INDIKA is an Excellent Example of How Video Games Can Explore the Theme of Faith While Being Designed as an Interactive Movie

If you enjoy independent indie game coverage, consider supporting Indie-Games.eu on Patreon. It helps keep the site independent.

INDIKA takes you through a story of religious self-discovery of the titular heroine, Indika, who is joined on her journey by the Devil himself. This multiply nominated project explores the influence of religion on human life, using the protagonist’s mental state as a means to create complex in-game puzzles. In a conversation with Dmitry Svetlov, the game’s writer and director, Game Developer revealed the creative challenges behind this unique title.

Svetlov pointed out that INDIKA is the result of his long-standing passion for stories that explore human nature. Namely, he emphasizes that INDIKA emerged from ideas that had been with him for years before development even began. Through this project, he wanted to explore how religion, as a powerful social and personal phenomenon, affects the individual.

For Svetlov, the video game is the ideal medium for exploring complex themes like faith and human inner conflict. INDIKA uses the concept of “the game” as a metaphor for the rules of life we follow, waiting for a reward for “winning” and dreading punishment for “losing.” The interactive nature of the video game allowed these themes to be explored in a way that films or books cannot offer, although, as Svetlov says, they are still at the beginning of the journey in utilizing all the possibilities this medium offers.

The puzzles in INDIKA are physical manifestations of Indika’s crisis of faith. The world around her literally falls apart when her inner world is on the brink of collapse, creating confusing and hopeless situations that reflect her state of mind. Furthermore, INDIKA combines a realistic style with pixel graphics elements, especially in depictions of the past. This contrast between the dark present and the bright, joyful past further emphasizes the theme of loss of innocence and transformation. The mini-games, although simple, were chosen to best fit the story being told, without pretensions to depth.

The Devil in INDIKA is not a classic antagonist. He is a part of Indika, her “bad” side that she wants to eliminate, but also a symbol of the inner voice that whispers things she would never dare to say out loud. His presence is shown through shadows and voice, which adds an extra layer of mystery and psychological depth. Svetlov also reveals how his personal experience with religion, especially time spent in a church and women’s monasteries, deeply influenced the creation of INDIKA.

INDIKA is available on PC via Steam and on Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 consoles.