Games that promise to make players face complex morality questions aren’t uncommon, but the ones involving religion and the devil himself are less prevailing. Indika is going to tackle many ethical standards by putting you on the shoes of a young nun who embarks on a self-discovery journey, with the devil as the companion inside her head. The short demo we could play revealed the potential for ambiguous choices and conflicting paths, supported by many surreal and psychedelic moments capable of making you wonder what is truly going on.
Devil Nun
A story-driven experience at heart set in alternative Russia of the late 19th century, Indika may seem heavy on the religious tones but isn’t doing it as a way of preaching to the player. More of a plot device than a means of passing any moral message, it’s a game where horror and hallucinations go hand in hand with the discovery of the thin line between reality and madness.
The few chapters available to try highlighted the goal of putting characters front and center, as Indika escorts an injured captive to safety. There’s not the greatest context to this part of the journey, somewhat skipping the start of the adventure, but there will be no shortage of trials during this brief period.
Indika’s struggles with the devil are shaped by this voice in her head, her morals often questioned and tempted by the evil one. Exploring derelict villages under a heavy snowstorm is part of the soul-seeking journey, carrying ladders around to reach other places and trying to solve puzzles that seem to offer a nice sense of balance so far. This is a resourceful young nun, capable of climbing and running, a physical prowess that will come in handy when she gets chased by a hell hound in nerve-wracking but apparently overly scripted sequences.
One clever touch was spotted when Indika is on the brink of madness, committing the sin of opening a letter that isn’t addressed to her, making the devil literally tear apart a large room, thrusting the player into an alternate hellish dimension. Praying serves as the glue that brings her back to reality and holds the place together, allowing her to find her path in something of a twisted puzzle room. Switching between the two planes shatters and repairs the room in ways that may allow you to access different platforms, so there’s this need to observe your surroundings and understand where you must go to finally reach the door on the other side. The fiery red palette, the blasting voice of the devil, and the strange chiptune music create this hellish segment that is definitely a haunting one, and contributes to a clever puzzle section that hopefully we’ll see more of in the final version.
Other sections will require some scouring of the environments to realize where we should go. From pushing carts, to solving a resourceful iceberg balance puzzle allowing you to reach higher places, these pieces provide an interesting break from the frequent dialogues.
Chases seem to be a regular gameplay mechanic, at least during the demo, and while exciting, there was a heavy focus on what appeared to be scripted events and predefined paths. For now, there doesn’t seem to exist any room for exploration or improvisation, your only chance of survival being to discover the right path by trial and error, which felt a little underwhelming, and nothing like the excitement brought by the relentless chases of Outlast 2.
Being such a character-driven experience, the contrast between the realistic visuals – although seemingly drenched in steampunk fantasy – and this retro videogame user interface is glaring and somewhat cryptic. The soundtrack ranges from chiptunes to bombastic techno pieces, and there’s no sign of any HUD elements cluttering the screen apart from an experience counter on the top left corner. Yes, this game has a very basic experience system with levels and abilities such as guilt and repentance, mostly about earning more experience points, quite unexpected given that this game couldn’t be farther from your traditional RPG template. This feels so much out of place in Indika, perhaps deliberately so, as to make us wonder what we are actually experiencing while donning the habit of this nun, and something that only the complete journey may end up explaining.
Whispers of the Devil
There’s no denying that Indika strives for a fairly unique setting with an emphasis on the surreal and the moral ambiguity. Some scenes thread a fine line between what’s real and what’s an hallucination, and the death of a ravenous dog creature is as good an example as any to debate on whether they are to blame for their instincts or just acting out of survival, as any human would equally do.
This small taste of the devil’s whispers left us wanting more, yearning to see how this nun is going to fight the sweet talk of this entity who seems to make some very grounded points, ramping up the moral debate. And who isn’t up for a game that makes you reflect on some of the grander controversies in life?
MP1st was given access to a preview build of Indika for our hands-on session. Indika is launching for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S in Q1 2024.