Indika, the darkly comic story of a young nun in a surreal world, is out now
Nun Simulator XIX
You might assume that Indika will be dour, given that it's a story-driven game about a nun in a grey, cold, alternative Russia. Then you watch its trailers and find surrealist imagery, genre-hopping, and a bleak sense of humour are part of its arsenal, and suddenly it seems, to me, irresistible.
It's out now.
I love this trailer, and several of its previous trailers. Well done, trailer editor.
Edwin spoke to the co-founder of developer Odd Meter, Dmitry Setlov, late last year, who explicitly described Indika as "boring", even as it's shot through with what Edwin described as phantasmagorical flourishes.
But if Indika's atmosphere of melancholy and perversity channels anything, it's Odd Meter's anger and grief for Russia under Vladimir Putin's regime. Once based in Moscow, the studio emigrated to neighbouring Kazakhstan during the opening months of the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with some team members leaving individually while others moved as part of an organised relocation. Putin's mobilisation of recruits in September 2022 made it important to act swiftly to avoid being called up. Odd Meter team members have also fallen foul of the authorities while taking part in street protests against the government, but Setlov says the studio weren't seriously concerned about being mass-arrested.
I know, I know - in what week is there not the release of a grotesque, photoreal, third-person nunlike inspired by the works of "Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Pasternak"? EA have annualised their entry in the genre. And yet I felt it was my duty to alert you that this one specifically has been released.
You'll find Indika on Steam for £18.89/€22.49/$22.49.