Interesting game but ultimately a let down

[The Alchemist]

Not sure what I was expecting. I love experimental indie games, especially those with inspired settings like Indika, but after 3 hours I closed the game and just watched the game and story explanation on YouTube.

Firstly, the price is too high for the length. This should be priced around $15. $20 at max. People might rebut that the graphical quality, animation, art design, etc. justify the price — but no one would have minded if the game was 1/2 the graphical fidelity with double the length or a bit more variety in gameplay.
For a “Hold the W-key simulator”, the game is inappropriately priced.

Secondly, the performance is quite bad and stuttery. I’m on a 4090 with a 7800x3D and even after devs added a shader compilation step in a post-launch patch, the game just chugs whenever you hit a new area. Again, for a 3-5 hour long walking sim, this is pretty inexcusable.
This game didn’t need to be made on Unreal using advanced shadow, lighting, and rigging. For a heady indie game about traveling a snowy sh!t hole waste land with surreal visuals, was the usage of Unreal necessary?

Finally, the world doesn’t really do anything with its settings. You get the memey person jumping out of the nun’s mouth scene within the first 30 minutes and after that you’re just walking around gray landscapes while occasional cutscenes play and some scattered, boring puzzles in the subsequent 2-3 hours.

I was ready for a deeply disturbing, weird ride through a hyperealized moment in Russian history with surreal visuals throughout with bitting commentary on faith and society.
Instead I got a total of 10 minutes of slightly interesting cutscenes, some
Annoying unskippable minigames, and classic atheist fedora tipping reddit-fodder “Jesus bad” messaging.

[Jedimindtrickonyou]

I don't think there was any "Jesus Bad" messaging in the game, at all. That would just be one possible way of looking at certain parts of the story. If anything, it just showed that the church and its strict, unforgiving ways (towards people like Indika) are bad, but not Jesus or Christianity as a whole.

[Offence]

Originally posted by Poe:

Not sure what I was expecting. I love experimental indie games, especially those with inspired settings like Indika, but after 3 hours I closed the game and just watched the game and story explanation on YouTube.

Firstly, the price is too high for the length. This should be priced around $15. $20 at max. People might rebut that the graphical quality, animation, art design, etc. justify the price — but no one would have minded if the game was 1/2 the graphical fidelity with double the length or a bit more variety in gameplay.
For a “Hold the W-key simulator”, the game is inappropriately priced.

Secondly, the performance is quite bad and stuttery. I’m on a 4090 with a 7800x3D and even after devs added a shader compilation step in a post-launch patch, the game just chugs whenever you hit a new area. Again, for a 3-5 hour long walking sim, this is pretty inexcusable.
This game didn’t need to be made on Unreal using advanced shadow, lighting, and rigging. For a heady indie game about traveling a snowy sh!t hole waste land with surreal visuals, was the usage of Unreal necessary?

Finally, the world doesn’t really do anything with its settings. You get the memey person jumping out of the nun’s mouth scene within the first 30 minutes and after that you’re just walking around gray landscapes while occasional cutscenes play and some scattered, boring puzzles in the subsequent 2-3 hours.

I was ready for a deeply disturbing, weird ride through a hyperealized moment in Russian history with surreal visuals throughout with bitting commentary on faith and society.
Instead I got a total of 10 minutes of slightly interesting cutscenes, some
Annoying unskippable minigames, and classic atheist fedora tipping reddit-fodder “Jesus bad” messaging.

Yea i couldn't push through it , walking sims are the only thing i refuse to play or pay for atleast Death Stranding as a terrible game that it was there was combat and an empty , souless world to explore.

This game takes the number one spot for the worst entry in video game history for me.

[Jedimindtrickonyou]

Originally posted by -=🗲Offence🗲=-:

Originally posted by Poe:

Not sure what I was expecting. I love experimental indie games, especially those with inspired settings like Indika, but after 3 hours I closed the game and just watched the game and story explanation on YouTube.

Firstly, the price is too high for the length. This should be priced around $15. $20 at max. People might rebut that the graphical quality, animation, art design, etc. justify the price — but no one would have minded if the game was 1/2 the graphical fidelity with double the length or a bit more variety in gameplay.
For a “Hold the W-key simulator”, the game is inappropriately priced.

Secondly, the performance is quite bad and stuttery. I’m on a 4090 with a 7800x3D and even after devs added a shader compilation step in a post-launch patch, the game just chugs whenever you hit a new area. Again, for a 3-5 hour long walking sim, this is pretty inexcusable.
This game didn’t need to be made on Unreal using advanced shadow, lighting, and rigging. For a heady indie game about traveling a snowy sh!t hole waste land with surreal visuals, was the usage of Unreal necessary?

Finally, the world doesn’t really do anything with its settings. You get the memey person jumping out of the nun’s mouth scene within the first 30 minutes and after that you’re just walking around gray landscapes while occasional cutscenes play and some scattered, boring puzzles in the subsequent 2-3 hours.

I was ready for a deeply disturbing, weird ride through a hyperealized moment in Russian history with surreal visuals throughout with bitting commentary on faith and society.
Instead I got a total of 10 minutes of slightly interesting cutscenes, some
Annoying unskippable minigames, and classic atheist fedora tipping reddit-fodder “Jesus bad” messaging.

Yea i couldn't push through it , walking sims are the only thing i refuse to play or pay for atleast Death Stranding as a terrible game that it was there was combat and an empty , souless world to explore.

This game takes the number one spot for the worst entry in video game history for me.

I mean, I wouldn’t have minded a bit of combat, I think it would have improved the game. But the artists had a different vision and I still think they made something novel and interesting, that provokes a lot of thought if you play the whole game.

[invision2212]

buying a game to only then watch someone else play it instead is definitely a Gen-Z thing lmao

[Jedimindtrickonyou]

Originally posted by invision2212:

buying a game to only then watch someone else play it instead is definitely a Gen-Z thing lmao

I agree with that, we didn’t do that type of thing back in my day (and still don’t now).

[The Alchemist]

Originally posted by invision2212:

buying a game to only then watch someone else play it instead is definitely a Gen-Z thing lmao

I refunded it.

[Jedimindtrickonyou]

Originally posted by Poe:

Originally posted by invision2212:

buying a game to only then watch someone else play it instead is definitely a Gen-Z thing lmao

I refunded it.

They mean that older gamers would rather play games, as they are meant to played rather than watched. If a game is bad enough to refund, then it’s not necessary to watch it afterwards.

[cults]

Next time you play a game that makes no sense whatsoever, maybe you'll be able to tell that someone is trying to confuse you long enough that by the time it's too late to refund it, you have to convince yourself and everyone else that it was a deep and intelligent game, or else you have to admit that you're a dummy who got swindled out of 30$ and 5 hours you should have spent throwing the ball to your son.

Cognitive dissonance: the mental disturbance people feel when their beliefs and actions are inconsistent and contradictory, ultimately encouraging some change (often either in their beliefs or actions) to align better and reduce this dissonance.

The bit minigames aren't time wasting, meaningless and pointless, they are "surprising and delightful!". The giant animals and tiny people running out of a nun's mouth aren't insulting your intelligence and meaningless evocative imagery, they are an allegorical and "A Mind-Bending Religious Experience"!

In a way, it's kind of the message of the game to begin with; realizing that it was all a lie and that you're all alone in a cold wasteland. That no matter how much you shake the pot, it's all empty and everything you got out of it was pointless. The powerful demon is imaginary, it's you making it up to preserve your sanity as someone is taking advantage of you.

Not the first game that exists only to make a fool of the player, but this one was refreshingly honest about it.

If you want a game that has a good message and is actually skilled at incorporating humor/absurdity/allegory in-between the philosophy discussions, try any Hideo Kojima game, No More Heroes, Yakuza.

[The Alchemist]

Originally posted by jedimindtrickonyou:

Originally posted by Poe:

I refunded it.

They mean that older gamers would rather play games, as they are meant to played rather than watched. If a game is bad enough to refund, then it’s not necessary to watch it afterwards.

It’s necessary if you want to simply know the story but don’t feel it’s worth paying $30 for it.

Sorry - what is your point?

[Jedimindtrickonyou]

Originally posted by cults (they/them):

Next time you play a game that makes no sense whatsoever, maybe you'll be able to tell that someone is trying to confuse you long enough that by the time it's too late to refund it, you have to convince yourself and everyone else that it was a deep and intelligent game, or else you have to admit that you're a dummy who got swindled out of 30$ and 5 hours you should have spent throwing the ball to your son.

Cognitive dissonance: the mental disturbance people feel when their beliefs and actions are inconsistent and contradictory, ultimately encouraging some change (often either in their beliefs or actions) to align better and reduce this dissonance.

The bit minigames aren't time wasting, meaningless and pointless, they are "surprising and delightful!". The giant animals and tiny people running out of a nun's mouth aren't insulting your intelligence and meaningless evocative imagery, they are an allegorical and "A Mind-Bending Religious Experience"!

In a way, it's kind of the message of the game to begin with; realizing that it was all a lie and that you're all alone in a cold wasteland. That no matter how much you shake the pot, it's all empty and everything you got out of it was pointless. The powerful demon is imaginary, it's you making it up to preserve your sanity as someone is taking advantage of you.

Not the first game that exists only to make a fool of the player, but this one was refreshingly honest about it.

If you want a game that has a good message and is actually skilled at incorporating humor/absurdity/allegory in-between the philosophy discussions, try any Hideo Kojima game, No More Heroes, Yakuza.

Wow, Indika really hurt you. You sound like someone who needs a hug.

[cults]

Originally posted by jedimindtrickonyou:

Originally posted by cults (they/them):

Next time you play a game that makes no sense whatsoever, maybe you'll be able to tell that someone is trying to confuse you long enough that by the time it's too late to refund it, you have to convince yourself and everyone else that it was a deep and intelligent game, or else you have to admit that you're a dummy who got swindled out of 30$ and 5 hours you should have spent throwing the ball to your son.

Cognitive dissonance: the mental disturbance people feel when their beliefs and actions are inconsistent and contradictory, ultimately encouraging some change (often either in their beliefs or actions) to align better and reduce this dissonance.

The bit minigames aren't time wasting, meaningless and pointless, they are "surprising and delightful!". The giant animals and tiny people running out of a nun's mouth aren't insulting your intelligence and meaningless evocative imagery, they are an allegorical and "A Mind-Bending Religious Experience"!

In a way, it's kind of the message of the game to begin with; realizing that it was all a lie and that you're all alone in a cold wasteland. That no matter how much you shake the pot, it's all empty and everything you got out of it was pointless. The powerful demon is imaginary, it's you making it up to preserve your sanity as someone is taking advantage of you.

Not the first game that exists only to make a fool of the player, but this one was refreshingly honest about it.

If you want a game that has a good message and is actually skilled at incorporating humor/absurdity/allegory in-between the philosophy discussions, try any Hideo Kojima game, No More Heroes, Yakuza.

Wow, Indika really hurt you. You sound like someone who needs a hug.

I watched like 15 minutes of it at 3x speed. I stopped caring as soon as I saw that it asks you to fill the bucket 5 more times after the 1st time, skipped to the end, skipped the nonsensical dream sequence, saw a man zipping up his pants, skipped ahead to the meaningless mirror ending.

The fact that you immediately went into damage control personal attacks rather than call me out on not playing the game shows I got it 100% right. It was all so pointless that you can skip all of it and still be correct. I set you up and you fell for it.

You played yourself.

[cults]

Also the fact that all you got to say in defence of a game you spent 5 hours playing is a 1 sentence, low-effort sh*tpost shows how deep of a spiritual and philosophical experience it truly was.

You clearly don't care that much, it clearly didn't affect you that much; you just can't admit you got swindled.

[invision2212]

Originally posted by cults (they/them):

Originally posted by jedimindtrickonyou:

Wow, Indika really hurt you. You sound like someone who needs a hug.

I watched like 15 minutes of it at 3x speed. I stopped caring as soon as I saw that it asks you to fill the bucket 5 more times after the 1st time, skipped to the end, skipped the nonsensical dream sequence, saw a man zipping up his pants, skipped ahead to the meaningless mirror ending.

The fact that you immediately went into damage control personal attacks rather than call me out on not playing the game shows I got it 100% right. It was all so pointless that you can skip all of it and still be correct. I set you up and you fell for it.

You played yourself.

All you are doing is showing everyone how much of a child you are. Go watch some more game videos instead of bothering others.

[cults]

Originally posted by invision2212:

Originally posted by cults (they/them):

I watched like 15 minutes of it at 3x speed. I stopped caring as soon as I saw that it asks you to fill the bucket 5 more times after the 1st time, skipped to the end, skipped the nonsensical dream sequence, saw a man zipping up his pants, skipped ahead to the meaningless mirror ending.

The fact that you immediately went into damage control personal attacks rather than call me out on not playing the game shows I got it 100% right. It was all so pointless that you can skip all of it and still be correct. I set you up and you fell for it.

You played yourself.

All you are doing is showing everyone how much of a child you are. Go watch some more game videos instead of bothering others.

Oh look, still no argument. I am not the one who is bothering, you are the one who is bothered. Because if I'm right, that means you were swindled. Cognitive dissonance dictates that I must be a bad guy that's here to attack you, when all I've done is criticise a video game on a video game forum.

I think you need to do some growing up so you stop feeling personally attacked when someone criticises a game you played and stop feeling the need to lash out like a child instead of writing something intelligent.

[cults]

Would you say I was bothering gamblers if I went on the forums of a casino and criticised the owners of the casino for robbing people? You would realize that I have nothing but the highest respect for the gamblers and that I am trying to hold the thieves accountable, to alert everyone that not only is this casino rigged so that the house always wins, but any establishment where this sort of activity happens can only be the exact same trick.

The fact that you are this much in cognitive dissonance about your bad purchase, and the 12 hours that you wasted playing a terrible game, that you mistake a friend for a foe could not make it clearer that this is an open and shut case of grand larceny.