Indika
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Critic Reviews for Indika
Bleak realism meets absurdist fairytale in a stylish, surreal, and astonishingly surefooted - if mechanically unadventurous - exploration of faith, free will, and demonic temptation.
Indika hits incredibly high levels of zaniness and suspense and mixes the two so well that it creates a sought-after experience. Players will want to keep playing just to know how it ends, and most storytellers would love to hear that is their listeners' motivation. The game dips its toes in both the surreal and real in equal measure, and winds up being an enjoyable tale even through the most boring walking simulator-like parts. Odd Meter is doing interactive story-telling right, and Indika is a tale that will delight many and have them questioning everything.
A bizarre, confronting and darkly funny descent into hell, Indika takes a lot of risks and mostly sticks the landing.
The result is an adventure that feels thoughtfully conceived, humorous, and depressing all at once, as well as “off” in the right ways. Indika is one of the year’s most affecting and memorable adventures, and its themes will stick with me as I continue to ponder their meanings.
Indika is a gorgeous psychological adventure that grapples with religion and the many difficult themes associated with it.
Indika isn't an easy game to score. Tedious puzzles annoy in the moment, but they're easy to overlook in the broader scheme. Indika's underdeveloped theme stands out, but Odd Meter handles everything else so adeptly that it doesn't ruin the experience, even if it is slightly soured. As trite as it sounds, this really is one game you have to play for yourself and form your own conclusions - and that's probably just how Odd Meter wants it.
I loved Indika, even if I have the impression that some practical limitations held back the creative ambitions of its developers. Nonetheless, it is a game rich in ideas, drawing on Russian art and literature while reworking some of their recurring themes from a modern perspective that works especially well in a video game.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Ultimately, the more you give to Indika, the more you get out of it; whether it’s pondering the philosophical questions it asks you or soaking in the environment… just don’t anticipate any concrete answers. Indika wants you to come to those conclusions yourself, much like its troubled protagonist.
