Lake is an incredibly quaint game with a wonderful premise and a narrative that has plenty to experience during the two weeks you take up the position as mail carrier in Providence Oaks.
The premise itself is great: being a mailwoman in a small Oregon town opens itself up to a lot opportunity to dig into the setting and the people around you. Its funny because, despite the small town location, there's plenty to do given all of the mail stops you do on a daily basis and all of the people you meet. You learn about residents of your old hometown, both new and old, and slowly become reacquainted to a simple, easy life. Meeting various characters, learning about plights of the town, and spending time with people, going about small storylines that intertwine with various characters and different things to do is a lot of fun, and I was really looking forward to seeing what each day would bring.
I'm personally a sucker for slice of life type stories, and Lake really hits it well, with an overarching plotline of figuring out what you want to do by the time the two weeks are up all while you're growing accustomed to Providence Oaks yet again. I love how simple it is. You're not doing anything big, you're just sending packages and mail to various houses in a small area, but that's what's so great about it. The basic gameplay loop of driving and delivering works very well with the interspersed conversations you have with various town residents and the diversions you get, either during the day or after work. It accomplishes this very well, but at the same time, Lake doesn't overstay its welcome at all.
It has a tight pace to it and is really just the perfect length, a game to finish in about one afternoon or evening. Coming back to town is what Meredith does in this game, and the game is excellent at helping place you in this situation and setting you on a relative path while also giving you some room to navigate through various dialogue choices.
The main reasons I ding this with the score are primarily due to technical issues: the radio not turning off (especially because of the limited songs), some rough pop in and textures not loading, and characters sliding into place or blinking out during scenes, especially as the game progressed. That, and, at least with the ending I went for, I wish it could've been choosing the (spoiler) person (spoiler) I wanted to be with and which decision I wanted to make. I understand, of course, that it wouldn't necessarily work in most ways depending on the situation, though.
Overall, a very nice little game, and would definitely recommend if you're looking for something heartfelt and easy to go through.
The premise itself is great: being a mailwoman in a small Oregon town opens itself up to a lot opportunity to dig into the setting and the people around you. Its funny because, despite the small town location, there's plenty to do given all of the mail stops you do on a daily basis and all of the people you meet. You learn about residents of your old hometown, both new and old, and slowly become reacquainted to a simple, easy life. Meeting various characters, learning about plights of the town, and spending time with people, going about small storylines that intertwine with various characters and different things to do is a lot of fun, and I was really looking forward to seeing what each day would bring.
I'm personally a sucker for slice of life type stories, and Lake really hits it well, with an overarching plotline of figuring out what you want to do by the time the two weeks are up all while you're growing accustomed to Providence Oaks yet again. I love how simple it is. You're not doing anything big, you're just sending packages and mail to various houses in a small area, but that's what's so great about it. The basic gameplay loop of driving and delivering works very well with the interspersed conversations you have with various town residents and the diversions you get, either during the day or after work. It accomplishes this very well, but at the same time, Lake doesn't overstay its welcome at all.
It has a tight pace to it and is really just the perfect length, a game to finish in about one afternoon or evening. Coming back to town is what Meredith does in this game, and the game is excellent at helping place you in this situation and setting you on a relative path while also giving you some room to navigate through various dialogue choices.
The main reasons I ding this with the score are primarily due to technical issues: the radio not turning off (especially because of the limited songs), some rough pop in and textures not loading, and characters sliding into place or blinking out during scenes, especially as the game progressed. That, and, at least with the ending I went for, I wish it could've been choosing the (spoiler) person (spoiler) I wanted to be with and which decision I wanted to make. I understand, of course, that it wouldn't necessarily work in most ways depending on the situation, though.
Overall, a very nice little game, and would definitely recommend if you're looking for something heartfelt and easy to go through.