The third person camera part was really interesting. I interpreted it as though she's watching herself through the lens of how others view her. All of her actions are being scrutinized, and the player is almost being a stand-in for the idea of God judging her every move. It's almost a performance of self.
You don't play as Indika, you play as the Devil trying to corrupt her. Indika is indeed possessed: by the player. The only way to win this game is by repeating the "pointless" tasks which lead to nowhere gameplay-wise, which in turn will bore the player, which in turn will lead the payer (devil) to leave Indika alone. But if you keep playing, Indika loses. The same identical meta-narrative was used in the movie Funny Games. The only way for the characters in that movie to be saved was to stop watching. In the end of that movie the 2 villains even make fun of the viewer for actually watching the movie in its entirety.
Deltarune already did that. No, that's not a praise, the whole ''the true villain it's the player itself'' it's bullshit. You expect me to feel guilty for making my character life miserable because that's how the game works? Who's the one that made the game like that, me or the you? (refering to the developer) I mean it, this meta shit it's bullshit, why can't I have a game when I play as a legit motherfucker without any redemption qualities? What's wrong with that?
The english voices are so clean, no stutter or hesitation, the russian dialogue is so raw, I advise anyone to play with it, even if that means reading subtitles.
i really don't understand why people dislike reading subtitles so much. it makes no sense to me. imo it's much worse when games/movies are dubbed. watching leonardo dicaprio talk in spanish is really immersive, no lie lol same thing here, english just feels off and out of place.
growing up in an orthodox country, these visuals instill both dread and a sense of nostalgia in me. almost makes me wanna go to church, buy a candle for 40 cents, light it from another candle, set it into a little iron cup, bow my head and cross myself ( forehead to right to left to stomach , of course), then unbow my head, then...
@@tacopig7605 Hinduism, Christianity, Islam all of them were created inorder to gain control over the masses by a small group of people who self-appointed themselves as the worshippers of God.
i didn’t grow up playing video games myself, so it can be really hard for me to enjoy playing them because im not quick enough. I mostly enjoy watching essays or play throughs of horror games specifically. Indika caught my eye and was the first game i played 95% myself (my bf helped me through tuff spots lol) and i was absolutely hooked. I can’t even be mad it wasn’t longer because it was such a unique and contained experience. as a filmmaker i was also so blown away by the camera work, it really had its own language that was perfectly crafted for the world and its story. As a woman raised in a strict religion i felt so seen by this game on every level, still so blown away months later by all the dedication to detail.
To add, it has superb Russian voice over which is usually not the case. I didn't try English one though but if you pick Russian one (I don't know, to dive deeper) you're gonna love it!
For me, as a native speaker I found the bbc narration more filmic. I liked Indikas Low Russian country speak, because of the character, but everyone else was off. Who ever translated the game, made the translation more literary.
I went into this game with the understanding that it was basically “Hellblade except you play as a nun in 1800s Russia”, and while it undoubtedly was its own thing, I still see a lot of interesting overlap between the two games. Both games feature the protagonist learning to accept and embrace their demons, but the context in which they each do so completely changes the takeaway the player has. For Senua, she’s fought through her own crucible and has come out a powerful warrior, strong enough to slay the gods themselves. Meanwhile, Indika is left alone with the understanding that everything she was taught as a nun was pointless and that there is no salvation waiting for her at the end of her path. She ends up lower than she started, left to suffer the consequences of the decisions that she chose - not the Devil, not God, her alone.
Duncan, this is such an incredibly thorough and insightful analysis of the game! Thank you so much for taking the time and effort to dive so deep into it and share your thoughts with your audience. It truly means a lot to us! 💛
One of the most interesting games I've played in a long time. One of the first 'missions' is literally a chore- plain drudgery, that ends up being completely meaningless. You are told very quickly that it's not a 'rescue the princess' kind of game. I love the pixel art, and the mechanics of the 'devil voice' puzzles. It's all so...crafted. Deliberate, and well done.
Hot take: ain't nothing wrong about feeling you're being watched and judged. As long as you realize that the one watching and judging is yourself. You're anxious, because you yourself believe that what you're doing is wrong. You judge yourself and you hate yourself, you hate your judgement of yourself and you hate the self that is judging you, you hate every part of you. Realize this, realize it's ok to not be perfect, realize it's ok to improve, realize the judgement is self-help. Accept the imperfect self, accept criticism of the imperfect self.
This is such basement bargain bin "I'm my own god" garbage. Everyone judges themselves as right and thats where atrocities comes from, its the easiest thing in the world to rationalize your own evil as good, especially since without God there is no objective moral standard, there is only your personal preference. The only way there is a "SHOULD BE" is if there is an authority above us all that imparted what should be. This is like a criminal investigating themselves and finding they've done nothing wrong.
@KevinGeneFeldman Ah, yes, because there are no, and absolutely never have been any of the following: a) moral atheists b) evildoers who commit atrocities, and excused their own evil as 𝕵𝖚𝖘𝖙 and 𝕮𝖔𝖗𝖗𝖊𝖈𝖙 and 𝕲𝖔𝖔𝖉 acts in accordance with The 𝖂𝖎𝖑𝖑 𝖔𝖋 𝕲𝖔𝖉™ There is no objective moral standard, with god, or without, unless you simply mean his morals specifically, which I doubt you would understand even if he personally told you, which he hasn't. Surely there never have ever been any wars about what people though those morals of his were supposed to be. But whatever those morals actually are, I'm pretty sure leading war against fellow brothers under God isn't one of them. Objective my foot. Besides, it's not like I'm excluding others from judging me. Be it God, or Buddha, or random strangers on the internet, I'm ready to accept their valid and reasoned criticisms of my imperfect self.
@@KevinGeneFeldman The _"objective moral standards"_ of the Abrahamic religions are extremely barbaric by today's standards, though. We don't need a God to qualify what's morally _"good"_ and what's morally _"evil."_
@@Omar_Al_Seddik Yes you do need a God, what are you deriving morality from? You can't appeal to an objective moral goodness if there is nothing to define it. Are you defining it by your preference? Everyone's preference is different. Are you defining it by flourishing? Whose flourishing and WHY would that be good? You see you're assuming there is something called good that SHOULD be applied but you can't source anything that backs that up. What is good and evil? and who says so?
Great video! Love the idea that the stilted/weird gameplay is helping to put you in the character’s shoes, more games should explore the medium like that.
I played a very weird indie game more than 10 years ago. It was a twist on red riding hood where you played different versions of RRH and inevitably always ran into the wolf… it was very eerie and strange. I wish I could remember the name.
@@GameThoughts Good luck if you choose to play it. It's a huge, dramatic, surreal, depressing, fascinating, rabbit hole. It's also incredibly unforgiving.
Lets not forget another facet of the religion/games thing: You play games even if they are pointless (just like collecting pointless points). Doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. As long as it gives your live meaning and something to do, do it. Just don't be a freak about it.
I'm really glad there are yt channels promoting Indika, definitely needs more recognition, this is pure art and creativity, as I understand the creator was raised in this kind of Russian orthodox environment and this game represents a way to channel his emotions, thank you for this Games are the 8th art
I think you could also relate the whole Devil thing as part of a mental illness and at the same time as Indika rationalizing her inner thoughts about faith and reality. In the final section where you shift to first person I interpret it as Indika fully embracing her rational thoughts over blind faith, after the worse thing happens to her there's no god left to believe in, she was betrayed by everyone and instead of double down she breaks the cycle. This of course is not a happy ending because seeing reality has it's own perks.
Assumes if it does mean “embracing rational thoughts over blind faith,” Embraces rational thoughts as in embracing rational ideas that’s going on inside your own head? or also it includes ideas and influence from many other people, whom “rational thoughts” we believed are rational? What constitutes “rational thoughts” or what can be rational exactly? Ideas or moments of insights into the meanings of thoughts are also ‘invisible’ anyway, wouldn’t that meant your beliefs in what youve always thought as being “rational” can also be “blind”? How possibly can you know moments when your “rational thoughts” may failed? It makes no sense seeing anyone as capable of fully “embracing rational thoughts” over “blind faith,” these are wishy washy conclusions
Faith and Reason are not Mutually Exclusive. Literature like Father Brown makes this clear. It's only Protestant Fundamentalist that commit this error. And no. Religious People can be intelligent and see Reality. They do not exist in some different plane nor are they mentally Ill like what Radical Atheist try to mock.
@@meaningofreason *Rational* _adjective_ based on or in accordance with reason or logic. _"I'm sure there's a perfectly rational explanation"_ Rational thought must follow the rules of logic, doesn't matter where that thought comes from. And there is nothing of faith in rational thinking.
Absolutely Agree!! Truly wonderful video for a far more insightful game than on first appearance! ...It's funny how heretical I feel espousing praise for a great succinct comment, wonderfully passionate video, and richly themed game... but I'm here for it! Have a Great Day
Huh. I was just about to comment that I had to stop watching because of the music, before I came to the comments to see if anyone else had mentioned it. The music was way too distracting, loud, and generally weird sounding. It was like there was two different Transformers movies and an Apex Twin album all playing at the same time in the background, while I was trying to focus on what ol' mate was saying.
omfg i'm usually good with just watching random game summaries and leaving it at that, but you 100% convinced me to play this. i love games with beautiful cinematography/design and weird vibes lol
In RPS there is a long interview to the director Dmitry Setlov where he speaks about his own experience in being raised in a devout orthodox family and being forced to leave Russia for being an opposer to Ukraine invasion... And how those things are connected and represent a main theme in Indika. It's hard real life stuff for a real "adult" game that sticks so much to his guns to pledge part of its earning to an Ukranian children relief fund.
Very well done video! I'll take your advice and play the game before spoilers. But I'll add this: I've discovered how much _playing the game_ affects the depth of your understanding of the story. This is what I'm most fascinated by game narratives vs any other (passive) narrative medium. And a game that forces you to go through the meaningless mundane tasks of being in a religious institution seems to me as the epitome of gameplay mechanics deepening your religious (??) experiences - which is the point of a spiritual retreat or monastery. (I really need to start a video essay channel of my own... Channels like yours are so inspiring and encouraging.)
Hahaha thank you Kiki!! I'm really grateful for the support you've given me recently, and I can't wait to see where you go with your journey into games. 😊🎮
Oh hey, I think it’s time for me to write my second comment on your UA-cam channel :) I’ll actually add an incident related to this very game; I was at my friend’s place a couple of weeks ago, & we were just chilling, when suddenly my friend wanted to show a new game he’s been playing, to me, & it was this one, Indika, lol- I watched him play-through the game for himself, & I wouldn’t have figured out that it contained so much depth & work being put into it, now I feel like checking out the game for myself, I’ll definitely do so. I loved your video, just like the last one, you’re super good at this; I love the way you narrate through your video, & everything feels so well constructed. Funny thing, I’d like to point out though, I cracked up in laughter when I saw that thumbnail, Also, Yes. Me & my friend both called it “Nun Simulator” back then, as well, haha, & it’s definitely weird 😂 I love indie games. We love indie games. ❤
@@Garnilator i think we're getting used to AA or AAA games being formulaic, and indie games being experimental, that's probably the reason of the confusion.
@@Rihcterwilker Yup! You're right. What makes an independent team "indie" is not how much money they don't have. It's about where the money comes from. "An indie game refers to a video game developed and published independently by individuals or small studios without significant financial backing or support from major publishers." So, it can still be a publisher. But most AA and AAA studios have multiple backings from significant sources like shareholders and whatnot. (Teams upwards of 100 people working on a project can still be deemed as independent if they got backing through crowdfunding, personal means, or from minor publishers.)
But isn’t the developers distain for Christianity and religion in general a flaw in the game because it’s imposed on the player? I get that people have doubts and pious people can be unscrupulous but why then do we have to assume everything is a lie?
I actually think one of the game's biggest flaws is how unbalanced it is in its conversation about religion, but then again, I think that's part of the point. Thanks for watching!
They're not mü'slims (translation: saviours) bro. They're mean. Aal-e-Imran 3:159 فَبِمَا رَحْمَةٍ مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ لِنتَ لَهُمْۖ وَلَوْ كُنتَ فَظًّا غَلِيظَ ٱلْقَلْبِ لَٱنفَضُّوا۟ مِنْ حَوْلِكَۖ فَٱعْفُ عَنْهُمْ وَٱسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ وَشَاوِرْهُمْ فِى ٱلْأَمْرِۖ فَإِذَا عَزَمْتَ فَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى ٱللَّهِۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يُحِبُّ ٱلْمُتَوَكِّلِينَ So by mercy from Allah you were lenient with them. And if you had been rude and harsh in heart, they would have disbanded from about you. So pardon them and ask forgiveness for them and consult them in the matter. And when you have decided, then rely upon Allah. Indeed, Allah loves those who rely.
It is often said that worshipers should be left to their lifestyle and beliefs because it beings them comfort; if you agree with that then you should be fine with the narrative regardless of whether you are one and if you don't agree with it then you should also be fine with it regardless of whether you are one.
Im so glad that Indika has gone beyond the Russian-speaking community. This is really a game that many people should experience. For me personally it's a strange mix of nostalgia and not so pleasant memories, because up until a certain point my family were very religious Christians, and so many details in this game are familiar to me from my childhood, but they also remind me of some of the negative or scary things I was taught (like not questioning God's actions, but accepting everything he does)
Hoping to see this one pop off too! Great video. Death Stranding still holds the spot for me. It's insane for so many different reasons. Plot is crazy, lore is crazy, gameplay is crazy, and Kojima is Kojima.
Funny, I was just commenting that nuns and their position are often portrayed negatively or mocked in media, just yesterday. It's practically a trope at this point. It's also pretty vanilla. I mean, if someone made a game about an Muslim woman struggling with the oppression she faces and having a crisis of faith, THAT would be bold, new and interesting to me. That's not to say that there's no merit to this game of course, I just find the religious theme pretty generic and played out. But to be fair I haven't played it, so I could be judging to harshly.
Truly, show this to your spiritual father so we can work on getting our bishops to condemn this game, let Indika be Anathema (the Devs of the game and everyone involved.)
@@RizaLazar dude thats not at all what I meant, you cannot fight hatred with more hatred, you have to love it into redemption, there is a place for a game like indica in the kingdom of heaven as a causaneary tale. the problem we are all facing is a lack of love, love your enemies love your friends and love God, there is a good reason God maintains this game in existance because the stuff that are expressed in the game are some that we are all facing in our daily lives. The only possably unrealistic part for me is portrayng the nuns as unloving but that is posably taken from the faithfull who embody the stereotype.
Thanks for the video, I'm going to stop at the end of introduction and come back when I've played the game. Great work with guiding viewers to want to play it, certainty worked on me.
I think it is important to mention that the Russian original of the word "Devil" does not really correspond with the Devil in Catholicism and instead means a lesser evil goat-like spirit. So it is not some grand Anti-God deity but a trickster who gets pleasure from sowing chaos and confusion
“when have you ever seen a nun running around?” idk man i think like every single time i’ve been around nuns, they love soccer and basketball and would challenge the boys at my college and destroy them
The weirdest game I've played was Killer7. I expected it to be out there after playing No More Heroes, but this was a far weirder animal. The story felt like I was experiencing a bad dream; I couldn't understand exactly what was going on, but I felt the world getting darker. Even the gameplay was off beat, switching from an on-rails third person adventure to an FPS when fighting the Heaven Smiles.
Trauma. A heavy topic for all of us. When executed right, it's a heavy message the public is afraid to speak out. Why does it feel like I'm seeing an Indie version of "Hellblade 2: Senua's Sacrifice"? Well, the psychological aspects it invokes...
I was truly excited about Indika and got it day one. Though as want to love it, I was very disappointed. There are definitely cool things in the game, and the first hour is tedious in a funny way. Though after this, it was actually tedious and unfun. The "crazy" part is only present in the first 20min, then a tiny bit at the end. I pushed through, hoping for a pay off eventually. After the (kind of nice) epilogue though, I was mostly glad because I was done with this game. I think the issue was the marketing promising a quirky and surprising game. The game is a bit crazy indeed, but while the dialogues are nice, it's 90% walking and tedious puzzles.
My favorite odd duck of a game is Hohokum. I literally can't describe the gameplay to people. It's just.... uh... touch stuff and sometimes it does stuff? It's a charming, relaxing game to play, and the visuals and audio are delightfully unique, not to mention an easy game to zone out and get lost in for a while.
The strangest game I ever played was with some friends, we were trying out some of the cheap/free games on the PlayStation store whilst hanging out and stumbled across this little puzzle game. We just thought it'd be a laugh, but then the game had this underlying narrative about this couple meeting and then splitting up, with the puzzles being a metaphor for the building and then crumbling of their relationship. It was all incredibly well voice acted and written and I can't remember what it was called now, lol.
The weirdest game I've played is probably clash: artifacts of chaos. Such an unique and bizarre world full of strange creatures and characters with a pretty original combat system. Pathologic 2 is also a contender, you should check these out if you didn't know about them, both very good indie games imo.
I think the strangest game I've ever played is an indie game called Kentucky Route Zero. It features a bizarre narrative that's like a cross between an episode of The Twilight Zone and a dream. But when I saw it through to the end, I found that it was an incredibly meaningful experience. It's very rare to play a game that tackles themes like the oppressive nature of debt and the meaning of life. I played all the way through Indika and found it fascinating. For me, one of the most curious things about it was how unsatisfying the ending was, and it was clearly done that way on purpose.
I know a lot of folks resonate with cynical breakdowns of religion, but I grow weary of it. I'd love to see an indie game that takes an opposite approach, where the life of a monastic is not portrayed as pointless and cyncial, but deeply rooted and a source of love, light, and healing. There is more to religious experience than simply the negative potentials of it.
The way you set the stage in your videos is legendary. I'm definitely taking notes every time I watch a video of yours for my own stuff. I'm curious how a game like Indika came across your radar? I've never heard of it before this video. I will be checking out this game thanks to you. I love how you spun the games weirdness as creativity point in it's favor, as well as it's commentary delivered through video game mechanics. Also missed opportunity to put fall guys music over the gameplay in 1:41.
Hahaha Ryan, thank you! I can't actually place where I saw the trailer for this game, but it sat on my wishlist for too long before I pulled the trigger. Hahahaha Indika skin in Fall Guys when???
It s really good game, I would say it s too short, but still i love it, very artistic and metaphoric, to me the main idea is that many of us thinks that to change our lifes some miracle gotta happen and we wait for it instead of changing ourselves towards life we want, plus we all are under constant influence of other people and it happens to somehow shape, how we think about ourselves
Love the analysis and very MUCH LOVE this game. I immediately got the message during the well activity. A very meta-commentary on both religion and belief, and connecting that to how we as gamers think we've figured out the mechanics of what video games should be. But throws out all the tropes we've associated ourselves when we play games, and yet it IS also very video game-y in their clunky moves and even soundtrack.
Curiously, this game presents one of the main problems we protestantes have with catholicism: the taught that our works are capable of "buy" our salvation, and not only the work of Christ in our lives.
except that's also how protestants work, especially in the US. to a more extreme degree, even. pay your tithes to the megachurch or Jesus won't save you.
@@KolyaUrtz It's one of the feel-good excuses that they have towards Apostolic Churches. Meanwhile, a pastor's helicopter lands on his megachurch and the Lutheran priestess has her sermon about current politics as her surroundings burn around her.
It's been a long time since I've been as pumped for a game as this one. Thank you for the breakdown, and for warning me where to cut off to not get any real spoilers. I'm fairly broke, living on disability payments here in Norway, so I'm waiting for this month's payments to arrive and then I'm gonna buy and play the shit out of this game! Great video and an amazing breakdown of the game!
Very well done essay and I'm quite happy to have found it! :) You just got another subscriber my dude! 🤙 I actually listened to a podcast called Something Rotten talk about this game very recently and I'm glad to have another person repping the game!
@GameThoughts Blake Hester is in every episode too and they're both awesome xD I'm definitely looking forward to getting to sit down and go through your older videos too, keep it up!
When I heard of Nun game I immediately thought that it was going to be the overdone trope of the evil nun or an exorcist nun. I'm glad that it turned out to be so much than that.
Great analysis! You should do one of these for Inside by playdead. One of the greatest games in the history of gaming, at least by my humble opinion. No voice, no text, just beautiful music and sound fx and your imagination to interpret and give meaning to the story, its like real life.
tbh the weirdest game I've ever played is probably something among the style of sludge life, I mean I have played stanley parable, hotline miami, katana zero (this and the previous have weird storytelling) and some others but the nonsense aspect of sludge life is so good and weird that I love it
You showed up in my algorithm and already planned to play this game at some point, but the way you break down a game and non sexual at all, you have a voice I could just pop on and pass out to ha, You have another subscriber just off this alone, now I'm gunna go watch a couple more videos, see what this channel is all about. Good shit man!
Just one little correction: Jesus doesn't say "Get behind me Satan" to the devil in the desert, but to Peter when he says to Jesus that he will never let him being killed in Jerusalem, anyway the resemblance is uncanny, great video!
Hope you check out the Giuseppe Garibaldi series they're doing right now when it's finished, a super interesting figure II knew nothing about beforehand.
Once I got to that part with the bucket, that's all I needed to see to know this game is good. So glad I clicked on this, I was passing on this game hardcore, thanks for this.
Using the gameplay for narrative purposes really should be a given, it's essentially the videogame's substitute for cinematography. Peculiarly, the only other game I've seen do such a thing -that I can think- of is Cry of Fear, with its symbolic relative difficulty and tedium. The lake sequence is in my opinion the peak of this; they give you an unconventionally long sequence where the only gameplay is rowing, rowing, rowing, with nothing but water sloshing and subtle choral music. Simon is reflecting, and you will too. (CoF is like 20 hours of free game btw so play it - just don't pick Hard difficulty)
You’re so right, I feel like a lot of mainstream studios forget that games don’t have to be movies. There’s so much you can do with the medium *because* it’s interactive but there are so few games that really make use of that interactivity.
I was going to watch this video and then I read the comments only to find out that the game is super anti-Christian. It's sad that anti-Christian people don't realize it isn't the religion that's evil but the people who raised them and treated them poorly while claiming to follow the religion. These caretakers were supposed to be compassionate. God will treat them justly for the grave evil they have commited.
Yeah, I can appreciate the craftmanship, but I'm already fed up with the mainstream liberal progressive opinions trying to pass as subversive. I would welcome more REAL diversity in gaming. Diversity of opinions, diversity of worldviews, diversity of perspectives. Not skin color and sexuality.
@@INRamos13 Fr, it seems deep to people who've never actually explored religion from an unbiased stand point and boils down to "if God real, why bad thing happen?"
That would be Ezekiel - You can hear it here: ua-cam.com/video/HYLiFMnwTrU/v-deo.htmlsi=2JAs_Df48ulEJXYj&t=1665 It's a banger - Mike Sabadash did an incredible job with this game!
I'm Orthodox and I won't be playing this game. Nothing more scrutinized than true Christianity. Especially in the lap of modern amenities, we see no reason to learn the meaning of suffering, we just avoid it for as long as we can and then die a meaningless death.
There is enough suffering in this world even with modern amenities. Suffering just for the suffering is meaningless. Try help others to reduce someone's suffering, its gonna be hard and honest work. Christ would love it for you. And this game is about pointless activities, following strict rules and all for nothing. This game is about orthodox Church as an institution made by humans, not about God or faith. So as an orthodox you are probably offended about the wrong thing.
@@beth_m_666The Orthodox Church is a Church founded by Christ and traced back from apostolic succession through the saints and early Fathers its remained the only Fulfilled Church because orientals, coptics split off early and catholics later on these 3 institutions betray the Truth for their opinions like catholicism modernizing although the coptics and orientals are close they miss the mark
Omg this will be definitely be use for inspiration for my future projects! Thank you guys for pointing out these small details! The developers are genius!
The third person camera part was really interesting. I interpreted it as though she's watching herself through the lens of how others view her. All of her actions are being scrutinized, and the player is almost being a stand-in for the idea of God judging her every move. It's almost a performance of self.
@@tsufen8032 yes, and at the very end we switch to first person, it's very interesting
You don't play as Indika, you play as the Devil trying to corrupt her. Indika is indeed possessed: by the player. The only way to win this game is by repeating the "pointless" tasks which lead to nowhere gameplay-wise, which in turn will bore the player, which in turn will lead the payer (devil) to leave Indika alone. But if you keep playing, Indika loses.
The same identical meta-narrative was used in the movie Funny Games. The only way for the characters in that movie to be saved was to stop watching. In the end of that movie the 2 villains even make fun of the viewer for actually watching the movie in its entirety.
wow I didn't know about that film, which means taht I saved the family
@@Anonymouse007 A true hero
Deltarune already did that.
No, that's not a praise, the whole ''the true villain it's the player itself'' it's bullshit. You expect me to feel guilty for making my character life miserable because that's how the game works? Who's the one that made the game like that, me or the you? (refering to the developer)
I mean it, this meta shit it's bullshit, why can't I have a game when I play as a legit motherfucker without any redemption qualities? What's wrong with that?
I'm surprised you didn't mention how the world is twisted and scenery is weirdly big. Almost as if Indika felt like she didn't belong there
The english voices are so clean, no stutter or hesitation, the russian dialogue is so raw, I advise anyone to play with it, even if that means reading subtitles.
No...hesitation with the English? Lol what? What does raw Russian mean? I guess I'm too dum to udnerstand this commint..
@@michaelhaydenbell There are raw emotions contained within russian localization which are missing from the translated one. Is that clearer?
i really don't understand why people dislike reading subtitles so much. it makes no sense to me. imo it's much worse when games/movies are dubbed. watching leonardo dicaprio talk in spanish is really immersive, no lie lol same thing here, english just feels off and out of place.
Dicaprio russian dub is better than eglish(for russians)@@thehunterx93
@@thehunterx93 some people are dyslexic hunter
growing up in an orthodox country, these visuals instill both dread and a sense of nostalgia in me. almost makes me wanna go to church, buy a candle for 40 cents, light it from another candle, set it into a little iron cup, bow my head and cross myself ( forehead to right to left to stomach , of course), then unbow my head, then...
☦️
Do it. Christ is in our midst
@@tacopig7605 Hinduism, Christianity, Islam all of them were created inorder to gain control over the masses by a small group of people who self-appointed themselves as the worshippers of God.
Now THAT’S scary!
And then pass gas….just let it rip
i didn’t grow up playing video games myself, so it can be really hard for me to enjoy playing them because im not quick enough.
I mostly enjoy watching essays or play throughs of horror games specifically. Indika caught my eye and was the first game i played 95% myself (my bf helped me through tuff spots lol) and i was absolutely hooked. I can’t even be mad it wasn’t longer because it was such a unique and contained experience. as a filmmaker i was also so blown away by the camera work, it really had its own language that was perfectly crafted for the world and its story.
As a woman raised in a strict religion i felt so seen by this game on every level, still so blown away months later by all the dedication to detail.
What an awesome comment, I'm so glad the game spoke to you like that. Thanks a lot for watching 😊
To add, it has superb Russian voice over which is usually not the case. I didn't try English one though but if you pick Russian one (I don't know, to dive deeper) you're gonna love it!
For me, as a native speaker I found the bbc narration more filmic. I liked Indikas Low Russian country speak, because of the character, but everyone else was off. Who ever translated the game, made the translation more literary.
@@vvvorlds Well, I guess you don't have to like what I liked :) But I can't agree on "everyone else was off" part
Wow. A religious doubt simulator!
From Russia with love!
I went into this game with the understanding that it was basically “Hellblade except you play as a nun in 1800s Russia”, and while it undoubtedly was its own thing, I still see a lot of interesting overlap between the two games. Both games feature the protagonist learning to accept and embrace their demons, but the context in which they each do so completely changes the takeaway the player has. For Senua, she’s fought through her own crucible and has come out a powerful warrior, strong enough to slay the gods themselves. Meanwhile, Indika is left alone with the understanding that everything she was taught as a nun was pointless and that there is no salvation waiting for her at the end of her path. She ends up lower than she started, left to suffer the consequences of the decisions that she chose - not the Devil, not God, her alone.
Duncan, this is such an incredibly thorough and insightful analysis of the game! Thank you so much for taking the time and effort to dive so deep into it and share your thoughts with your audience. It truly means a lot to us! 💛
Thanks so much for the kind words! 😊
One of the most interesting games I've played in a long time. One of the first 'missions' is literally a chore- plain drudgery, that ends up being completely meaningless. You are told very quickly that it's not a 'rescue the princess' kind of game. I love the pixel art, and the mechanics of the 'devil voice' puzzles. It's all so...crafted. Deliberate, and well done.
I’m sorry but this game isn’t bad on purpose, it’s good… on purpose. It’s very good on purpose.
He needs the clickbait to get his paycheck. That's how UA-cam works, sadly.
@@Omar_Al_Seddik
I would not have clicked this video without this title.
The title is well-chosen.
As if the creator of this video wanted to question what is good and what is bad...
Hot take: ain't nothing wrong about feeling you're being watched and judged. As long as you realize that the one watching and judging is yourself. You're anxious, because you yourself believe that what you're doing is wrong. You judge yourself and you hate yourself, you hate your judgement of yourself and you hate the self that is judging you, you hate every part of you.
Realize this, realize it's ok to not be perfect, realize it's ok to improve, realize the judgement is self-help.
Accept the imperfect self, accept criticism of the imperfect self.
You acknowledge yourself of your own flaws to overcome them and defeat them, not to accept them
This is such basement bargain bin "I'm my own god" garbage. Everyone judges themselves as right and thats where atrocities comes from, its the easiest thing in the world to rationalize your own evil as good, especially since without God there is no objective moral standard, there is only your personal preference. The only way there is a "SHOULD BE" is if there is an authority above us all that imparted what should be.
This is like a criminal investigating themselves and finding they've done nothing wrong.
@KevinGeneFeldman Ah, yes, because there are no, and absolutely never have been any of the following:
a) moral atheists
b) evildoers who commit atrocities, and excused their own evil as 𝕵𝖚𝖘𝖙 and 𝕮𝖔𝖗𝖗𝖊𝖈𝖙 and 𝕲𝖔𝖔𝖉 acts in accordance with The 𝖂𝖎𝖑𝖑 𝖔𝖋 𝕲𝖔𝖉™
There is no objective moral standard, with god, or without, unless you simply mean his morals specifically, which I doubt you would understand even if he personally told you, which he hasn't.
Surely there never have ever been any wars about what people though those morals of his were supposed to be. But whatever those morals actually are, I'm pretty sure leading war against fellow brothers under God isn't one of them.
Objective my foot.
Besides, it's not like I'm excluding others from judging me. Be it God, or Buddha, or random strangers on the internet, I'm ready to accept their valid and reasoned criticisms of my imperfect self.
@@KevinGeneFeldman The _"objective moral standards"_ of the Abrahamic religions are extremely barbaric by today's standards, though. We don't need a God to qualify what's morally _"good"_ and what's morally _"evil."_
@@Omar_Al_Seddik Yes you do need a God, what are you deriving morality from? You can't appeal to an objective moral goodness if there is nothing to define it. Are you defining it by your preference? Everyone's preference is different. Are you defining it by flourishing? Whose flourishing and WHY would that be good?
You see you're assuming there is something called good that SHOULD be applied but you can't source anything that backs that up. What is good and evil? and who says so?
Great video! Love the idea that the stilted/weird gameplay is helping to put you in the character’s shoes, more games should explore the medium like that.
Thanks best friend! Please note for the record i got through this vid without mentioning hunt or dishonored !!
I played a very weird indie game more than 10 years ago. It was a twist on red riding hood where you played different versions of RRH and inevitably always ran into the wolf… it was very eerie and strange. I wish I could remember the name.
The Path?
The Path.
Pathologic 2 is everything you described in the end. Definitely worth a deep dive.
Oooh thank you, I'll give it a look! 👀
@@GameThoughts Good luck if you choose to play it. It's a huge, dramatic, surreal, depressing, fascinating, rabbit hole. It's also incredibly unforgiving.
@@GameThoughtsPathologic 2 is such a treat, playing it is like if Russian literature tried to beat you up
Lets not forget another facet of the religion/games thing: You play games even if they are pointless (just like collecting pointless points). Doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. As long as it gives your live meaning and something to do, do it. Just don't be a freak about it.
I wish I was smart enough to think of that. Thanks for watching!
Anything that truly helps a person isn't useless. Entertainment, leisure, and hobbies have their place, even for religious people.
Nah man, it decays your rational and moral faculties *by design*. Good is good irrespective of it, or despite it.
I'm really glad there are yt channels promoting Indika, definitely needs more recognition, this is pure art and creativity, as I understand the creator was raised in this kind of Russian orthodox environment and this game represents a way to channel his emotions, thank you for this
Games are the 8th art
If A24 were to start making video games I'd imagine this is what they would be making
I think you could also relate the whole Devil thing as part of a mental illness and at the same time as Indika rationalizing her inner thoughts about faith and reality. In the final section where you shift to first person I interpret it as Indika fully embracing her rational thoughts over blind faith, after the worse thing happens to her there's no god left to believe in, she was betrayed by everyone and instead of double down she breaks the cycle. This of course is not a happy ending because seeing reality has it's own perks.
Assumes if it does mean “embracing rational thoughts over blind faith,” Embraces rational thoughts as in embracing rational ideas that’s going on inside your own head? or also it includes ideas and influence from many other people, whom “rational thoughts” we believed are rational? What constitutes “rational thoughts” or what can be rational exactly? Ideas or moments of insights into the meanings of thoughts are also ‘invisible’ anyway, wouldn’t that meant your beliefs in what youve always thought as being “rational” can also be “blind”? How possibly can you know moments when your “rational thoughts” may failed?
It makes no sense seeing anyone as capable of fully “embracing rational thoughts” over “blind faith,” these are wishy washy conclusions
@@meaningofreasontruth
Faith and Reason are not Mutually Exclusive. Literature like Father Brown makes this clear. It's only Protestant Fundamentalist that commit this error.
And no. Religious People can be intelligent and see Reality. They do not exist in some different plane nor are they mentally Ill like what Radical Atheist try to mock.
@@meaningofreason *Rational*
_adjective_
based on or in accordance with reason or logic.
_"I'm sure there's a perfectly rational explanation"_
Rational thought must follow the rules of logic, doesn't matter where that thought comes from. And there is nothing of faith in rational thinking.
Your narration, editing and music choice really encapsulated the eerie and odd vibe of Indika. Stunning video for a stunning game!
Wow, thank you so much for the kind words!
Absolutely Agree!! Truly wonderful video for a far more insightful game than on first appearance!
...It's funny how heretical I feel espousing praise for a great succinct comment, wonderfully passionate video, and richly themed game... but I'm here for it! Have a Great Day
@@e.b.1279 What a lovely comment.
Thank you! Have a wonderful day too! 🦀
Huh. I was just about to comment that I had to stop watching because of the music, before I came to the comments to see if anyone else had mentioned it.
The music was way too distracting, loud, and generally weird sounding. It was like there was two different Transformers movies and an Apex Twin album all playing at the same time in the background, while I was trying to focus on what ol' mate was saying.
Absolutely my favorite game this year. Loved the story, the music that fits awkwardly, and the characters. Great vid, man!
Thank you !! 🙌🙌
omfg i'm usually good with just watching random game summaries and leaving it at that, but you 100% convinced me to play this. i love games with beautiful cinematography/design and weird vibes lol
Hahaha, thanks for watching! Hope you enjoy the game 😊
In RPS there is a long interview to the director Dmitry Setlov where he speaks about his own experience in being raised in a devout orthodox family and being forced to leave Russia for being an opposer to Ukraine invasion... And how those things are connected and represent a main theme in Indika. It's hard real life stuff for a real "adult" game that sticks so much to his guns to pledge part of its earning to an Ukranian children relief fund.
Very well done video! I'll take your advice and play the game before spoilers. But I'll add this: I've discovered how much _playing the game_ affects the depth of your understanding of the story. This is what I'm most fascinated by game narratives vs any other (passive) narrative medium.
And a game that forces you to go through the meaningless mundane tasks of being in a religious institution seems to me as the epitome of gameplay mechanics deepening your religious (??) experiences - which is the point of a spiritual retreat or monastery.
(I really need to start a video essay channel of my own... Channels like yours are so inspiring and encouraging.)
Hahaha thank you Kiki!! I'm really grateful for the support you've given me recently, and I can't wait to see where you go with your journey into games. 😊🎮
Oh hey, I think it’s time for me to write my second comment on your UA-cam channel :) I’ll actually add an incident related to this very game; I was at my friend’s place a couple of weeks ago, & we were just chilling, when suddenly my friend wanted to show a new game he’s been playing, to me, & it was this one, Indika, lol- I watched him play-through the game for himself, & I wouldn’t have figured out that it contained so much depth & work being put into it, now I feel like checking out the game for myself, I’ll definitely do so. I loved your video, just like the last one, you’re super good at this; I love the way you narrate through your video, & everything feels so well constructed. Funny thing, I’d like to point out though, I cracked up in laughter when I saw that thumbnail, Also, Yes. Me & my friend both called it “Nun Simulator” back then, as well, haha, & it’s definitely weird 😂 I love indie games. We love indie games. ❤
Haha thanks so much for the second comment! So glad my videos are resonating with you, and would definitely recommend playing through the game! 😊
It looks pretty high budget to be indie.
This game is not indie at all. It's a relatively small team, but they have their own sound recording studio, motion cap technology, and a publisher.
@@Garnilator i think we're getting used to AA or AAA games being formulaic, and indie games being experimental, that's probably the reason of the confusion.
@@Rihcterwilker Yup! You're right. What makes an independent team "indie" is not how much money they don't have. It's about where the money comes from.
"An indie game refers to a video game developed and published independently by individuals or small studios without significant financial backing or support from major publishers."
So, it can still be a publisher. But most AA and AAA studios have multiple backings from significant sources like shareholders and whatnot.
(Teams upwards of 100 people working on a project can still be deemed as independent if they got backing through crowdfunding, personal means, or from minor publishers.)
It's a AA game.
@@Cooe. Oh, nice! Thank you for the info.
I love this concept.
We need more games that are based on this concept.
Very unique and brilliant.
Portrays the vanity of humans brilliantly
But isn’t the developers distain for Christianity and religion in general a flaw in the game because it’s imposed on the player?
I get that people have doubts and pious people can be unscrupulous but why then do we have to assume everything is a lie?
I actually think one of the game's biggest flaws is how unbalanced it is in its conversation about religion, but then again, I think that's part of the point. Thanks for watching!
@@GameThoughts you’re welcome!
They're not mü'slims (translation: saviours) bro. They're mean.
Aal-e-Imran 3:159
فَبِمَا رَحْمَةٍ مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ لِنتَ لَهُمْۖ وَلَوْ كُنتَ فَظًّا غَلِيظَ ٱلْقَلْبِ لَٱنفَضُّوا۟ مِنْ حَوْلِكَۖ فَٱعْفُ عَنْهُمْ وَٱسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُمْ وَشَاوِرْهُمْ فِى ٱلْأَمْرِۖ فَإِذَا عَزَمْتَ فَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى ٱللَّهِۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يُحِبُّ ٱلْمُتَوَكِّلِينَ
So by mercy from Allah you were lenient with them. And if you had been rude and harsh in heart, they would have disbanded from about you. So pardon them and ask forgiveness for them and consult them in the matter. And when you have decided, then rely upon Allah. Indeed, Allah loves those who rely.
That's what I was thinking
It is often said that worshipers should be left to their lifestyle and beliefs because it beings them comfort; if you agree with that then you should be fine with the narrative regardless of whether you are one and if you don't agree with it then you should also be fine with it regardless of whether you are one.
Im so glad that Indika has gone beyond the Russian-speaking community. This is really a game that many people should experience.
For me personally it's a strange mix of nostalgia and not so pleasant memories, because up until a certain point my family were very religious Christians, and so many details in this game are familiar to me from my childhood, but they also remind me of some of the negative or scary things I was taught (like not questioning God's actions, but accepting everything he does)
Hoping to see this one pop off too! Great video. Death Stranding still holds the spot for me. It's insane for so many different reasons. Plot is crazy, lore is crazy, gameplay is crazy, and Kojima is Kojima.
Thanks so much! Fingers crossed the aglo is kind to me 🤞🏻 I have DS downloaded and ready to try - I need to set some time aside to start playing it
Funny, I was just commenting that nuns and their position are often portrayed negatively or mocked in media, just yesterday. It's practically a trope at this point. It's also pretty vanilla. I mean, if someone made a game about an Muslim woman struggling with the oppression she faces and having a crisis of faith, THAT would be bold, new and interesting to me. That's not to say that there's no merit to this game of course, I just find the religious theme pretty generic and played out. But to be fair I haven't played it, so I could be judging to harshly.
I picked this up about 2 weeks ago and cannot believe how much I enjoyed it. It is absolutely Wild!
Such a good video, no other words, very thought out
Thanks for the kind words!
Definitely gonna pick this up soon. Was intrigued but you’ve sold me on it
when love dissapears the devil wins.
Truly, show this to your spiritual father so we can work on getting our bishops to condemn this game, let Indika be Anathema (the Devs of the game and everyone involved.)
@@RizaLazar dude thats not at all what I meant, you cannot fight hatred with more hatred, you have to love it into redemption, there is a place for a game like indica in the kingdom of heaven as a causaneary tale. the problem we are all facing is a lack of love, love your enemies love your friends and love God, there is a good reason God maintains this game in existance because the stuff that are expressed in the game are some that we are all facing in our daily lives. The only possably unrealistic part for me is portrayng the nuns as unloving but that is posably taken from the faithfull who embody the stereotype.
Thanks for the video, I'm going to stop at the end of introduction and come back when I've played the game.
Great work with guiding viewers to want to play it, certainty worked on me.
Hope you enjoy it! 😊
I think it is important to mention that the Russian original of the word "Devil" does not really correspond with the Devil in Catholicism and instead means a lesser evil goat-like spirit. So it is not some grand Anti-God deity but a trickster who gets pleasure from sowing chaos and confusion
“when have you ever seen a nun running around?” idk man i think like every single time i’ve been around nuns, they love soccer and basketball and would challenge the boys at my college and destroy them
The weirdest game I've played was Killer7. I expected it to be out there after playing No More Heroes, but this was a far weirder animal. The story felt like I was experiencing a bad dream; I couldn't understand exactly what was going on, but I felt the world getting darker. Even the gameplay was off beat, switching from an on-rails third person adventure to an FPS when fighting the Heaven Smiles.
I'll give this a look! Thanks for the recommendation
Trauma.
A heavy topic for all of us. When executed right, it's a heavy message the public is afraid to speak out.
Why does it feel like I'm seeing an Indie version of "Hellblade 2: Senua's Sacrifice"? Well, the psychological aspects it invokes...
Antichamber is the weirdest puzzle game I've ever played. I still don't know what I just saw in that game.
Incredible as always buddy! Keep up the great work 💪🏼💪🏼
Thank you bud!! Hope you enjoy the game! 😊
added this game to my wishlist. thanks for making a thoughtful non-spoilery review! cheers!
Not at all! Thanks for checking out the video :)
I was truly excited about Indika and got it day one. Though as want to love it, I was very disappointed.
There are definitely cool things in the game, and the first hour is tedious in a funny way.
Though after this, it was actually tedious and unfun. The "crazy" part is only present in the first 20min, then a tiny bit at the end.
I pushed through, hoping for a pay off eventually.
After the (kind of nice) epilogue though, I was mostly glad because I was done with this game.
I think the issue was the marketing promising a quirky and surprising game.
The game is a bit crazy indeed, but while the dialogues are nice, it's 90% walking and tedious puzzles.
My favorite odd duck of a game is Hohokum. I literally can't describe the gameplay to people. It's just.... uh... touch stuff and sometimes it does stuff? It's a charming, relaxing game to play, and the visuals and audio are delightfully unique, not to mention an easy game to zone out and get lost in for a while.
The strangest game I ever played was with some friends, we were trying out some of the cheap/free games on the PlayStation store whilst hanging out and stumbled across this little puzzle game. We just thought it'd be a laugh, but then the game had this underlying narrative about this couple meeting and then splitting up, with the puzzles being a metaphor for the building and then crumbling of their relationship. It was all incredibly well voice acted and written and I can't remember what it was called now, lol.
oh, the skill tree is what has made me love indika, that’s so good
plot twist. WE, the players, are the devil in her head
The weirdest game I've played is probably clash: artifacts of chaos. Such an unique and bizarre world full of strange creatures and characters with a pretty original combat system.
Pathologic 2 is also a contender, you should check these out if you didn't know about them, both very good indie games imo.
so basically a christian senua
I think the strangest game I've ever played is an indie game called Kentucky Route Zero. It features a bizarre narrative that's like a cross between an episode of The Twilight Zone and a dream. But when I saw it through to the end, I found that it was an incredibly meaningful experience. It's very rare to play a game that tackles themes like the oppressive nature of debt and the meaning of life.
I played all the way through Indika and found it fascinating. For me, one of the most curious things about it was how unsatisfying the ending was, and it was clearly done that way on purpose.
I know a lot of folks resonate with cynical breakdowns of religion, but I grow weary of it. I'd love to see an indie game that takes an opposite approach, where the life of a monastic is not portrayed as pointless and cyncial, but deeply rooted and a source of love, light, and healing. There is more to religious experience than simply the negative potentials of it.
The way you set the stage in your videos is legendary. I'm definitely taking notes every time I watch a video of yours for my own stuff.
I'm curious how a game like Indika came across your radar? I've never heard of it before this video. I will be checking out this game thanks to you. I love how you spun the games weirdness as creativity point in it's favor, as well as it's commentary delivered through video game mechanics.
Also missed opportunity to put fall guys music over the gameplay in 1:41.
Hahaha Ryan, thank you! I can't actually place where I saw the trailer for this game, but it sat on my wishlist for too long before I pulled the trigger.
Hahahaha Indika skin in Fall Guys when???
I did a search of the comments and no one... NO ONE (!), not even once (!!!), mentioned Nikolai Gogol, on whose work the game is based.
It s really good game, I would say it s too short, but still i love it, very artistic and metaphoric, to me the main idea is that many of us thinks that to change our lifes some miracle gotta happen and we wait for it instead of changing ourselves towards life we want, plus we all are under constant influence of other people and it happens to somehow shape, how we think about ourselves
Love the analysis and very MUCH LOVE this game.
I immediately got the message during the well activity.
A very meta-commentary on both religion and belief, and connecting that to how we as gamers think we've figured out the mechanics of what video games should be.
But throws out all the tropes we've associated ourselves when we play games, and yet it IS also very video game-y in their clunky moves and even soundtrack.
Curiously, this game presents one of the main problems we protestantes have with catholicism: the taught that our works are capable of "buy" our salvation, and not only the work of Christ in our lives.
Not a christian but protestants are just as full of sin for entirely different reasons based around how salvation works.
except that's also how protestants work, especially in the US. to a more extreme degree, even. pay your tithes to the megachurch or Jesus won't save you.
Works dont buy you salvation. No orthodox or a christian ever said that
@@KolyaUrtz It's one of the feel-good excuses that they have towards Apostolic Churches. Meanwhile, a pastor's helicopter lands on his megachurch and the Lutheran priestess has her sermon about current politics as her surroundings burn around her.
I'm Eastern Orthodox. "Buying salvation" is a catholic thing, and I'm pretty sure it's a strawman at that
Great video, well-written and concise! Can we say that Indika seems like a A24 production but in video game haha?
Definitely has that vibe! Thanks for watching 😊
Another game comes to mind, Who's Lila, a game where you have to control your facial muscles - and maybe even something more.
It's been a long time since I've been as pumped for a game as this one. Thank you for the breakdown, and for warning me where to cut off to not get any real spoilers. I'm fairly broke, living on disability payments here in Norway, so I'm waiting for this month's payments to arrive and then I'm gonna buy and play the shit out of this game! Great video and an amazing breakdown of the game!
Thanks so much! I hope you enjoy Indika 😊
Weirdest game I played was probably Jesus Christ RPG Trilogy. Never finished it though.
Hahaha oh my god, I'm gonna need to look that up for sure. Thanks for watching!
Very well done essay and I'm quite happy to have found it! :) You just got another subscriber my dude! 🤙
I actually listened to a podcast called Something Rotten talk about this game very recently and I'm glad to have another person repping the game!
Oh cool!! I need to check out Jacob Geller's podcast, I'm a big fan of his videos. Thanks for watching and subscribing 😊
@GameThoughts Blake Hester is in every episode too and they're both awesome xD
I'm definitely looking forward to getting to sit down and go through your older videos too, keep it up!
When I heard of Nun game I immediately thought that it was going to be the overdone trope of the evil nun or an exorcist nun. I'm glad that it turned out to be so much than that.
One of my favorite game of the year to be honest. Just so much creativity and great storytelling.
Great analysis!
You should do one of these for Inside by playdead. One of the greatest games in the history of gaming, at least by my humble opinion.
No voice, no text, just beautiful music and sound fx and your imagination to interpret and give meaning to the story, its like real life.
Ive actually touched on that game before. If you'd like to check it out it's linked below
ua-cam.com/video/s7xjZryvWSE/v-deo.htmlsi=0cDfgLaCCtRxMQEQ
Looks like a David lynch movie to me.
Definitely has that feel! Thanks for watching 😊
tbh the weirdest game I've ever played is probably something among the style of sludge life, I mean I have played stanley parable, hotline miami, katana zero (this and the previous have weird storytelling) and some others but the nonsense aspect of sludge life is so good and weird that I love it
You showed up in my algorithm and already planned to play this game at some point, but the way you break down a game and non sexual at all, you have a voice I could just pop on and pass out to ha, You have another subscriber just off this alone, now I'm gunna go watch a couple more videos, see what this channel is all about. Good shit man!
😅😅😅 thank you! Hope you enjoy the content!
Just one little correction: Jesus doesn't say "Get behind me Satan" to the devil in the desert, but to Peter when he says to Jesus that he will never let him being killed in Jerusalem, anyway the resemblance is uncanny, great video!
actually she's psychotic. very different than questioning
if you liked this one, play Scorn. much more thought provoking and trippy
Hope you check out the Giuseppe Garibaldi series they're doing right now when it's finished, a super interesting figure II knew nothing about beforehand.
Noted! Thanks for watching!
Once I got to that part with the bucket, that's all I needed to see to know this game is good. So glad I clicked on this, I was passing on this game hardcore, thanks for this.
Not at all! Thanks for watching
intro quote goes hard 😮💨
its no cruelty squad
If you experienced weird japanese games, weirdly this game felt very normal
Great review, download in progress. Subscribed, by the way.
Thank you so much!! So cool that you vibed with the video that much 😆😊
the developer: its satan
the credits: its the devil
youtube reviewer: its nuanced intrusive thoughts!
Yeah pretty colours and pretty writing, the idolatry is showing 😂 anyways Indika is Anathema and a product of the russian atheist revolution.
ok let's speedrun this game
Using the gameplay for narrative purposes really should be a given, it's essentially the videogame's substitute for cinematography.
Peculiarly, the only other game I've seen do such a thing -that I can think- of is Cry of Fear, with its symbolic relative difficulty and tedium.
The lake sequence is in my opinion the peak of this; they give you an unconventionally long sequence where the only gameplay is rowing, rowing, rowing, with nothing but water sloshing and subtle choral music. Simon is reflecting, and you will too.
(CoF is like 20 hours of free game btw so play it - just don't pick Hard difficulty)
You’re so right, I feel like a lot of mainstream studios forget that games don’t have to be movies. There’s so much you can do with the medium *because* it’s interactive but there are so few games that really make use of that interactivity.
I WANT SECOND GAME OF INDIKA!!!!!!!!!!!!! Its one of the best game ever for me
Might sound normie, but QATHERINE is the weirdest game. Senua's Sacrifice. Of course, there's The Beginners Guide and Stanley Parable.
this inspired me to put it on my wishlist. thanks!
You're welcome! Thanks for watching and I hope you enjoy the game
Playing this game is like listening to Mr Bungle on shuffle
Void Stranger is a really great indie game that you should try if you like weird games.
Thanks! I'll check this out 😊
the game has evil vibes and the messaging is a "fist to the nose" obvious.
aight, if u say so, i believe u
Made by russian atheist who hate the patriarch , checks out
04:18 - I see you are unfamiliar with the 1990 comedy 'Nuns on the Run'.
Post watch review: When Dunc hasn’t read Discipline & Punish or seen Angel’s Egg. Cool video.
You're always way better read than me - I'll look these up! Thanks for watching my dear friend
I was going to watch this video and then I read the comments only to find out that the game is super anti-Christian.
It's sad that anti-Christian people don't realize it isn't the religion that's evil but the people who raised them and treated them poorly while claiming to follow the religion. These caretakers were supposed to be compassionate. God will treat them justly for the grave evil they have commited.
It’s really not
Idk if the game is anti religion, but many of these comments definitely are
Yeah, I can appreciate the craftmanship, but I'm already fed up with the mainstream liberal progressive opinions trying to pass as subversive. I would welcome more REAL diversity in gaming. Diversity of opinions, diversity of worldviews, diversity of perspectives. Not skin color and sexuality.
@@mangobadger What an enlightening response!
@@INRamos13 Fr, it seems deep to people who've never actually explored religion from an unbiased stand point and boils down to "if God real, why bad thing happen?"
What's the song you used at 01:01? I couldn't find it on the soundtrack.
That would be Ezekiel - You can hear it here: ua-cam.com/video/HYLiFMnwTrU/v-deo.htmlsi=2JAs_Df48ulEJXYj&t=1665
It's a banger - Mike Sabadash did an incredible job with this game!
@@GameThoughts Thank you. Love what you are doing with your channel, you inspire me!
I'm Orthodox and I won't be playing this game. Nothing more scrutinized than true Christianity. Especially in the lap of modern amenities, we see no reason to learn the meaning of suffering, we just avoid it for as long as we can and then die a meaningless death.
There is enough suffering in this world even with modern amenities. Suffering just for the suffering is meaningless. Try help others to reduce someone's suffering, its gonna be hard and honest work. Christ would love it for you. And this game is about pointless activities, following strict rules and all for nothing. This game is about orthodox Church as an institution made by humans, not about God or faith. So as an orthodox you are probably offended about the wrong thing.
@@beth_m_666 Thanks for the advice beth_m_666. Before we go down this road, do you think prayer is pointless?
@@beth_m_666The Orthodox Church is a Church founded by Christ and traced back from apostolic succession through the saints and early Fathers its remained the only Fulfilled Church because orientals, coptics split off early and catholics later on these 3 institutions betray the Truth for their opinions like catholicism modernizing although the coptics and orientals are close they miss the mark
great review dude, keep it up
I think the intention is to say that Satan or evil is just your inner monologue.
Thank you! 💛
Thank YOU!
this is cool like the concept of thje Messenger, where you change graphics style at some point
this game looks so interesting though
Apparently you've never seen Nuns On The Run.
Omg this will be definitely be use for inspiration for my future projects! Thank you guys for pointing out these small details! The developers are genius!
She was hallucinating a lot of the time. And it's a great game.
Strangest game i've ever played? Probably Dujanah