Indika 11 Bit Studios

Indika review: The least enjoyable game you have to play

Originally posted on Video Games on SI
By Georgina Young | Last updated Jan 17, 2025 7:00 AM ET

Indika isn’t a video game you will enjoy playing. One of the first things you are tasked with is walking up a hill to a well, filling a bucket with water, walking back down the hill, and filling up another receptacle. You do this five times, and it is just as tedious as it sounds. Later puzzles have a similar feeling of banality, and the only reward you get is the game’s progression. You should definitely play it.

The titular Indika is a Russian nun who is having a crisis of faith. It’s immediately obvious that the other nuns at the monastery aren’t fond of her, which isn’t helping her decide what’s right and what’s wrong. Should she base her morals on what she’s been taught from those older and possibly wiser than her, or should she trust her logic and her gut?

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Indika’s job of delivering a letter is soon sidetracked when she meets an escaped convict, Ilya, who believes his dying arm will be healed by a blessing from a holy object, the Kudets. Indika travels with him, hoping that the Kudets will rid her of the intrusive thoughts that cause her to question her morality. These thoughts appear as the devil on her shoulder. If it’s moral for a starving dog to steal scraps to survive, why is it immoral for a human to do the same?

‘Moral’ actions are gamified. Indika tells you that the points you get are pointless, and yet keeps count in the corner of the screen. For every religious token you find, you will be given gold coins, and you’ll lose them for ‘immoral’ acts. It gamifies morality in a way that echoes real life. Whether you call it karma or good deeds, people have a tendency to see themselves as better than others if they do more ‘good’ actions than ‘bad’. Indika asks you to forget black and white and look at the world through shades of beige.

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Every scene is filled with surreal imagery and retro scenes that explain Indika’s past and how she came to the monastery. The surreal nature means that it’s difficult to know what is real and what is a dream or flashback. Dissecting every part of the imagery would take multiple playthroughs and deep knowledge of religious iconography, but even without that, it’s a game that keeps you thinking.

Indika isn’t a game you will enjoy playing, but you should do it anyway. Whether you agree with it or not, it will ask you to question the status quo, who has the right to judge others or decide right from wrong. Video games can be a form of escapism, a power fantasy, or mindless fun. Indika isn’t that. It’s something you won’t understand right away. It’s one you’ll want to discuss with others after you finish. It’s one that could change your worldview.