Indika” Review: A Deep Dive into “The Devil Makes Three

Indika is a stunning psychological journey that deals with religion and its associated complex themes.

By Jake Dekker

Twitter: @jacobdekk on May 1, 2024 at 7:00AM PDT

Defining Indika is challenging. While its appearance may suggest a horror game, it’s not conventionally frightening. It plays like a third-person puzzle game, but most puzzles don’t require excessive thinking. Ultimately, Indika is a compelling psychological exploration of faith and doubt, brilliantly upheld by incredible visuals and sophisticated writing. Occasionally, its ambitions may seem a bit far-ranging, but the developer Odd Meter’s venture into tackling such profound themes and its confident exploration are considerably commendable.

The protagonist is Indika, a nun who hears a demonic voice in her brain and traverses a nightmarish version of 19th-century Russia to deliver a letter. Primarily, gameplay involves moving from one point to another, solving a few puzzles, and viewing cutscenes. Still, within these tasks are moments of introspection and self-realization. Along the journey, she encounters an escapee, Ilya, who insists God speaks to him. What follows is a nuanced exploration of faith and skepticism, love and hatred, and pleasure and suffering. Both characters believe in the same God, yet rather than presenting a believer against a nonbeliever, Indika investigates the space between two interpretations of the same belief. Odd Meter, due to this specific focus, can explore Christianity’s different shades and scrutinize how the same texts, rituals, and prayers can be interpreted differently.

These frequent philosophical exchanges could have easily come off as overwrought or self-indulgent, but all these musings are in service of the characters and their development over the course of the story. For example, Indika tells Ilya she joined the convent of her own volition, but because her decision was fueled by emotions and experiences that were out of her control, can she really say she became a nun through her own free will? Ilya challenges this notion, and declares that free will is how we rise above our biological dispositions. Reflective conversations like these are key to Indika’s character as she grapples with her faith and attempts to make sense of her life.

It helps that Indika is portrayed by the fantastic Isabella Inchbald, and Louis Boyer embodies Ilya with equal confidence. There’s a raw authenticity and conviction to their performances that bring both characters to life. You can hear the fear and doubt in Indika’s voice and the desperation and hope in Ilya’s. Meanwhile, Silas Carson’s portrayal of the devil is humorous, sadistic, and cordial in his demeanor as he deftly narrates the action. While the writing and acting are great, they are occasionally undermined by awkward animations. Sometimes the action will look a bit too robotic, or dialogue won’t quite sync up with a character’s mouth. These are minor issues overall, but sometimes it was just enough to take me out of a scene.

Nevertheless, Indika is one of the most visually arresting games I’ve ever played. Developer Odd Meter uses framing, color, and lighting to achieve a look and feel that is rarely seen in games. Wide-angle shots often distort Indika’s facial features and warp the background to give the experience a voyeuristic feel. The framing, meanwhile, consistently impresses as it accentuates the action and world. In one section, after being chased by a wolf the size of a truck, the beast takes a tumble and wedges itself in a water wheel. What follows is a subdued conversation between Indika, Ilya, and the devil in her head about whether or not a beast can be sinful, as the camera tracks the dead wolf being dragged underwater by the water wheel. It’s a macabre scene given the context alone, but the stylistic choices allow the tone to meet the moment more effectively than a standard shot/reverse shot conversation would.

Rather than pitting a believer against a nonbeliever, Indika explores the space that exists between two interpretations of the same faith.

These options aren’t merely decorative. They represent the daring, sometimes shocking creative choices that embody Indika’s internal angst as she journeys across Russia. In some instances, the world, at least from Indika’s viewpoint, divides in half. In such moments, an unsettling and discordant synth commences as a hellish red light pervades. By praying, Indika can reshape her environment and curb the turmoil. To advance, you – and by association, Indika – need to dismantle and amalgamate her world, alternating between her noisy hell and her peaceful reality. This adds depth and significance to Indika’s gameplay, exploiting the themes of faith and doubt, although such moments are infrequent.

However, the game’s puzzles don’t always mirror this theme. Most are basic and unimpressive: shifting some boxes, operating a crane, and tactically aligning lifts and elevators. In the game’s early stages, these puzzles make sense, introducing you to Indika and her regular lifestyle. But as the game progresses, these bland puzzles begin to feel incongruous with the storyline as Indika grapples with her faith, especially when some puzzles allow you to rip the world apart, while others require simple box-shifting.

Given these flaws, you might think this story would be better represented by a film or a book. Intriguingly though, Indika fully appreciates her medium. The game boldly uses gaming conventions to amplify its themes. You get points for acts of faith like making the sign of the cross at key moments, igniting altars, and gathering religious scripts. These points can be used to unlock abilities that maximize the points Indika can receive. However, these points mean nothing. The loading screens even announce their uselessness. They don’t have any perceptible worth; they only superficially quantify Indika’s faith.

Notwithstanding, I didn’t want to bypass any of it. I ignited each altar, assembled each script and repeatedly hit the sign-of-the-cross button at every chance. Gamifying these aspects seems ludicrous, but making Indika perform all these actions while she constructs an arbitrary “faith” score amidst her faith-crisis is ingenious. My past is defined by religion. I used to attend church every Sunday and went to Catholic school. There was a distinct phase when I was reconsidering my beliefs, yet I couldn’t let go of certain ingrained rituals. This persistent guilt could only be eased by going through the routine. Indika seems to be using the language of video games and my preconceived knowledge to reinforce her feelings of faith and doubt. The game narrates a nun’s internal turmoil as she grapples with her faith and latches onto ritualism – a story that is expressed powerfully through the player’s actions.

Although Indika is adept at elaborating on its themes of faith and uncertainty, there is one area that the game doesn’t tend to with the nuance it merits. Specifically, there’s a scene near the close of the play where it broaches an unsettling subject that might appear undue, subject to your interpretation of the narrative and its underlying themes. Until this point, the malice in the world seems elusive and theoretical. Indika and Ilya contemplate hell and demons, but always in a far-off sense, as if a divine force is safeguarding Indika throughout her quest. This enduring belief is thrown off-balance in the game’s closing scenes, which hint at a sexual assault. The scene serves to test Indika’s faith but seems to be utilized as a narrative utility rather than a topic that the creators, Odd Meter, wanted to delve into thoroughly.

Considering the notorious history of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church, its significance within Indika is comprehensible. Nonetheless, the theme isn’t treated with the required care. The scene and the subsequent narrative are aimed at evoking a range of emotions and conjectures. However, the immediate reactions that stem from such a traumatic experience seem unmerited. The game seemingly intends for the player to progress rapidly, which seems out of place in a narrative that otherwise meticulously handles delicate themes. To give credit where it’s due, Odd Meter doesn’t entirely mishandle this scene. Atrocities often provide the sternest tests of faith, and the developers were wise not to include the actual assault in the narrative. But once the scene wraps up, Indika appears to rush towards its end, leaving the player grappling with understanding what transpired.

I often find it irksome when game creators exploit religious symbology without delving into the tenets of faith in a meaningful way. The world’s most revered works of art bear relation to religion as expressions of it, affirmations of it, or rejections of it. Human history is intrinsically associated with religious belief. Nevertheless, with only a few exceptions, games seem to circumvent commenting on religion without concealing it behind fabricated doctrines and fanciful deities. Indika’s direct scrutiny of Christianity enables a deeper exploration of the ambiguous aspects of religion and faith. These are often overlooked when authentic particulars are replaced with symbolic fiction. Despite occasional lapses in execution, the game’s readiness to confront these complex themes and the insights it draws make Indika a compelling journey.

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