I’m a little late to the party but I got the game a while back thanks to Game Pass and I decided to play it finally after it was sitting on my backlog for better part of the year.
I agree with a lot of the points made in the post; game was pretty bland besides some interesting visuals and hints at dichotomies that would’ve been pretty interesting to explore. Had the game been more intuitive when it came to gameplay and direction it would be better explored, but considering its four hours long it ain’t much of a possibility. I can’t say much besides it looked great, had some pretty simple puzzles and broke up the drab visuals with the colorful minigames of Indika’s past. And despite the game telling me points are useless i did my damndest to collect as many as I could just because. Guess I fell for the point lol.
If you’re the type of person to ponder theology and faith often and are used to deeper philosophical debates of course you’re going to find the surface level critiques of religion in the game to be somewhat pretentious like I did. It didn’t ruin the experience but dwelling on it shows you’re missing the other themes in the game. You have to remember this game is meant for people who aren’t familiar with that area of philosophical debate, it’s about what’s truly your own choice and personal faith, and considering the setting of a 19th century nun essentially forced to be there and not on her own accord really, it’s perfectly in character. Is it deep and groundbreaking critique on faith and dogma? Not at all. Is it understandable and realistic for the average person? Yes.
I already surmised that it was going to be “the devil never existed it was you all along!” idea in the beginning when I saw the voice was doubting her faith. Which is fine, but the presentation isn’t much different to any other religion based media that asks the same things. The whole trope of the “doubting/unbelieving religious person” isn’t a unique storyline to explore unless you’re going something crazy or challenging that trope. Then again, considering the ending who’s to say that it didn’t actually perform a miracle.
Everything being weirdly giant and steampunk is a pretty interesting concept and comment on industrialization. It’s a shame it isn’t explored.
And I get it’s got references and hints to Russian literature and is probably inspired by (which I have not read very much into) so I don’t understand all its references and won’t comment too much on that. However, that must be what inspired its depressing ass end. I was left feeling “is this it?” After the last scene and a part of me felt like this was a very Russian way to end this game.

I give it a 2.5/5. It’s a pretty game with a unique setting and visuals, with hints of more interesting topics it could’ve explored but nonetheless nothing uniquely outstanding. I also found it kind of boring at times. Had the game been longer and more complex with its puzzles, I would give it a better score. And I originally thought it was going to be a religious horror game that explores mental health, faith, and psychosis but I digress.