After my initial INDIKA playthrough, a friend asked me how it was. I went along with something like “Yeah, it’s great, might be one of my favourite games this year.” It was indeed great, but with all the other stuff on the horizon, it was safe to say the crown had been reserved for something else.

Eighty hours. That's how long it took me to realize I was so wrong. This tiny little thing right here is actually one of my favourite games ever.

Sure, a solid chunk of that time was spent on virtual photography. INDIKA's world is bizarrely fascinating, and looking for fancy angles, fiddling with shaders and rendering that hi-res bokeh never comes cheap. That's to be expected, nothing new.

And yet, in between the usual VP business, I found myself... still paying attention? Returning to the most memorable levels not just for pretty sights, but to listen back to dialogues, see the characters interacting with each other, reread item descriptions — and, well, be in the general flow of the game once more. Now that's new.

So new for someone who rarely replays games, in fact, that I decided to stop for a moment and figure out what's going on.

Full disclosure: I lost a close family member earlier this year. Without going into much detail, it hit me harder than a million trucks, and sure enough got me into existential paralysis. Got me thinking about... I don't know, life? The unfairness of it all, the meaningless struggles, the abstract concepts carefully placed along your entire way to make it viable on some kind of an objective scale. It made me feel lost and, more than anything, filled me with an unexplainable mix of regret and guilt.

Enter INDIKA. "Hey," it said. "Wanna talk about it and kinda have fun together maybe?"

And talk about it we did.

In something that only resembles a fever dream after watching way too much obscure Russian cinema, no stone was left unturned. Trading questions both direct and implicit, we debated about societal norms, about how religion is not inherently bad, but how its (or any similar) escapism fantasy gets all the more tempting when that very guilt is weighing you down. Give in to it, and you’re going down a never-ending spiral of delusions in hopes for magical salvation, only to stray even farther away from the actual things that matter. Things that give purpose to your existence, should you overcome your regrets and offer yourself a choice to live and grow as an individual, sins and all.

There was barely anything groundbreaking in the conversation we had, as the game really did stick more to asking than answering, but it gave the thoughts that bothered me a distinct shape, and in part it helped me come to peace with them. All the while coming up with the most insane comedy skits I've seen in a while.

Here's another important thing. INDIKA's story is dark, depressingly so at times, but in its delivery, there's one key implication: no matter how messed up things get, there's always a perspective that makes them a tad brighter and manageable. It's a very Monty Python point of view that I always admired and did my best to adopt — but failed to when it mattered the most. Albeit way more melancholic in nature, the poor nun’s misadventures presented in colourful pixel art and dozens of hilarious gameplay segments served as the perfect reminder. Life’s a laugh, death’s a joke, best you can do is be yourself and give the audience a grin on your way out of this unfair, absurd play.

Tying that kind of message to any cultural or historical context feels wrong. It’s an all-invited dialogue about ethical boundaries, coping mechanisms, and experiences that shape us — every single one of us — as human beings. The rest is inconsequential.

Certainly, my interpretation may be far off the conventional one, but isn’t that what makes good art? Being able to look at someone else’s work through the prism of your life and, ultimately, make a piece of art your own? In that sense, INDIKA is definitely my game now. A game about a couple of broken people that steered my grief in the right direction, from internal discord towards acceptance.

Yes, acceptance is probably the right word. The feeling that’s been slowly eating at me isn’t gone. Doubt it will ever be. But now, with the right questions asked, I think I’m able to start transforming what was once a destructive force into something new. To create. To just keep going.

To the entire dev team: thank you for making this game. This review is a trainwreck of a love letter written almost in one go, and it’s exactly the way I want it to be as an expression of just how much your work resonated with me. Know that for at least one person out there, INDIKA made a difference — and it truly is second to nun.

Beautiful and weird and short. That's also how I like my men.

Indika: A Sureal, witty and genre defining narrative experience.
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🎮 Gameplay: ( 6.95 / 10 )
Indika takes the "walking simulator" genre and gives it a jolt of existential caffeine. The gameplay still follows the basics of a walking simulator but Indika adds a depth of layer with its switches to 2d and its occasional minigames and puzzles. This method gives players a minibreak from constantly walking, which I would say is rather refreshing. The puzzles are not hard, but challenging enough to make the player not lose focus, while the minigames often are timing based. What they did right here, is having the right balance of difficulty, not make anything seem tedious.

📘 Story: ( 8.9 / 10 )
The story is a philosophical deep dive wrapped in layers of humor, sarcasm, and some good old-fashioned trolling. It's like a therapy session with a snarky therapist who sometimes questions your choices and makes you laugh at the absurdity of it all. Themes of religion, self-worth, and reflection over what’s good and bad are explored with a unique twist, making you ponder your existence while trying to decipher the surreal world you are currently bound to. The characters are both unique and well crafted, it does not give you the sense of like heroes or generalized characters, they seem both surreal and real, in some sense they are comical. But If you were in their shoes, in this time period, the reflection of how they act is, funny, sad and in a sense real to the situation they are currently in.

🌆 Worldbuilding: ( 8.9 / 10 )
The world of Indika is a surrealist's dream (or nightmare). Imagine walking through a Salvador Dalí painting while having a conversation with Douglas Adams. The game uses proportions to its advantage by making smaller objects much larger, giving the world a sense of surrealism while still having familiar elements in the right proportion. They also take geometry to the extreme, and have things at really sharp angles, extreme heights, or really big and broad objects. Indika really nails the fact that they have created their own surreal world, even though it’s based in a realistic timeline. The way sound, visuals and characters are portrayed, helps this game create a really unique world that further help establish its own true identity, amidst a dozen other titles that fail to do the same.

📺 Visuals: ( 8.1 / 10 )
Visually, Indika does pretty good, it could be compared to the game “the invincible” but it falls a little bit short. The art style is bold and unconventional, it does a good job at complementing the game's twisted atmosphere. The graphical design melds together elements of dreamlike fantasy and gruff reality, creating a visual experience that keeps you engaged. The attention to detail could be improved. The same thing could be said about facial animations and expressions in general. Even though this game has 80% of its game in 3d, implementing a certain percentage of 2d, elevates the game overall feel, and the visuals are overall pretty good.

🎧 Sound: ( 10 /10 )
What makes this game truly shine, is for me the sound design. The aim is to throw you off your normal rhythm for this kind of game, it seems almost trollish, which creates an unique and interesting atmosphere. The sound effects sounds nice, crackling wood, wind, sudden chimes and different elements that you don’t expect also helps you be emerged in the game.

Now the best part of the game: The narration. The narrator’s voice is compelling; he is great at putting pressure on different tones to different words, which helps immensely with immersion. The narrator keeps mocking you through the play through with witty remarks and sarcastic comments, but also gives you a change of pace with philosophical questions that make you reflect. It is easy to focus on his words, rather than thinking about the fact that you are playing a walking simulator. Which is what story driven games should be doing. In a sense it reminds me of Hellblade: Senuas sacrifice, only better.

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🏆 Overall Score: ( 8.6 / 10 )
Indika is a refreshing take on the walking simulator genre. It deftly combines surrealism, humor, and philosophical reflections to create a game that is both thought-provoking and entertaining. The game has a really unique feel compared to other walking simulators, with its twisted vibe and cleverly thought out distinct aura. While it may not be for everyone, those who appreciate a good dose of sarcasm, witty humor, and genre defining narration, will definitely enjoy this gem of a title.

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📖 Notes and tips
- The game is pretty short, playtime is around 2 and a half to 3 and a half hours, so even though this a gem, the price is pretty steep compared to the content you get.
- I also found the audio to be somewhat off balance, and would recommend players to set the environmental volume to 75, while keeping the other values at 100.