Monday, October 21, 2013

IOS Spotlight #24: Indigo Lake

Title: Indigo Lake
Developer: Three Cubes
Platforms: IOS Universal
Price: $1.99
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Between the endless Slender clones, horror on IOS can sometimes seem to be lacking. Games like The Nightjar, Year Walk, and Home are shining examples of horror done right on the platform and now we can add Indigo Lake to the upper echelon of IOS horror titles.
From its opening moments, Indigo Lake drops the player into an atmospheric eerie landscape. You begin on a swaying boat under a cloud-choked sky pierced by lightning. Before long, you've reached land, an forested island where the trees rock ominously in the wind and disembodied sounds echo across the landscape. The island is surprisingly open, to the point that you're given a Jeep to traverse the world, and the abandoned cabins, the dolls hanging from trees, the odd structures found deep in the woods, all add to the atmosphere and tone. You never feel comfortable or safe.
Nor should you, because the island may be abandoned but it's not uninhabited. Ghostly beings stalk you through the woods and watch you from the shadows, wait for you in the cabins and houses across the island. Your trusty handgun can keep them at bay, but Indigo Lake's focus is more on puzzles and exploration than combat. The slower pacing really suits the game and allows you to appreciate the environments.
Perhaps the most striking feature besides the superb horror gameplay are the visuals. Even on less powerful devices such as iPod 4, the game runs extremely well and sports detailed textures, atmospheric lighting, and wonderful little subtleties such as leaves fluttering in the wind. The visuals never cease to impress across the game's seven to eight hour story. 

You can purchase Indigo Lake for $1.99.

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