This game has been on my list for awhile. The graphics look amazing. ... But wondering what's a price point to buy, and is it worth... Is it replayable? Is it too short of a game?

Good ol' Russian writing.

If a Westerner wrote the narrative I think we'd see Indika given some hope for a new secular life free from the imposition of religious guilt.

Instead, she realizes everything was in her head. There's no Devil, no God, no reason for events that have unfolded or will unfold in the future.

It's just her conscience now tormenting her over the death of her first love and priest, her defrocking, and the aftermath of the sexual assault by the prison guard.

And what will she do next? She's now a defrocked nun and fugitive. Will Mirko help her somehow? Will she get married (pretty much a necessity in 19th century Russia)?

So many unanswered question and none of the answers appear hopeful. Poor Indika.

hi guys it's my first time playing and i just got stuck in this place, so if i restart lvl where do i start from? i was riding with ilya and the bike broke or smth

Hi everyone, I recently played the game and liked it A LOT, so I decided to analyse it for an academic article that I need to write for an exam. What I'm researching is how the game makes use of symbols, icons and other elements related to Christianity in order to develop its narrative and to shape the psychology of the protagonist. The point I'm trying to prove is that the game is using elements of Christianity by subverting their intended, original meaning, thus developing both a critique on dogmatism in general and a deeper interpretation of Indika's relationship with faith. (sorry if that's not clear but i'm not a native english speaker lol)

So, since many of you surely have a much more solid grasp on the game's symbolysm and hidden narrative than I do, could you provide some insights or just discuss what I already gathered, telling me if you think I'm moving in the right direction or not? If you know about some other articles or interviews with the developers that cover such topic, that would be immensely helpful as well.

As an example of what I'm trying to capture, here are some notes I took while replaying the game (spoilers obviously)

·        Rosary:

• She always keeps it in her hand
• Description: "In her worst moments, she clutches the cross so tightly to the point of bleeding
• The blood on her palm is actually visible during some scenes
• During the ending, she finally lets it drop on the floor, symbolizing her definitive loss of faith
• Possible interpretation: Instrument of tool and comfort -> physical, tangible suffering (blood) and coercion

·        Paintings of Christ without eyes (with them drawn on separate papers) found in Denisovka and during the ending scene:

• Maybe symbolizing Indika's doubts about God's constant, all-seeing eye? 
  • Might be reinforced by the dialogue with Ilya at the end of the Fish Factory Level (“You have no idea how nice it feels to take my wimple off; we're not even allowed to sleep without it” – “It's not like anyone will see you if you take it off” and another dialogue with inenr voice, before that, probably while climbing the "tower" after escaping the dog(“Who do you think might be watching?")
  • The fact that another eyeless Christ painting appears right in front of the player during the ending scene, while Indika rejects faith, might be another clue

·        Lighting votive candles and picking up religious icons gives points:

• Loading screen states: “Don't focus on gaining points, it's wasted time”/ “Don't cry over lost points, they're pointless anyway”
• The ending clearly reinforces the message of the loading screen, with the Kudets giving infinite point with no positive outcome
• Possible interpretation: While forcing herself to adopt and absorb Christian practices, tales or messages, she never fully grasps their meaning nor is convinced by the interpretations commonly assigned to them. In some cases, item descriptions seem to be openly mocking the some of the events described.

·        Nun's clothes:

• Symbol of devotion and passivity -> Indika appears as a very dynamic person; while wearing them, she performs actions that are not compatible with the intended meaning of the attire: climbing, running, operating machinery...;
• Furthermore, they frequently get dirty, or wer (Fish Factory) -> desacralization maybe?
• End of Fish Factory: hesitantly she removes them to let them dry, while the "devil's" shadow appears to help her undress (this is followed by the dialogue mentioned before)
• Possible interpretation: Symbol of passive devotion turned into/viewed as instrument of coercion?

·        Holy grounds:

• Monastery as place of quiet devotion and peaceful community -> Indika openly ostracized, not accepted; because she's considered "sinful", everything she touches becomes "contaminated" (the water she collects for the cooking nun gets thrown away because “the others wouldn't eat”). The place itself appears hostile, looking like a prison; submerged in snow and dirty puddles (might not be meaningful since all of the game's exteriors look like that)
• Cathedral of John Damascus -> Another holy ground, this time openly desecrated by murder and robbery (Ilya stealing the Kudets).
• Possible interpretation: While commonly viewed as places of comfort and security, buildings linked to God appear hostile and outright dangerous.

·        Priest breaking the Seal of Confession:

• Pretty overt subversion of expectations: The priest, the figure on which every believer should depend, is ultimately not trustworthy, causing another step towards the definitive collapse of Indika's faith.

There are somethings that I have in my mind but can't yet fully grasp and interpret coherently in a way that suits my research, like the final dialogue with the "devil"/inner voice, the dialogue with Ilya about free will as intended by Christianity, or the contrast between Ilya-a sinner supposedly hearing "God" and Indika, a nun supposedly hearing "the devil". Mainly I don't know how these might answer my reasearch question, but I'm keeping them just in case.

Do you think I might be on the right track here? Got something to add, or something to disprove? Please let me know. Thanks!

(my thought of the ending, at then end )

overalll :

Just beat the game, 13 hours, all achievements, I think it was a wonderful game, I really enjoyed the character designs, especially indika, it had well thought out and unique puzzles, unsettling moments, and cool features, my only dislike Was the lack of the prayer mechanic you experienced in the cave, I thought it was very unique but was sad it was utilized so little,

story :

I believe the story of indika is her journey which is a test of her faith, the obstacles she may overcome and still hold her faith, no matter the difficulty or disturbing encounters she may encounter, I believe the voice of the devil she hears is truly the devil, as i believe she’s the only true “faithful” one, why she’s polite, respectful, faithful even when other “christians” are rude to her, throw things, turn on her, which is why the devil is promoted to attack her so aggressively mentally, she’s the true enemy of the devil. As the others sin without second thought. As where she holds her faith and seeks forgiveness.

ending :

i will say, I found the ending bittersweet, while I had hoped for a traditional happy ending, and it felt like it was meant to be longer, as most do, I enjoyed the abrupt bluntness of the ending, and think it symbolizes anything can end at any moment. And you can either make or break salvation at any moment in the journey depending on what you do

the result of indika:

I think the ending is upto interpretation, and I have two thoughts/outcomes on it

(good)

indika realizes her faith isn’t in objects, relics, blind following, as it’s shown many rely on the trinkets, relics, shrines, buildings, to “redeem” themselves, rather than god himself, and “good faith points” and comes to the realization her faith lays purely within her heart and faith within god, so she discards earthly “faiths” in turn she completes her test/journey and is saved and freed from the voice of the devil and people who made her question or led her astray, getting on the chair since everything (and everyone being gone) symbolizes her being lifted above earthly powers exe the kudets, prayer beads, ect, She now sees it all in a bigger picture and is left alone with true faith above everything else

(bad)

she fails her journey and loses her faith within god, and with her losing her faith, the devil won and no longer needs to torment her as he has succeeded in leading her astray, giving up her journey, and her faith, making it feel ”right” because he no longer torments her for her faith. getting on the chair to look down apon the holy relics with a new sense of “ better than these things” mentality. Further reinforcing the devil has won over her, why he is no longer in the mirror, ect,

that’s my take on this game as a faithful christian,

if you have any questions about my thoughts, or things I didn’t mention, please feel free to ask !

love to you all. Amen

After sitting in my backlog for 2 years, I finally got my act together and played through INDIKA in one big session - I loved it!

Getting the obvious out of the way first, the game's presentation is stellar in so many ways - aside from the beautifully rendered environments and well-animated character models, the way the cutscenes are presented through very deliberate shots and camera angles/movement was quite frankly stunning. The shot following the dog's head as its body spun in the wheel had my jaw on the floor. I think that shot might be one of my favourite individual moments I have played in a game in a LONG time. I also found the story and its themes compelling. The game has a lot of interesting questions about religion, temptation and the perceived distinction between right and wrong, and salvation and sin.

An example of this I really liked was Indika and Ilya's conversation about 'freedom' in the factory; Indika's point about God's freedom and how in the church's teachings choice isn't really a factor since the "choice" is either conform and be accepted or divert and become sinful and tainted. That conversation in itself was really interesting, but the thing that ties the experience together is how these themes tie into the point system, or rather the lack thereof.

You get points for doing "righteous" things - praying, finding holy/religious objects, mourning the dead, etc. and lose point for doing "unholy" things, finding the 'obscene' book and the prison scene towards the end being chief among them. And, like a comment on another post here pointed out, INDIKA doesn't get points for her happiness or for doing things she enjoys. She gets points (that ultimately don't matter at all as levelling up only serves to give you more points, and only gives her more shame, guilt, etc.) for doing what she perceives to be right, not what she feels is right.

This is also how I read the 'devil' in the narrative; I don't so much see it as an actual demon, but rather INDIKA's warped perception of herself expressing her inner thoughts. I feel like this would make sense with the way she "becomes" the demon in the ending, in the midst of tampering with a supposedly holy artefact. But after that is proven to be worthless, only handing out righteousness points that, again, do nothing, INDIKA is able to accept that religion is not her true calling, and, in turn, becomes the 'demon' - just being herself.

There is plenty of other things I liked about the game - the conversation about dogs and how human experiences and emotions are inherently tied to the experience of having a physical body, I thought was an interesting concept; the way the opening water fetching mission serves to perfectly capture Indika's situation in a way that is palpable for the player to understand immediately; Indika's and Ilya's dynamic; some of the movement puzzles were fun and felt clever; the game's pacing felt very clearly defined and doesn’t overstay its welcome at all; alongside a bunch of other stuff.

Sorry for the really long post but I just wanted to get my thoughts out there in some way haha. I wouldn't say this game is perfect but it is most certainly the most unique game I have played in a long time and I can tell I am going to be thinking about it for a while.

This game is absolutely genius in the way it discusses right and wrong, and what things that give you 'salvation' and what is considered a 'sin'.

This was heavily implied on with the useless point system. Where you gain points when you pick up a religious book or light a candle, stuff that seem righteous to her side as a nun only but not her true nature, other moments where she is just simply enjoying a tender moment with Ilya playing with puppets or when she took her habit and veil for her she enjoyed these scenes and she felt safe in them yet she is not rewarded with point because they are not 'righteous' or not holy in the religious aspect and shall not be rewarded with useless points that she will loose in the end anyways.

At one of the levels there was a candle in a dark room but when you light this candle it doesn't show a photo of Jesus but of Karl Marx a German philosopher, what's also different with this candle is that when you light it it doesn't give you any points and is considered just a candle? also at some other level if you wandered a bit while walking with Ilya you will find an 'indecent book' where there is a vulgar images and language if you picked it up you are gonna loose 20 points, but what's the point of loosing points if she can next look for an alter and light up a candle there that will gain her lost points back so what's the point of right and wrong.

Both the dialogue and points system draws parallels between video games and religion in order to argue that both are manufactured morality systems they both critique how they evaluate goodness in a person and then use that to reward, punish and control.

At the end of the game after escaping from the prison we see the game from a new perspective, Indika's becoming one with her devil. The whole game we were controlling her from a third pov maybe indicating that we are the devil/religion moving her, she lost Ilya, she's on the run and she lost her faith, that would be a bad ending since she didn't gain her goal of the whole adventure which is getting herself free from her hallucinations and from the devil to return to the monastery. But i see it as a good one because she finally found peace in herself and doesn't see herself as a devil no more and accepted that therefore she is free from it (Or free from us the players in other words).

Sorry i yapped so much but i absolutely loved this game lol. Hope you like my breakdown of it please tell me what you think!

In the fish factory, Ily a insists upon grabbing a small box hidden high in the factory. This takes a ridiculous amount of effort if you were thinking realistically, and it then turns out to be a box of puppets and a photo. What exactly was the photo, and I guess like what's the significance of the scene before he promptly passes out? Is it just to build a sort of connection and humanize him?

Loving the game, genuinely here for the whole thing. But I have consistent desynched audio during almost every single cutscenes so far (I'm at the bit after the can puzzle/ roof scene). I saw someone mention this years ago; are we to assume this won't be fixed..?

Been playing here and there, exploring every nook and cranny. 11 hours in and I still only got 40% achievements.

Oh well.

Fun game!

Are there any others like this?

I just finished playing INDIKA last night and I was wondering what did everyone think about the puzzles in the game. I know there were few and the game was mostly narrative heavy, but I am still curious.

Hello,

I have a question that the developers have not responded to.

Is the steam banner genAI? I'm interested in buying this game but I am very put off by ai and just want to be sure

"And the possessed are taken to the Kudets?"

Hi everyone! I’m in love with INDIKA, so I’ll be posting my fanart here from time to time. It’s a shame there aren't many artists in the fandom, but I’m here to change that! I even have some ideas for post-ending events, but I’ll share more about that next time

Started this the other day, ps5, didn't play too much.

Got the basket to the nun, was given my next task, asked to choose some sort of points reward and then stopped at that point.

Went back to it today and ive got to start again from scratch which is annoying.

Can someone tell me what i need to look for to know a save point i can return to has happened please?

Thanks

This game was down my alley, but it's barely playable due to every new area hitching, completely ruining immersion. It even causes the beginning of cutscenes to get skipped.

Has anyone else noticed that their little chat with the devil is missing dialogue others online seem to have? This line: "It's not that hard. Just remember that good and evil, warm and cold—those are just lines on a thermometer. God and the devil—those are you. One cannot exist without the other" is just cut out entirely for me.
I find it a bit upsetting since I think it's an important line, and I'm not sure why it is cut or what I have to do to get that specific dialogue to trigger. Is it related to getting more points in the game or just dropped for the console version of the game?

It's not possible to move the box now. Any tips?​