Indika is a tragedy. I can tell that there was thought put into its visuals, camerawork, narrative, and themes. But I just don’t find any of it appealing in the slightest. It’s easy to cynically criticize institutions and societal behavior, but that alone is not enough to be compelling. And unfortunately, that’s really all I got out of this game.

Perhaps I was mislead by what I read about this game before buying it, but I was expecting it to be a surreal horror puzzle game. In reality, the game is just one of those things. From a gameplay perspective, the most interesting sections were the parts where world bathes itself in red and rips itself apart while the devil narrates Indika’s doubts and despairs, and you have to chant a prayer to bring the world back together and navigate through it. This is a really effective use of gameplay as a narrative tool, and it only happens twice in the entire game. The rest of the “puzzles” are the most basic “put the cube block through the square hole” type of gameplay, with absolutely no thought behind it beyond the visual setpiece. The only “horror” outside of some very uncomfortable, yet mature, depictions of sexual assault was the section where you had to run away from a giant monster of a dog as seen in the trailer. But I don’t know how you could possibly feel any tension with how slow it chases you down in the actual game. The only part I feel this game nailed was its surreal world. From the moment you start your journey, the world feels like travelling through a dream. Upside down destroyed houses, an infinitely huge fish factory harvesting fish the size of buildings, and a church city with impossibly huge bells all look incredible, and the fact that none of the characters acknowledge it makes it all unnerving.

From what everyone else says about this game, the story should be the best part about it. Indika has a lot to say about faith, or so it would seem. The long philosophical arguments between Indika and the devil inside her end up being no deeper than baby’s first atheist arguments. The game has a point system where you earn points and level up by finding religious iconography, and it outright tells you multiple times that they are completely meaningless. The Kudets, the holy religious artifact that you spend most of the game trying to see, is revealed to be literally just a hollow shell. Ironically, I think this is a good metaphor for how I feel about the game as a whole. Some of my favorite media is about as unsubtle as this, but there is at least a more interesting concept underneath that is being toyed with.

This game made me think, just not in the way I imagine the developers wanted me to. Instead of pondering the nature of faith and the struggle between free will and determinism, I was thinking “would I recommend this game?” It’s certainly made with intent and others clearly feel differently about its narrative than I do, which is why I want to recommend it so that you can draw your own conclusions. But I found this game to be incredibly shallow and not worth the time and money I spent on it.

'Indika has seen many images of what awaits a sinner in hell. But she could not remember seeing anything about what the righteous are supposed to do in heaven...'

Indika is a rare game that's hard to come by in story telling, surreal visual, level design that makes you a genius

When you finish it, you feel like you just watched a meaningful film and played a great puzzle game that you will remember for years

On the modern gaming landscape, Indika is like a breath of fresh air. Not many games have dared to explore the subject of religion at all, especially not in a rather unsafe and provocative way. And I am using these words in the most positive sense because we are talking about the experience that makes you think and feel here. An experience that is emotionally strong (if not brutal) and that keeps you engaged all the way through until the end.

The world of Indika feels very real and twisted at the same time. We find ourselves in the steampunk-infused and disproportioned setting of late XIX century Russia. The late-March spring is dark, depressing and it creates the perfect setting for the story to unfold. And it is also looks stunning for the most part. The childhood stories of Indika are told through some bright and colorful 8-bit style minigames, greatly contrasting the bleak world of the game. These minigames are also quite challenging, adding up to the feeling that you are actually playing and not just walking around.

As far as the gameplay goes, aside from the minigames, Indika is mostly a walking-simulator type of game. There are some puzzles to figure out, some platforming, some driving, some chase scenes. While none of them are particularly complex, together they create a well-balanced (and well-paced) gameplay experience, especially given the fact that the game is only a few hours long.

Last but not least, the Russian voice acting in the game is really great. I strongly recommend switching the voice to Russian (and leaving the subtitles in your language on) - this will definitely enhance the experience.

To sum things up, Indika is a perfect indie-game and a must-play for those of us willing to broaden our perspective on videogames as the form of the art.