I can't think of the last time I played a game where I mulled over its themes like this one. I do this all the time for great movies (I did this for The Zone of Interest a couple of months ago), but I don't think I've seen a story come out of a game that fully utilized its medium and was so artistically unique, quite like this one. It throws a LOT at the wall, and while not all of it sticks gameplay-wise, I still recommend people try this out. It's short (almost too short), cheap, and it'll gnaw at your brain hours after beating it.

Don't mistake me. This is a HIGH 7, and don't be surprised if it's bumped up by the end of the year, as I can only see myself appreciating this game more from here.

Eu gostei do jogo, dura em média 2 horas e meia, o humor do jogo é muito bom, os quebra-cabeça não são difíceis e o jogo não é de terror, a narrativa é interessante e te prende até o final, quando eu terminei eu esperava mais do jogo no geral, parece que tava faltando algo mais, eu gostei muito da personagem INDIKA e do ILYA, queria ver muito mais desses 2 juntos durante o jogo, a ambientação e gráficos são excelentes, outra coisa que eu gostei bastante foram os ângulos da câmera que deram um toque especial ao jogo.

Agh. Fuck. How do I talk about this without ruining it? I'll do my best.

What I was most worried about going in was that this was going to be some Reddit atheist-tier shit. It is thankfully not! Indika is about one nun's journey, both literally and ideologically, and how her life experience has made her current situation untenable. If you're familiar with Christian doctrine and apologetics you'll have heard a good amount of it before, but they're communicated well and their visual interpretations are genuinely impressive. It ain't deep, mind, but it's well told.

The unexpected element is its tonal range. A lot of writing-forward games tend to have exactly one mood, one vibe, and feel shallow as a result even if what's there is well executed. I went through this with a few friends and the game, to its credit, had us in rapt silence at some moments and howling with laughter at others. The game is overall on the somber side, especially towards the end, which makes its occasional comedic bits knock the wind out of you in the best way. The bike scene is worth the price of admission alone.

The day I start seeing "INDIKA ENDING: EXPLAINED: GONE SEXUAL" recommended to me on YouTube is the day I give up on gamers becoming even baseline media literate.

I saw some folks comparing Indika to an A24 film and I do agree that that description is probably the quickest way to get consumers to understand the type of vibe this game is going for. I've never quite played a game like this but I do wonder if this would have been just as effective as a film.

Starting off with the strong points, the art direction, set designs and voice acting are all superb. This was one of the best-looking indie games from both technical and artistic point-of-view in some time for me. The atmosphere is also fantastic with good usage of surrealism to make the player go "Did I just see that?" as you play through this game. I was also taken aback by how good the pixel art in this are (Yes, there are pixel art also). Both artstyles are punctuated by a ominous and sometimes kind of funny soundtrack that really plays with the way game presents itself.

The strong art design is also strongly supported by its narrative. I bet a lot of folks, in regard to a video game about a nun that can hear the devil, to be very particular about its point-of-view about religion. I found the themes to be thoughtful but also not stuffing ideologies down your thought. The narrative is pretty bleak for the most part (fumbling in some subject matters) but it does provide a good level of dark humor using the aforementioned surreal elements, music and gameplay.

Despite all the previously mentioned positives, the gameplay is just...so dull. While I do appreciate that the game plays with gamification as a way to drive some of its themes home, the majority of this game is spent walking and solving banal puzzles that primarily involves moving boxes. The monotony is also sometimes broken up by minigames within the pixel art segments mentioned earlier. What also doesn't help is that this game has one of the worst Unreal Engine-related traversal stutters I've seen. Nothing quite ruins an atmosphere of a game when the game is stuttering so hard you're missing parts of cutscenes and or having trouble navigating the environment.

Overall, despite some technical gripes and dull gameplay, I'm glad I spent my time playing through Indika. I think I'd suggest to wait and see if the stuttering is improved. I genuinely think the narrative is interesting enough to make it worth the 5 hour runtime.

Really quite good, often stunningly gorgeous, and endlessly stylish. Indika peddles in the phantasmagoric in its exploration of trauma, faith, and the loss thereof. Stunning landscapes are interspersed amongst hyper-surrealist industrial explorations of pre-revolution Russia.

Surely this can't be God's plan?

Indika is not exploring ideas that haven't been touched before, but I haven't come across many games that examine a fall from grace/faith in the way that Indika does, and certainly not as stylishly. Flourishes of color and dream-like hyperbole work their way into nearly every pivotal moment of the game's plodding structure. While the themes explored may not be groundbreaking, the aesthetics of their exploration are inarguably mature, particularly for the medium, doubly so for the fidelity at which Indika is rendered.

It is not hard to imagine this same game conceived as a low-poly low-res walking sim, exploring the same concepts and plot points. It is genuinely delightful to see a game that would be seen as extremely niche a few years ago be given such a grand budget to beautifully render its story in.

I could not help but think of Playdead's Inside and Limbo while playing this – Indika seems heavily inspired by those games' focus on atmosphere and tone, above all else. As such, I think the same folks that were frustrated by the somewhat rote puzzle-solving in either of the aforementioned games will probably grind their teeth during the similar puzzle sections here.

All in all, Indika is well worth the price of admission in its beauty alone. Expertly crafted environments that are further buoyed by gorgeous cinematography (the wolf water-wheel shot in particular mwah!).

Os elementos mais interessantes do jogo, como a gamificação da religião (incluindo também os momentos iniciais lentos e desrespeitosos com a personagem principal, mas que garantem pelo menos um pontinho extra que vai gerar a salvação), a mecânica de mudança do cenário pela ação "orar" e a mudança clara de jogo ao resgatar as memórias da infância costumeiramente associadas a um período feliz (não atoa nessas memórias eles brincam com a percepção de algumas pessoas do que seria uma "era de ouro" para os jogos) são subutilizados para um jogo que joga muito mais na safezone do que parece querer admitir.

Bastante inofensivo.

Mas pelo menos sincero.

Артхаус во всем его проявлении. Это как если бы A24 выпустили игру :)
Сразу хочется обратить внимание, что геймплейно, игра ничего интересного не привносит. Но история, ее подача через очень кинематографические сцены, игра и озвучка актеров, заставляет тебя с интересом наблюдать за происходящим. Разработчикам нужно отдать должное, подход у ребят к проекту был серьезные, и видно что они сделали все возможно чтобы это выглядело дорого и круто. Я получил удовольствие от того как передана Россия конца 19 века. Геймплейно ничего серьезного, у меня всю игру проходила жена, аркадные моменты ее только заставили понервничать :) Мораль, история, ну тут уже думаю каждый для себя что-то выделит и поймет. В остальном интересный проект на 4-5 часов.

Индика это игра, разработчики которой явно вдохновлялись хеллблейдом, что видно в самом подходе к повествованию и заложенному геймлейному циклу. Только проблема в том, что игровой цикл хеллблейда был довольно репетативен, но его спасало постоянное смещение акцента от боевки к пазлам. Тогда как в индике не остается ничего кроме самих пазлов, так как платформинг здесь очень скудный, что поняли сами разработчики, а посему под конец игры головоломки
встречаются чуть ли не каждые 5 минут. Тем самым, индика это хеллблейд но хуже, хотя для дебюта студии в целом получилось нормально.

The premise for this game seemed pretty unique and it definitely had some arthouse kind of setup that I was intrigued by. Unfortunately though, this game loves to stutter and stutter hard. Almost every time I turned around in this game i was getting at least a half second stutter, usually in new areas it would lag and hang for a good 15-20 seconds and then I'd get constant minor stutters. I tried to load it onto my other SSD, but that didn't fix the issue either on top of fiddling with settings constantly. I guess I'll just watch someone play this one, really unfortunate.

𝟳,𝟯/𝟭𝟬 🍹
Technically quite simple, but full-fledged 3-hour Story-driven adventure, which had a clear vision of what the game wants to be, namely a cinematic “road movie” adventure about a nun who believes that she has been possessed by a demon, and a bandit, who accidentally has to take her hostage for a short time, naturally, the game is not afraid to discuss religious issues and resort to black humor on the topic, without resorting to insulting religion, I personally haven`t seen this, the only thing is that all the side characters are portrayed as hypocritical fanatics, but this fits into the story, which is about finding youself and gray morality (and there is also one scene with nudity, which is works for drama, nothing indecent),
At the forefront are the interactions of characters in traps in a slightly fantasy world, in which there are huge animals, huge mechanisms, and bizarre architecture, the stability and expediency of which raise questions, in general, some kind of arthouse “gigantism”,
At the same time, I’ll say right away that if you don’t like the slow atmospheric pace, then they’ve clearly overboard with it a little, it’s difficult to "survive" to the end of the game, even for those who are interested, everything seems too deserted, poorly detailed, and lifeless (except for the last level), especially when we are often given several paths that were not so necessary,
But this allowed the game to create some interesting simple puzzles that involve moving giant objects (based on the “Tetris” principle, a little reminiscent of “Scorn”)
and platformer-like sections, where we have to find the right way up by approaching the edge and pressing 1 button (as in "Stray"), or running away from the "escape"-boss (although it was not very intuitive),
There is also the classic option to find additional notes or light candles next to icons, and even leveling up ability about earning points, but the game immediately says that this doesn`t affect anything and will not give you anything, it`s done in the style of pop-up pixel icons, which makes the game environment even more whimsical, once again reminding us that we are not in a religious simulator,
They also took an inventive approach to the flashbacks of the main character, which are indistinguishable from cheap 2D pixel games, but it`s also gameplay+story,
And the real juice here is in the horror moments, the music is also written very simply, but what a strong tension it creates in horror scenes,
By the way, I wasn’t joking about the cinematography, of course, I’m not an expert in directing, but as a layman, I found many of the staged shots impressive (especially with the mill and the dog’s head), the game is also full of “relaxation” places where you can enjoy 5 selected angles of the local landscape, the sounds will also change... it seems like you can encounter some problems with the sounds, but again this is all about the overall budget of the project, as well as the biggest disadvantage - disgusting voice acting, Indica has a certain charm, and the actors are not bad, but it’s very painful to listen to, you only get used to it after an hour, optimization is also so so, the riddles are not intuitive, your partner may say that you’re doing something wrong when everything is exactly the opposite (although with moving a broken house it’s really sweetie)
but I can forgive all this for a small team, when we now have on our hands another example of a high-quality game from ru-developers,
only the ending was a little disappointing, it’s not bad, but don’t expect anything shocking, it’s quite logical,
True, this is again a slightly “trash” game, and Atomic Heart was the same, it’s a pity that it became a feauture of Ru-games, I wish that at least someone would not be afraid to make a project based on realism, without going overboard on trash and humor.

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//
Небольшая команда соотечественников внезапно выпускает технически достаточно простенькое, но полноценное 3-часовое Сюжетное приключение, у которого было чёткое видение, чем игра хочет быть, а именно кинематографичной бродилкой-"роуд муви" про монашку, считающую что в неё вселился бес, и бандита, которому по воле случая приходится ненадолго взять её в заложники, естественно, игра не боится рассуждать на религиозные вопросы и прибегать к чёрному юмору на тему, при этом не уводя это в степь каких-то насмешек над религией, лично я в игре такого не увидел, единственное, что всех побочных персонажей выставляют лицемерными фанатиками, но это играет на историю, которая тут рассуждает на темы поиска себя и "серой морали" (а ещё есть одна сцена с наготой, которая тоже обусловлена сюжетными событиями, работает на драму, ничего неприличного),
Во главу же угла ставятся взаимодейстивия персонажей в ловушках около фентезийного мира, в котором огромные каждое животное по 3 метра в высоту, огромные механизмы, и причудливая архитектура, устойчивость и целесообразность которой вызывают вопросы, в общем, артхаусный "гигантизм" какой-то,
При этом сразу скажу, что если вам не по душе медлительный атмосферный темп, то тут с этим явно немного пережали, и до конца дожить сложно, даже заинтересовавшимся, всё кажется слишком пустынным, малодетализированным, и, безжиненным (кроме последнего уровня), особенно когда нам зачастую дают несколько путей прохода, которые не так уж и были необходимы,
Но зато это позволило сделать в игре несколько занятных простеньких головоломок на передвижение гигантских предметов (по принципу "Тетриса", немного напомнило "Scorn" ещё),
и около платорфменных секций, где мы должны найти правильный путь вверх подходя к краю и нажимая 1 кнопку (как в "Stray"), или убегая от "escape"-босса, хотя он не очень интуитивный получился,
Есть классическое нахождение побочных предметов-записок или иммерсивное зажигание свечей около икон, и даже прокачка возможности зарабатывать очки, но в игре сразу говорится, что это ни на что не влияет, и ничего вам не даст, выполнено это в стиле всплывающих пиксельных иконок, что придаёт антуражу игры ещё больше причудливости, ещё раз напоминая нам, что мы не в религиозном симуляторе,
Изобретательно также подошли к флешбэкам главной героини, которые не отличить от дешёвых пиксельных 2D-игр, зато это тоже геймплей+история,
А самый сок тут в хоррор-моментах, музыка написана тоже очень простенько, но какое же сильное напряжение в необхоидмых сценах,
Насчёт кинематографичности я тоже шутил, конечно, я не эксперт в режиссуре, но как для обывателя многие постановочные кадры показались мне внушительными (особенно с мельницей и головой собаки прям кинниище синематографи), в игре полно мест "релаксаций", где вы можете насладиться 5-ю подобранными ракурсами местного пейзажа, звуки тоже будут меняться.. со звуком вроде можно встретить какие-то проблемы, но это всё опять же к общей бюджетности проекта, также как и к самому большому минусу - отвратительной озвучке, определённый шарм у Индики, конечно, есть, актёры неплохие, но слушать очень больно, только через час привыкаешь, оптимизация тоже не сахар, загадки не интуитивные, напарник может говорить, что ты делаешь что-то неправильно, когда всё ровно наоборот (хотя с передвиганием разломанного дома это прям конфетка),
но это всё я могу простить небольшой команде, когда мы теперь имеем на руках ещё один пример качественной игры от ру-разрабов,
только лишь концовка немного разочаровала, она неплоха, но не ожидайте прям чего-то шокирующего, скорее закономерного,
правда это опять немного "трэшовость", и в Атомик Харте без этого не обошлись, жалко, что это стало "нашей" фишкой, хотелось бы чтобы уже хоть кто-то из РФ не побоялся сделать проект на полностью "серьёзных" щщах, на реализме, не уступающий какому-нибудь западному боевичку.

p.s. По-настоящему скрепная игра к пасхе)

😊 Поддержка подпиской: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/37365104

Amazing narrative driven, walking simulator-esque, game with a few puzzles. It felt like playing Limbo/Inside at times, where there's more meaning to the environments and a greater emphasis on our understanding of the story being told. The titular character, Indika's story starts with a sort of tragedy and guilt, and nothing's felt the same for her ever since. A dark, surreal and thought-provoking experience; I loved playing this game. I really enjoyed the pixel art mini-games too.

P.S. I recommend using the Russian language for the dialogues.

Is it a game for everyone? I'm not sure. Is it a unique experience? Definitely.

It doesn't say anything about faith that hasn't been said before, but as a narrative-driven game, it's a cinematic experience with good writing and good presentation with its humor. Most importantly, it's a game with character.

I'm not sure if that bit at the end was necessary though, I think it conflicts with the rest of the story.

Indika is a masterful video game, though very frequently not-fun. I need to warn about Indika’s content as a religious horror game.

Towards the end, there’s a scene that addresses sexual coercion. Using the garish fade-to-red film technique to address the dehumanization without having to render the details, there’s a point where this game reaches peak narrative horror. This works with the core theme of a deep desire to crawl out your skin in fucked-up religious sort of prison that includes your own worldview. It’s just… forewarning / skip-ability would be good.

It reminds me of a lot of A24’s more recent horror films: the terror keeps things moving, puts us on the edge of our seat and makes is want for the ick to be defeated., The bad situation is the point. None of what’s happening is okay.

The more chill moments also have this air of discomfort. Yaking selfie screenshots of Indika feels a bit like an invasion of privacy. She looks briefly at the camera when you rotate around to see her face, then immediately looks away, trying to avoid the knowing fact that we’re watching her.

Taking selfies of Indika feels a bit like an invasion of privacy. She looks briefly at the camera when you rotate around to see her face, then immediately looks away, trying to avoid the knowing fact that we’re watching her.

The gameplay itself is mostly about trying to get out of your own personal hell. Indika frequently takes control of nightmarish Industrial Revolution era steam machines to seek out that one very-restrictive pathfinding exit. This makes exploration often feel as oppressive as Indika’s guilt-ridden alienation. The reprieve in all of this is a partnership with a man whose arm is infected with sepsis named Ilya. Their friendship book-ends the game and yields the most narrative surprises. I should go into it more, but for now I think I need to call it.

Indika is a tough game to flesh out. It’s surreal environments coupled with stylistic fervor for framing scenes makes so much of the game compelling. And its interrogation of religious ambiguities reaches some interesting boiling points. But I also think much of the narrative is bogged down by less than inspired game design, with too few resonant character beats in between too many arduous levels. Still, I appreciate the swing even though the game couldn’t resolve that tension.

(Also, I’ve seen comparisons made about Indika to an A24 movie, and, even though I don’t agree with that - that doesn’t mean anything - I DO think the game is more interested in leveraging film language for its narrative with gameplay secondary)