Indika is a bizarre but fascinating journey.
As I sit to write this, I find myself concluding that Indika is a hard game to describe. Part walking simulator and part puzzle game, it’s really more of a narrative experience than anything else. Even that feels like I’m putting it down somewhat, as the narrative is arguably quite deep. But equally describing it as a puzzle game is giving it too much credit as they are perfunctory in most instances. Regardless of all though, Indika is a unique experience that is absolutely worth a look as something quite different.
You play as the titular Indika, a nun living in a convent. Whilst the developers describe the game as being set in an alternate history Russia, this feels as though it’s set around the time of the Russian revolution. Indika is struggling in her convent, seeing odd visions, hearing voices, and being quite careless as a result. This leads to her being less than well-liked amongst the other nuns, culminating in her causing a scene during communion. She is sent on a task to deliver a letter to a monastery elsewhere as a pretence to get her out of the convent, and this is where the game begins in earnest.
It becomes clear quite early on that the voices Indika hears aren’t exactly the most pious and certainly aren’t ones you’d expect a nun to be hearing. Perhaps they are the words of the devil, or maybe they are a representation of Indika’s wavering faith. Regardless of their actual source, these words drive our protagonist forward, even as she wants them gone.
Much of the journey takes place alongside a wounded soldier named Ilya who appears to be very much a god-fearing man. The conversations between Ilya and Indika over the course of the game are fascinating, and genuinely kept me interested even during quieter moments of simply walking through corridors. Hearing the back and forth over whether one can truly love God when the penalty for not loving him is eternal punishment was a great look at the philosophy of religion.
When the protagonists aren’t walking and talking, they’re trying to find ways to progress through blocked off areas. In a few instances this is really well done, as Indika’s faltering faith causes her to see the world crumble apart and only the power of her prayer can pull it back together. This creates interesting situations in which you need to manoeuvre into positions before allowing the world to crumble to open up new paths. This neat mechanic wasn’t used nearly enough though, and many of the puzzles devolve into dragging boxes into the right place so you can climb up to an otherwise inaccessible area. Considering how bananas some of the environments become later on, I feel like there was scope for far more interesting puzzles to solve.
You’ll also get the occasional flashback to Indika’s youth which is brilliantly presented in a pixel art style. I loved the artwork here, and I got to see some fun little mini games that represented her childhood. Again, these were few and far between and felt underused when they were quite so effective. Considering there are a few irritating 3D platforming sections and chase sequences that aren’t well signposted, these stronger elements should have been more present.
With all that said, I loved playing through Indika. It’s a really interesting narrative presented in a wonderful way and I can’t think of another game that handles this topic in this way. Not to mention that the visuals are really very good across the varied and strange environments. Indika leaves footprints in the snow as flakes dust her wimple, whilst bloom lighting effects are used effectively to give many of the environments an ethereal feel to them. I will say that some of the areas are darker than I would like them to be. Changing the brightness is an option, but it made the game look washed out.
The music and voice acting are off though. Sometimes the voice work was really good, but on many occasions the mixing felt really off. You could be outside whilst every voice line sounds like you’re inside a metal chamber, not to mention the fact that some of the sampling sounded quite low quality. The music fares better, with a great soundtrack but it often feels at odds with the game world. This is likely a deliberate choice, but the 16-bit sounding music is perfect for the flashback sections but feels quite odd when you’re trying to survive a wolf attack.
It’s hard to complain too much though. Indika is an experience that I’d wager good money on you having not had in another game before. The story is unique and handled in an interesting way and the world is wonderfully off-kilter with all sorts of strange scenes that indicate that the titular character isn’t experiencing the world in the way she should expect to. Those who dislike walking simulators won’t be swayed by this, but people who want an experience they won’t get elsewhere should absolutely pick up Indika.
Indika is available now on PC, Xbox, and Playstation.
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