INDIKA

Rarely do games deserve a second chance. My experience with Indika began with the demo which I found generally appealing, a rare instance of an unusual setting, a steampunk Russian Empire seen through the eyes of a nun suffering from a condition reminiscent of the heroine in Senua’s Saga Hellblade. When the full release arrived, I quickly grew weary and refunded it. I appreciated the developers’ effort in crafting an atmosphere of decay, but the prospect of tedious back and forth between locations, clunky mechanics and unremarkable graphics prompted me to abandon the game.
A year and a half later, a key landed in my hands and I resolved to finish it. The second part proved far more engaging. Yes, it remains an interactive cinematic experience. The puzzles are simple and unoriginal and the sole wow moment, a massive crane rearranging monastery walls, felt genuinely striking. The Spasov location, with its gargantuan bells and shafts of sunlight, and the industrial rhythm of the fish factory likewise left an impression. The visual work throughout is impressive.
The story itself follows a typically Russian narrative, a road movie of sorts, in which the characters search not for themselves but for God. It offers a meaningful continuation of Hellblade. The protagonist’s inner voices, rather than haunting with cacophony, amuse with their wickedly sarcastic commentary.
Indika is, in many ways, a charming interactive film, where the paucity of gameplay is offset by pixel art interludes. Yet it also stands as a monument to the Russian game development landscape of the early 2020s, first battered by COVID, then by war, and ultimately brought to completion in Kazakhstan under the wing of a Polish publisher. One can only wonder what the game might have been under different circumstances.
It brings to mind Dostoevsky’s complaints about having to write quickly and abundantly to meet creditors’ demands. "Ah, if only I had as much time as Turgenev or Tolstoy, I would write much better". Perhaps, but some literary scholars argue that Fyodor would have retained his rapid, sometimes ragged narrative style, it was his element. Perhaps Indika too could exist only under such conditions and would be different otherwise.
Regardless, what we have here is an intriguing tech demo for a possible future project. In terms of its chosen setting, the game is genuinely unique and the developers deserve respect. We can only hope to see its further evolution in the years to come.

Indika is a 3-5 hour game with a large, solid nut of a good idea (and a fantastic third act), fleshed out with what I can only describe as padding that may or may not be to your taste.
Contrary to how it appears at first glance, Indika is not really a game about religion - religion is an important motif for sure, and it obviously provides the setting, but it is not the primary driver (as developer and writer Dmitry Svetlow said in an interview: it could have been set in space, or in the wild west, or anywhere; it is a game about a person first and foremost). Truly, the game is a black comedy concerning the titular Indika - a nun in a slightly alternate turn-of-the-century Tsarist Russia - who has absolutely crippling OCD, and how that interacts with her religiosity.
OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder) has a popular reputation for germophobia and extreme cleanliness, but this is just one presentation of it, influenced strongly by our current social norms and taboos. People with OCD suffer from intrusive thoughts - thoughts which distress or disgust them, or some part of their identity - and perform small rituals which, irrationally, they believe mitigate those thoughts. This might be through washing hands, checking locks, or some other task repeatedly, for an arbitrary number of cycles. For religious people, they may suffer blasphemous or obscene thoughts that strike at their faith, which they have little to no control over. In a time before Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, this could be very traumatic indeed.
In the case of Indika, her intrusive thoughts represent themselves as Satan - the lord of flies, the fallen angel, the devil himself - which she tries to temper through continuous use of a rosary (often clenching it so hard it draws blood). But this is all somewhat futile; untreated, her condition reduces her to a pathetic, trembling, endlessly apologising wreck, constantly stumbling around her convent and generally getting in the way, much to the annoyance of her fellow nuns. Her situation is so severe that, on occasion, it manifests as flights of fantasy or even hallucinations - accompanied by some truly fantastic sound design, as if straight out of an Igorrr music video. She is given a task to deliver a letter to a distant monastery, where, inevitably, she gets sidetracked.
The gameplay is somewhat typical for these third-person adventure games, and honestly is somewhat mediocre - between long stretches of 'walking simulator' where various characters have meandering conversations about Big Topics like free will, choice, and faith (which you've probably seen in every other 'arty' game, or in some Tarkovsky film, or some other depressing Slavic literature, etc), there are small and fairly straightforward puzzles, or the occasional flashback sequence/pixelated minigame. These are mostly unobtrusive but come across like something the developers felt they had to put in because Indika is a game, and therefore needs game elements - the exception proving the rule is a sequence near the beginning where Indika must fill a water butt from the well, which was both thematically appropriate, darkly funny, and relatively avant-garde for the genre. At the risk of sounding pretentious, it was a highlight of gameplay (seriously!), instilling a sense of atmosphere while also making a broader, cogent critique, and it would have been nice to see more along those lines, rather than elevator puzzles or the inoffensive but somewhat out of place 'fish over lava' room.
If I wasn't thrilled by the puzzles, nor particularly interested in the fairly surface-level philosophical musings from the characters, one of the strongest things motivating me to continue playing was the devil himself. The voice actor - Silas Carson, in the English version - has done a remarkable job of taking the (genuinely good) writing and making it hypnotic in a way only befitting the big man downstairs; every puzzle where he makes a significant appearance is instantly elevated and exceptional where equivalent puzzles might come across as busywork. Even the rambling about free will, sin, and so on comes across much more compelling and interesting when he lays it out so methodically. Naturally, in a game about a religious person - a person who has taken vows and orders, no less - these monologues fit in beautifully, demonstrating Indika's inner turmoils and obsessions.
Indika's troubles resolve in the final act in a manner so perfect and so thematically appropriate that I am still thinking about it days later - without delving too deep into spoilers, the crisis of faith caused by the realisation of the lie of the kudets reveals just enough for the final consequential reveal, but not enough to tell us how her life will continue. It is such a darkly, darkly, darkly funny moment that you can't help but dwell on it - a moment completely unmatched by many, many other narrative-driven games out there today. For my part: I don't think her troubles have ended. It is a bittersweet relief that she no longer sees herself as an unholy creature, but the trauma she has faced and her aforementioned struggle with OCD is hardly likely to simply end so abruptly, instead carrying on in some other form, perhaps even more tortuous than before. But what do I know? There's so much more that could be said - about the Orthodox church, about organised religion more broadly, about Russian culture, about life itself. There are virtually infinite interpretations for this final act, and it would be a vain effort to try and build all of them - I can only share my strongest (and perhaps most personally-relatable) impression.
If you can get through the filler puzzles, and the somewhat overdone chatter - perhaps lured through by the soft, calculating voice of the beast - you too will enjoy this moment, and maybe it'll stick in your thoughts for a long time after as well.

Unique.
Don't ruin it by reading any more reviews.
Stick it out until the very end. It's not a long game.

This masterpiece made me feel so much... catharsis by the end that I'm genuinely at a loss for words. Throughout this 5 hour adventure, I felt joy, sadness, frustration, hope, uncomfortable, a strange yet comforting sense of closure by the end, I laughed uncontrollably, and bopped countless times to a banger of a soundtrack.
Why there aren't more games like this is something I will never understand... I'm just grateful to now be one of the insanely few but lucky number of players who have been blessed with this unforgettable and life-changing experience.
This is not a game for everyone, but it's everything for some.

This was the most uncomfortable experience I have ever had in the absolute best way possible.

Just finished Indika and damn god what a psycho trip!
I don’t even know if I can recommend it or not.
This game resonated with me, even though it can be ugly, cruel, and very weird.
It’s a walking sym mostly with simple enviro puzzles. And it’s an arthouse story and by a lot.
Not sure if you will fully get the story cause it’s based a lot on Orthodox Church stuff and the everyday life of the USSR.
But I can guarantee, it’s very original. Somehow it reminded me a bit of What remains of Edith Finch.
I truly dunno how to elaborate, other than I liked it.

A Wild, Weird, and Wonderfully Disturbing Gem

It’s been ages since a game made me say, “Okay… what on earth is happening — and why do I love it this much?” Indika grabbed me by the collar with its dystopian charm and never let go. The whole “thinking outside the box” approach isn’t just good — it’s chef’s kiss levels of good. I live for this kind of originality, and Indika delivers it with confidence.

In fact, the whole experience felt like an adventure ripped straight out of classic Russian literature — beautifully bleak, strangely philosophical, and occasionally so absurd that it circles all the way back to brilliant.

I literally played it breathlessly, blinking only when absolutely necessary.

The voice acting? Fantastic. The echo at times? Maybe a bit too excited to join the party. There were moments where it felt like even the walls had something to say.

Spoiler Alert
One moment that absolutely stayed with me is in the fish factory, during the conversation between Ilya and Indika. As the dialogue deepens, the objects around you start growing and intensifying like they’re emotionally invested too. It was such a clever and memorable scene.
End of Spoiler

For maximum immersion, play in total darkness with headphones. Your brain will thank you. Your nerves… maybe not.

Huge thanks to the developers for creating such a strange, atmospheric, and surprisingly touching journey. I truly hope they keep making more games like this: I’ll be there on day one.