A game as unclassifiable as it is diabolical, Indika has just been released and invites us to travel in the shoes of a nun haunted by the devil.
A psychologically tormented young woman goes through a long and phantasmagorical journey as she searches for herself. No, it’s not about Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 that we are talking to you about. Although the Viking game is also coming out soon, it is another title, no less intriguing, which has our full attention today: Indika. A Russian independent game (produced by a studio in exile) including the unique strangeness fascinates.
Indika sets its story in an alternative 19th century Russia. The young nun who gives her name to the game is then frowned upon by her religious community. For what ? Well, she would tend to chat with the devil in his spare time, which is not very pleasant. Cinema and its Christian horror films (the latest being Immaculate) have accustomed us to the fact that nuns sometimes maintain close relationships with the Evil One. But Indika renews this kind of story by offering here a disturbing and unusual satire.
I met the devil
The border between horror and black humor in Indika seems blurry. Despite its esoteric starting point, the game tends to deal with many serious topics (faith, relationship with death, mental illness) with a resolutely ambiguous tone. Using a certain sense of unease and a destabilizing staging, Indika is also intended a striking aesthetic experience.
Although we travel in a realistic Russia (and which we have rarely seen depicted this way in a game), the slightest advance can tip us into the grotesque or frightening. Here, the devil is literally in the details and it counts with our senses to make us doubt what surrounds us, reinforcing the delusional and paranoid atmosphere. Indika is clearly a tragicomedy steeped in Slavic culture (claiming the biting tone of the works of Dostoyevsky and Bulgakov), but does not abandon the modernity of his medium. He promises to build his narrative on his game design, while playing with his codes to destabilize.
Sister Act 3
Even if Indika is especially close to a walking simulator to the Hellblade Or Plague Tale (which are excellent games), it also aims to surprise throughout by completely disrupting its form at certain moments (and for the sake of the experience, we will not reveal anything more precise here). In any case, certain mechanics of its gameplay serve to satirize its religious universe or to produce anxiety in a unique way. In short, the game is colorful.
The frenzied quest of this young nun named Indika is well worth the detour, if only for encourage the production and distribution of original works in the video game industry. Whether for its atmosphere, its astonishing mechanics or its strange story, there are many reasons to let yourself be tempted… by the devil.
“My nuns in my profile”
Indika is undoubtedly one of the most atypical games of this year 2024 and it is already available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series and PC since May 2, 2024.
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