatted side scroller, where she falls, and have to collect these shapes moving around. For some reason, these things kept getting bigger, and bigger, until the last one is a giant shape hard to miss, soon as she gets that, she suddenly wakes up back to the 3D world.
Just bear with me on this, the game takes certain liberties to leap through genres to tell it's story. Her waking up happened in the middle of a sermon with the other nuns, and when she freaked out, the others didn't take too kindly to the shenanigans, but this wasn't anything new.
Afterwards, she was given a task to give vegetables to her nearby sister. Whom received the package with such persistent scorn. And then, I finally got to hear the voice in her head. A very upstanding gentleman, who knows what is up. Complete differences in opinions, social commentary, soliciting in some naughty acts, amazing vocabulary, yep that's the devil alright.
And it probably makes sense why she has the voice of Satan in her head, it's because the way the nuns treat her, leave her with many lingering doubts. My way of coming back at them was knocking the ladder placed on top of a piano inside a windmill. Which was a bit accidental at first.
What really nailed the absolute dreadful state of life here is the task of pouring water in a barrel from the well, repeating the step 5 times. This was super mundane, and took me over 10 minutes to do so. Before the reverend mother looks down on her, and pretty much spills the barrel water.
In a gathering where the priest shows up, Indika starts to hallucinate a tiny dancing man coming out of the reverend's mouth, she even winks at her. You know what, I said too much, all the surreal and wacky stuff is better of being seen than talked about. Because there's plenty more of these. Including the loading screen quoting some version of the Bible, Catholic am assuming.
But the real question is, what is up with interacting and collecting items, and then getting points for the meter top left? Honestly, after levelling up, and seeing that I get new skills revolving around faith, loyalty, seems to me like a running joke of sorts but maybe has an amazing surprise twist in the end.
Now, this isn't a simple walking simulator with Monty Python twisted storytelling, and jokes, there's obviously much more to it. Ok, not to such high degree, it is largely a walking simulator. But give the guys some credit, they're really onto something interesting here.
Like this credit scene where Indika is being guided through the corridors, where the lead team members names are displayed on the wall in 2D fashion. Constantly playing with my mind while regurgitating the phrase "Wut's in it?" alluding to the letter.
And because a guy who was supposed to pull the level just turned hysterical with his pigs screeching in the barn. Poor Indika, she just wants to cross over. Why does that have to be so hard now? Well, time for some light puzzle solving, and then sitting on a bench, where the game lets me take screenshots of the different angles for the specific area.
Yet since she's out of the monastery, the voice in her head has gotten more bolder and now he speaks candidly about how miserable everybody is, and that her naive, somewhat benevolent nature will eventually put her in her demise. Despite the rhetoric, she pressed on. Then her angers gets the best of her, and well, that's when the devil begins to shift perspectives.
I like that at times, it is focusing on its story, but it manages to use the intricate designs of its levels to turn them into video game scenarios. Like the part where the mine turns red, it's all in her head, but in order to cross over, I have to stop praying, and platform over at times.
This becomes the case all through the game. Where simply by just running around, following the linear path before all of a sudden, a flimsy soldier almost shoot her leading to a cutscene. There, a train has side railed into the ice, and one of them got impaled.
One is using the guitar to sooth his pain, while the wise cracking doctor figures out what to do with him. This has historical context, but I'll let you guys figure out what the Cossacks did around the time. This is silly and depressing simultaneously. But what happens next is even crazier.
What happens next? Well, she witnessed a girl in one of the villas getting assaulted, and wanted to do something about it. Unfortunately, she got caught by the aggressor, but not long before this guy shows up to save the day. And then starts a shootout with the doctor, his Cossacks as well.
Turns out he's wanted for questioning, everybody has their story, and so our girl Indika helped him run away through a motor chase. Where the meek soldier chased us, and kept missing his shots. It was the epitome of black comedy sequence. And that's most of what I can say now.
It's difficult to assess and write it down in summary, due to the irreverent, yet eclectic storytelling. The bizarre unfolding of events, I'd say if you're a big film snob for arthouse type, this one is definitely for you to check out. And don't worry, it stops leaning towards the walking simulator part, and comes around with various story-based mini-games, and gameplay sequences.
It looks brilliant from a visual standpoint, the voice acting and dialogue writing is high production. Some of the mini-games are nice fun distraction, with obvious narrative tidbits. It's not a game for everybody, mind you. I've played very few games as surreal too. Definitely worth experiencing.
Recent content: