Lake (PC) Review

Meredith Weiss takes two weeks off from her tech job in the big city and goes straight to Providence Oaks. There she'll be delivering the mail, covering her father's spot for a week or so, and naturally meet up with the folk that live around the beautiful lake that's right next to her hometown. That's all there is to it? Pretty much so, yeah. Meredith drives her truck, goes outside, puts mail in the mailbox, and repeats the process for about 10-20 times before heading home and call a friend, watch a movie, or read a book. Occasionally she will be required to go to the back of the truck, slowly open it and get a package, then slowly walk toward the door, ring the doorbell, engage in some small talk, and then slowly go back to the truck. Slowly.

Slow. This is the word that can describe Lake. Every city boy or girl who has spent a week in a calm, peaceful village knows how that feels - and that's certainly a compliment, both to those villages, as well as the game. It's a weird kind of pleasure. You just drive around, listen to generic, super-soothing country music, and deliver mail while enjoying the view. It's not for everyone, of course. Those expecting some sort of world-threatening villain, or mystic, Lovecraftian cults hidden under the guise of a simple place or whatnot can keep expecting. The fun in here is really in the act of getting immersed into this simple life and stopping to smell the flowers. Can that carry the whole game, however?

It's important to note that there are two things on offer here. First there is the whole driving-and-delivering-mail bit. The second part is the occasional conversation with the denizens of Providence Oaks. Meredith will talk with a variety of characters, some more colourful than others, get to know them better as this goes on, and essentially experience a variety of mini-stories. Here's the thing, though: none of it leaves an impact, and it's thus hard to stay invested. These dialogue sequences rarely lead to anything. It all feels like small talk. The kind you want to avoid while doing your work, and a nosy customer starts yammering about what her cat eats… which is basically what happens here.

Life is Strange had a somewhat similar vibe with Lake, in the sense that it had a purposely relaxing pace and atmosphere (never mind the whole space-time continuum manipulation), but the "meat" of it all was the drama between the characters. Lake by comparison plays it too safe. It's almost impossible to feel anything about anyone because the writing is of average quality. As an example, during conversations there are usually multiple dialogue options, and yours truly would always pick the most sarcastic or rude line to spice things up, but the end result would always be mild at best. It doesn't help that faces lack any emotion. It's easy to forgive low-budget indie titles for having bad lip-syncing, but it's hard to accept how dead the eyes of its characters look. At least the voice acting is decent to good. That's always a plus in such titles.

At the end of the day, even if the writing manages to click with you, this doesn't avoid becoming a chore. Is it a bad thing that this is slow-paced? No. Is it probably too slow? Oh, most definitely, yes. From the walking and the… slightly faster walking, to the freaking unskippable dialogue, this feels less 'relaxing slice of life' and more 'boring and tedious.' Sure, that's the idea here. Take it slow and forget about the chaos of the city, but that doesn't mean this should be so sleep-inducing. And by the way, the radio station plays the same three or four country songs again and again…

The final nail in the coffin is those elements that hurt the atmosphere, which is actually the best thing on offer. Forget some rough edges, like floating bushes or trees, of the fact that Meredith floats when "falling" from a cliff or occasionally gets eaten by the ground. The problem is that there's zero interactivity. The few cars that roam the streets patiently wait for you to deliver the mail, and the drivers crash with Meredith's truck and don't care at all. Flavour text in nowhere to be seen, the NPCs behave like lifeless automatons, and the streets are almost empty. It's a post-apocalyptic setting, minus the apocalypse bit.