Indika (PS5) Review

Indika is a narrative-driven singleplayer third-person game with puzzles, platforming elements, and a very slick cinematic presentation. This game is right up my alley because I am an avid movie watcher, and the developers say this game is inspired by arthouse cinema from the likes of Yorgos Lanthimos, Ari Aster, and Darren Aronofsky. In this game you play as a Nun named Indika in 19th century Russia, who struggles with her faith and her peers, and regularly battles with a very manipulative inner demon. This game might look like a horror game on the surface as well, but it never really delves into horror specifically, but it definitely aims to make you uneasy, and a few moments really gave me chills or made me go “holy krap”. With all that said, it is very much a cinematic or even walking-simulator type adventure game that's very beautifully presented but not a very deep experience gameplay wise by any means. 

Gameplay

The closest types of games to this off the top of my head are other indie-adventure games like Hellblade or Plague Tale, but this is even more simple and passive in its gameplay elements. There are a couple, very simple platforming puzzles and challenges throughout the game as well as some linear chase sequences, but none are particularly difficult. Generally the puzzles come down to basic platforming, using various levers and mechanical systems to move platforms and obstacles, and occasional supernatural forces. On the upside, each set piece and puzzle is quite unique from each other despite their simplicity so you won’t feel like you are doing the same challenge over and over. They often present a new mechanic and environment for each challenge with very little recycling throughout the 2-3 hour experience. 

One of the other notable gameplay elements in this adventure are the points you see in the top left. When you complete tasks, find collectibles, or even pray, you collect these points, which is a very gamer-centric and cynical way of viewing Indika’s faith. Which in many ways is the point of the game. While I can see a lot of players turning off the GUI outright to hide these points, I thought they were pretty cheeky and a funny mechanic because of the thematic implications. 

Between certain chapters there are 2D platforming sections that reveal flashbacks about Indika’s life and origins, which are a bit jarring compared to the presentation of the rest of the game but they tell the simple story well enough. And the pixel art was also really strong in it’s own regard. And they are not super difficult either even though I died so much. I’m just bad at 2D games…

I do wish there was a stronger connection or through line between the 3D and 2D levels than just the point indicators though. he game only hard hard cuts between the two as it is now and maybe they could’ve done more to ease the transition or even have pixelated elements seep into the 3D world on occasion or something, I’m not sure what but it feels too much like two different games other than the connective storyline.

Presentation/graphics

As I’ve said a couple times already, the graphics in this game are spectacular, it runs off of Unreal Engine 4 and really showcases the power and capabilities of this engine, even in the hands of smaller indie studios. In many cutscenes the faces and details are as good as many AAA games, and the atmosphere throughout the game is really really hauntingly isolated and spooky. Even the level design and blocking felt really strong, I was never lost or feeling artificially funneled through the world even though it’s a strictly linear game. And there was enough sense of exploration to find collectibles and other details in this surreal Russian winter.

I did see occasional pop-in, in particular when the game cuts between camera angles in cutscenes as well as some slowdown in some specific more open areas, but otherwise the game ran at a really nice 60fps 4K.

Motion capture and animation work was great and the game has some realy wonderful cinematography as you may have seen from some of the earlier trailers. They are not shy to have closeups with these characters and the graphics and details really hold up well.

The game does have distinct chapters and levels, and they don’t feel super repetitive again, each one is distinct but increasingly surreal as you progress through Indika’s story. I love the exaggerated industrial levels in particular. There’s a massive canning factory that is almost portal 2-esque in its ridiculous scale and atmosphere, and some levels seem to climb up forever like the tower of babel. The environmental design reminds me of a industrial russian version of the Oldest house from Control in a lot of ways.

Story

The plot starts off as Indika is a generally disliked Nun among her cloister, and she is tasked to deliver a letter to another monastery. The story quickly gets swept into a different direction as she meets a local prison escapee and for all intents and purposes is forced to help him on his journey. Through dialogue and flashbacks their experience with faith, loyalty, and trust over the rest of the game.

Audio

The audio design in this game is really great, but it’s also the part where I had the most issues. The environments are very isolating and cold, and the detailed foley and voicework is really great. However, it might get patched at some point but I had a lot of volume issues throughout the game. Take a look at my game capture timeline of the entire game and you can see how quiet and loud some chapters are compared to one another. And even in certain conversations, Indika and other characters' volume levels would be so different for no apparent reason. I did play this on a soundbar and I didn’t see much in the options for audio output settings so maybe that didn’t help and it would all be great in headphones. But I still think there were some problems in the audio department overall, especially just looking at those captured levels.

Concluding Thoughts

I was able to finish the game in about 2.5 hours, and then another 30-45 minutes to wrap up the remaining trophies. And thanks to Odd Meter sending me a review code I was able to snag one of the earliest Platinums in this game in the world as well which was a fun first for me. Anyways, my overall thoughts are that this game was great. If you are really into cinematic games, third person adventure games, or even arthouse movies, you will probably dig Indika. If you are more into action games, this might not jive with you as it is mostly a walking sim with not a lot of innovative puzzles. The story and presentation is the real highlight here.

Indika PS5 https://amzn.to/4cLpNGl