What about Indika thinks? |Cultural code of the game

Indika attracted my attention a few years ago. It seems on one of the podcasts Ice-Pick Lodge She was mentioned as an unusual project. But the source is not so important. The game immediately focused on her visual surrealism. A person runs out to the monkey’s mouth to electronic music? I could not miss such a project. And the desire to play only intensified after demo version.

But I, as always, was interested in cultural background. And if visual images and plot moves, I can analyze myself, then I wanted to consult a knowledgeable person about the issues of faith and religious moments. Therefore, the blog is divided into two parts:

A conversation with a former priest, in which I asked questions about religion and faith, the explanation to which I wanted to hear after passing the game.

All pleasant reading!

Cultural code

Design

The design of locations and characters is one of the main storytellers of the game. Many premises in it contain finished stories, the context of which is hidden surrounded. But I am attracted not even by a delightful degree of study, but an outstanding visual style Indika. About many things relating to the design of the game: why the animals are so big and how the environment was built by Dmitry Burdukov in a wonderful video. I want to concentrate on images that could form the basis of design and see if the images of churches from the head were invented, and the “king” and which shrines fill the game. Let’s figure it out.

It is worth starting with us an alternative Russian Empire of the 19th century. What does it mean? That machines and mechanisms penetrate into everyday human life in full swing. And the fact that progress is inevitably encountered with religion. This idea can be traced surrounded by the game. Scenery – either grotesque temples, or monstrous legal mechanisms. And here it would be more logical to describe the game as “Steampank in the Slavic setting”, yet most mechanisms work for a couple. But ODD Meter They came up with their own name – “Tsar-Punk”.

Postscript “tsar” It is firmly associated with the two attractions of the Moscow Kremlin-the king-coal and the king-gun. Monuments of Russian bell and arms art got their name because of their impressive dimensions. Both the bell and the gun are the largest representatives of their species on the planet. Which is ironic, as a result of production errors, both do not function.

IN Indika gigantism is not a spontaneous design decision, but a verified technique with a complete message. Huge cattle, cans with caviar the size of a well, gigantic churches-fortresses and of course bells-you might think that it was precisely because of the total size that the setting received the “Tsar” posture. But I find a paradox here. According to the explanation of the gamyer Dmitry Svetlov – the objects are made huge to show their significance in the lives of ordinary people. Fish fishing is important? – Hold the perch the size of a whale and so on. Accordingly, the more necessary and significantly the object in the life of the usual estate, the more it is “royal”? But this is so, thoughts in the text. I also reminded me of the little heroine against the backdrop of cyclopic creations to the Little Nightmares franchise .

Let’s look at temples and churches. Are there really existing buildings among them? And no. True lies in the nuances. For example, the cathedral from the very beginning of the game. In it you can see the elements of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Mozhaisk and the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. And the belfry resembles the restored part of the Mother of God of the Assumption Monastery.

The Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Mozhaisk

Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin

The belfry of the Mother of God Assumption Monastery

They are similar to each other due to the fact that the signs of the Old Russian cross-domed temple are traced in them. And if we talk about the Assumption Cathedral, then its appearance served as an example of city and monastery cathedrals: a high white -stone vault, narrow slit windows, as well as interior decoration with round and crushed pillars. So it can be assumed that its design has become an inspirer for buildings in the game.

In addition to white -stone churches, in Indika You can find examples of wooden architecture. They also represent a collective image and find something unambiguous in them will not work

Much more interesting things are with the decoration of churches. Again, we can say that they are eclectic and consist of compilation of different images, but among them the primary sources are more clearly guessed. So, for example, the iconostasis of the Cathedral of John Domaskin, in which Indika keeps the path, clearly reminds me of the iconostasis of the Assumption Cathedral of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra. Seeing him at least once, you are unlikely to recognize him in the future.

But there are also quite accurate images of shrines in the game. Paraskeva Friday (hold this name in the head) is found for us several times per game: in the image of a figurine and in the form of an icon. The image for Orthodoxy is unusual. After all, this is a personification of Friday as a day of the week, into which some signs and functions of the main female character of Slavic mythology were transferred – Mokoshi. But such an interpretation is naturally condemned.

For Russians, the saint was also considered the healer of human ailments, especially the devilish obsession, which is relevant for the main character of the game. And while on the icons it was depicted as an ascetic appearance, a woman in a red scarf (muliforia), the popular imagination endowed her with devilish features: high growth, loose hair, long breasts and so on. And although Indica does not fall under such a description, the clash of the spiritual and the devilish for the game is just relevant.

IN Indika other real icons are present. But telling about them something interesting will not work. Yes, each of them has its own story. For example, I managed to find this icon exclusively on some site auction, like a sovereign. But somehow I did not work out with the events of the game. So it’s better let’s talk about narrative.

Narrative

The developers themselves stated that the plot of their work was inspired by the work of Dostoevsky and Bulgakov. And really in Indika you can find something in common from two writers.

From Bulgakov, irony and satire clearly came to the game. His works often contain witty and ironic remarks that allow him to make fun of the shortcomings of society and the political realities of his time. He knew how to combine humor with deep criticism, creating a unique style that distinguished him from other writers.

Mikhail Afanasevich often used fantastic elements in https://jettbetcasino.uk/mobile-app/ his works. He created a world in which reality and fantasy are intertwined, and the boundaries between them are blurred.

And though Indika does not deepen into criticism of politics, in it there is an excess of both ridicules of human vices and humor. When I heard a story about a prisoner during the demo, which draws the paintings with shit – it neighing as not in my senses.

On the other hand, the game is filled with psychologism and all -consuming htonyas (thanks to the snowy Russian expanses). At this point, she very resonates with the work of Mikhail Fedorovich Dostoevsky. After all, psychologism is the most important feature of his works. And he also defined his creative method as fantastic realism, since, in his opinion, there is nothing more fantastic than the soul of a person who is experiencing a conflict with the outside world.

Often the heroin of Dostoevsky’s works – marginals, sleeping people who were at the very bottom of the social elevator. And whom he portrays Indika? – drunkards, corrupt doctors, rapists and unpleasant nuns.

But as Alexander Bursov noted in his review: the game has much larger with the prose of Vladimir Sorokin. Sorokin is a very conceptual and satirical author, who over and over again depicts the world of retro-worshiping, filled with pain of grotesque horror.

Most s Indika Resonates the story “Blizzard”. The heroes of both works are on a long journey through the snowy wasteland of alternative Russia. Both works mix the future and the past: in the game – steam mechanisms, and in the book – in the huts there can be a holographic radio with three required channels. Sorokina is also inhabited by animals of abnormal sizes: there are small horses, the size of a partridge, and there are huge ones – with a three -story house. All due to genetic modernization. These innovations are combined with deliberate archaic: coachmen, sleighs, Luchina, merchants and so on. That’s just about religion in “Bridles” practically not a word.

And if you talk directly about the plot paths and the main conflict, it turns out that all this was already somewhere. But what is the probability that you watched \ read all these books and films? Well, low enough. So the plot of the game works and it is good. Don’t think that I scold him.

Just a monk obsessed with a demon during the time of imperial Russia can be seen in the domestic film “Monk and Demons”. At first, you can even catch the vaibs similar to the game: a monastery, obsessed, surreal miracles and a plot that looks like a gloomy fairy tale. But then the film goes into another path generally.

The story of a nun, who was sent to the monastery against the will, and forced to fight for his freedom – the paths are quite beaten and more than once beaten in cinema. You can recall the “nun” in which the main character turns out to be a true Christian, but refuses to blindly serve religious canons, and even more so to serve individual representatives of the church hierarchy. Well, or the same name remake of 2013, in which similar ideas are moving.

Indika has an injury associated with the first love and death of a lover, on which the rape is then also applied. A similar plot canvas with a nun who has gone crazy can be seen in Viridian.

If you want a similar visual experience so that there is decline, dirt, poverty everywhere, but still there are religious motifs, then look at the “Turin horse” or “satanic tango” from Bela Tarra. The setting there is slightly different, but wools are exceptional.

And in any case, do not forget about Andrei Rublev Andrei Tarkovsky – about the peak of emotional experiences and testing of faith in domestic and in world cinema.

For me, every section with Ilya, the convict with whom Indika travels, resembled the film “Coupe number 6”. In the film, the student also traveled around winter Russia in the company with rude miner Lehoy, performed by Yura Borisov, who only at first glance seems to be a marginal.

And if you want to learn more interesting facts about the game and understand its hidden meaning, be sure to run in reading the Guzak blog

But let’s move on to the most interesting part of the blog.

Conversation with the priest

From the announcement Indika I was wondering how people associated with religion react to the game. For example, a priest. Whether she shocked him with separate moments or left him indifferent? Still, we have a project affecting the important topic of religion. And the image of a nun who communicates with a demon could raise questions from a devout person.

When passing, I only accumulated questions that I would like to ask a knowledgeable person. And not without good people, I managed to go to Sergey Boyko – a former clergyman. Sergey served as a priest in the church of the Holy Great Martyr Paraskeva, the village of Malinovka, Arkadak district, Saratov region from 2008 to 2016. He agreed to answer the questions that interests me and give interpretations to the ambiguous moments of the game. For which thank you very much! Below – the transcribation of our conversation.

🗨 I: Does the clergy have some kind of special attitude towards games? Can they choose this type of leisure? And if so, is there any restrictions?

🗨 Sergey: Yes, priests play different games: both active sports and computer. Restrictions are exposed exclusively by the conscience of the playing. Naturally, the restrictions are all within the framework of the commandments should be. But we are all sinful people, and the priests are exactly the same people and not from heaven, so that no one can control this process.

I very, very rarely play computer games, I practically do not play. We can say that over the past ten years I have not passed a single game and did not even include any. Being a priest, I went through two parts of Dead Space . But this was the only game that I went to the end. She dragged me very strongly with her fear, drama. But after her I did not pass any more. I always thought that playing computer games is just time to waste. And given my part of the gambling, I am very fond of what I like, and I can really spend a lot of time, for example, on computer games. And I have determined for myself that I don’t play computer games.

🗨 I: The main style Indika – This is a grotesque. The temples in the game are distorted: some of them are abnormally large and more like impregnable fortresses, the second unnatural form. But at the same time, the developers are approaching the interior decoration and religious moments with respect: one of the cathedrals with a massive iconostasis resembles the Assumption Cathedral of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. Indica with Petit lights candles in the red corner and on the graves. In her actions, love for God is traced. In moments when her thoughts tormented by a demon, she prays to drown out his attention. But at the same time, we can find a samovar with the Holy Sveta, which is vulgarity.

How much the project with this content is offensive to a believer? And can he play like that?

🗨 Sergey: Regarding what can offend the feelings of believers: in fact, it can be anything. And since there are no clear rules regarding what offends the feelings of believers and what does not insult the feelings of believers, it is determined exclusively by the complaints of those people, so to speak, “conditionally believers”, whom this supposedly hurt. For example, he literally watched the news and there they sued a man who took his photo with friends in the style of Leonardo da Vinci’s painting “Secret Supper”. And now he is accused of that this photo offends the feelings of believers, and, in general, he is involved in this article.

My opinion: there is nothing offensive here. We have fiction, films with images of church utensils, temples, architecture and so on. And it is not always that there are some very positive points. But all this is in cinema and so on. Therefore, there are exclusively only people who will write complaints or will not write complaints. I don’t know if any subcover or competitors can write a complaint that it allegedly insults someone. These are my thoughts regarding insults.

🗨 I: The main artifact of the game is a mysterious cud, which can fulfill any desire. What exactly is it – the game does not say. It looks like a vessel in which the relics of the saint could be stored, but it is not he. The main thing is that Kudets is stored in the church. Two main characters really hope that Kudets will fulfill their desire: Indika will get rid of the demon in his head, and Ilya will grow up.

The church could recognize the existence of such an artifact along with miraculous icons, the relics of saints and other artifacts?

🗨 Sergey: Yes, indeed, the church recognizes the shrines completely diverse things. Up to the point that the moth, which Seraphim of Sarov worked, she also, among other artifacts, lies, for example, there, in my opinion, in the Serafimo-Diveevsky monastery, a pot of cracker dried, drying the cracker. And still in this pot of crackers they dry, give them to believers as a kind of shrine. And therefore, in fact, the church recognizes completely different things that are somehow connected with some shrine. For example, or a holy man used these things in everyday life, or used them in any way, or there really once lying shrines, relics, something else, something else, something else. The church can do this, it is a normal, ordinary practice.

🗨 I: On one of the services, Indika thought and accidentally dropped Kandilo, for which she was punished. If this would happen during the real service, the clergymen would carry for this punishment or the game in this case thickens the colors?

🗨 Sergey: And when someone pumped the candlestick, no one carries a punishment if there were no global damage: maybe there, the candlestick fell, there he damaged the icon near which this candlestick stood;either there was a fire, or something else, as it were, but globally and there is nothing wrong with that. This happens constantly when parishioners touch the candlesticks, and they swing there, maybe the oil will spill out of the lamp or a candle will fall. In general, it is unlucky. And Kadil is called the subject of worship, which priests, clergymen wear on the chain, and waving them, the fragrant smoke spreads through the temple. This is called Kadilo. There are still stationary censers, they are placed in the temple, and there, as a rule, it is near the holy shroud or icon, or relics. And coal is placed there, incense is placed on the coal, and smoke also spreads, but it is not worn. But even if such a thing is dropped, then there is also no punishment for clergymen or for the one who dropped is not provided. If this is about the monastery, the monastery may have its own charter, and they, if some punishment is not written separately for this, there, oral or written, then, respectively, nothing will be for this.

🗨 I: Ilya – a stage that fled from the train, says that God dreamed in the cup. Coincidence or not, but his rotting hand at that moment stopped dying. Is it possible to consider it for the miracle of the Lord or is it not accepted?

In fact, a person can interpret as you like. To which his eyes are imprisoned, then he will see. If he wants to see healing and the divine presence in the event, then the person will adjust everything to this: his brain, emotions, sensations. Therefore, this, again, on the conscience of a man contemplating. That is: who sees what. A person who believes in this event can see the providence of God that the Lord turned to this convict that way. And another person who is less inclined to such an interpretation, he will say, well, this is just a coincidence, it’s time to recover and that’s it. And a trembling in a mug of water is just either a small earthquake, if the mug stood on the table, or there, I don’t know if it is in his hand a tremor from a hangover, so the ripples went and there may not be any God there and there may be no God.

🗨 I: A priest passes under the curtain of the game Ilya, violating the secret of confession. How real a similar situation is in life, and whether such a thing will be porous for other confessors?

🗨 Sergey: Regarding the secrets of the confession that the priest holds: it is really immutable and should always be observed by priests. And she is condemned, really condemned by other priests if the confessor violates her. In times, it means that the Russian Empire was spelled out for priests that the priest could violate the secret of confession if he confesses the offender in the intention to commit a murder against the emperor and the royal family. This, in my opinion, was the only such order in the tsarist times. Now, as I recall, there is, the desktop book of the leadership of the clergyman, there is an indication that the priest can tell a secret if there is really some kind of event in confession, which carries a great damage, harm or something else, without an indication of a name. Something like that, you know, but I, in my opinion, don’t remember exactly whether this is now this order or not. In general, priests can communicate with each other about the confession of another person, but not calling names and exclusively in the context that if you need to get some kind of consultation there, help with some kind of confessed some sin. How to help a person, for example, how to perceive this or that confession correctly. That is, in such a context, communication between priests is possible regarding confessions, but again without specifics, without names, without anything, because, as a rule, everyone knows each other.

🗨 I: The game has a karma system: when we pray or find the relics of the saints, the level of our faith is increasing. And when the heroine speaks with the demon, it decreases. Does the faith have a “karma counter” or the number of good and evil deeds in it is immeasurable?

🗨 SERGE: The point system in matters of faith, according to Christian dogma, do not exist. A striking example is a robber on the cross. He robbed, killed, robbed all his life. The robber on the cross is a person who was hanged next to Jesus Christ. According to Gospel history, that Jesus Christ was crucified on Mount Golgof and two robbers hung on the left side, on the left side. And one glorified the Savior and repented, and said: “Lord, when you will be in your kingdom, remember about me”. And the other, on the contrary, said: “What is it that you say, if He is God, let him get out of the cross and save us with himself”. And Christ forgave that man who repented, fasted, asked for all sins. And this repentant robber is now counted on the face of saints, and he is considered the first person who entered the heaven. That is, the first person who entered the heaven is a robber who killed and rapidly. That’s why the point system does not exist in the church.

The last moment of life is more important, so to speak, in what intention you are, you come to your end. And since no one knows its end, therefore it is very important to always maintain the purity of the thoughts of things and words. And there is such an expression: remember the last hour and you can’t sin down forever [In all your affairs, remember about your end, and you can’t sin forever.sch.

🗨 I: In the climax of the demon, the demon says: “Both God and the demon are you”. And that the demon will go out of my head as soon as she ceases to want it. After that in the end we see that at first the demon is reflected in the mirror, and then the Indica. How you would interpret such an ending? Indica won or the demon completely took possession of her?

🗨 Cergea: Indica won or the demon completely took possession of it? I think she came only to the line, about where she will begin to understand the truth in the fact that really true, lies, justice, injustice, honesty and dishonor are all only our thoughts, interpretations. The truth is somewhere in the place where we have no aversion to unpleasant things, we have no attraction to pleasant things, because nature and pleasant and unpleasant are one-it will appear to disappear. Buddhism teaches so that a person has a desire to get rid of suffering. But a person will suffer until he seeks to get rid of suffering. That is, it is just aversion to unpleasant things. But at the same time, the attraction to pleasant things also immerses a person into the abyss of these suffering, and he will not have peace. And the peace is somewhere in the middle between attraction and disgust, when the moment of contemplation of the unprofitable and at rest, so to speak, comes. And it is precisely this condition that gives a balance, and in general a person accepts everything that happens in life as events that are here now. And at the same time it does not have these drives and disgust. Respectively, has no suffering. Well, something like that. Interpret? Well, that’s how I would interpret it. That she approached a certain truth that goes further. Well, something like that.

Once again I will say that I am glad that such games come out as Indika, who make me think and be interested. If you have similar projects, you can recommend them in the comments, otherwise I have a small game crisis 🙂

This blog has come to an end. I hope you have stressed interesting facts for yourself, and the conversation with the priest was fascinating not only for me.