ℹ️ - Why INDIKA Needs A Photo Mode
Developer: Odd Meter
Publisher: 11 bit studios
Platform: PC, PS5, Xbox X|S
Initial Release: 2nd May 2024
Video games are art, this much we already know, but it's fair to say that some games are more deliberately a work of art than others. While many are made to top the sales charts and others to push the cutting edge of graphical technology, there are games that exist mainly to make an artistic statement. To embody the vision of their creators.
That's just what you get with INDIKA from Russian developer Odd Meter. After fleeing their homeland to be able to finish making the game, the result is a fantastic piece of work that questions the very concepts of religion, authority, and propaganda. Is faith merely a measure of control? Can authorities ever really be trusted? Why does the game suddenly look like 8-bit graphics? These are the kind of questions you'll find in a game that is a lot more than a story about nuns.
In some ways, INDIKA is the gaming equivalent of an arthouse film. It is a creation that foregoes the commercial 'norm' in favour of a narrative that far exceeds the story script and has an art style that is deliberate and even surreal at times. Just the sort of things that make the game an ideal opportunity for virtual photography. At least it would, if there was a photo mode.
That compatibility is partly because, as a derivative art form itself, virtual photography thrives on the creativity of video games that provide the inspiration, and of course, the assets with which to make new photographic works. That's actually one of the greatest advantages of virtual photography; each new character is another potential subject; new worlds a chance to shoot unseen vistas, but INDIKA has something more.
A game that confidently flaunts its own art style like this will always become an influence on the work that derives from it, and one that dares to be different can even lead photographers out of their comfort zones to try something different.
That edge of surrealism and even the unconventional soundtrack cut against the often dour setting and colour palette, while the presentation is just wonderful throughout. There is cinematic camera work here that shows off exactly the kind of frames that you know you want to compose. Or maybe you won't know until seeing them, that is exactly how inspiration works after all.
The fact that the main character is a young, reserved orthodox nun rather than another iconic warrior offers a completely different kind of heroine to photograph too. The devil himself, who accompanies and teases her with delightful "what if" dilemmas, may just set the tone with temptations to take shots that deviate from popular trends.
People might like seeing the familiar, but they are more influenced by something unexpected, and influence is one of the greatest powers that artwork can have. By putting a photo mode in a game like INDIKA, this art space would be all the richer.
Anyone with the game would have the opportunity to create work that echoes the studio's own underlying sentiments, or indeed to use it as inspiration to convey a narrative of their own. You only need to look at some of the work captured using third party PC camera tools to see what can be done.
It's admittedly not the kind of game that you could imagine becoming the darling of virtual photography to be shot on repeat by the masses, but why would that matter? It doesn't! The point would be that, just like in the arthouse spirit, this would be a chance to see in-game photography that explores different ideas and is a bit more unique. Or perhaps a better word is, unorthodox.
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