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.
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.