I always appreciate when indie games try to experiment and take bold risks. In this case with Lake developers over at Gamious took a big risk right out the gate at essentially making a mailman simulator. Originally released back in September of last year on Xbox and PC, but only just recently got PS4 and PS5 releases. For the most part, Lake actually kind of worked for me, assuming you are in the right headspace going into it. I’ve been working a lot lately, and I’ve just been wanting to come home, decompress, and just chill. What this game offers are a nice, peaceful experience that was very much what I needed to just zone out and not really require any kind of skill to complete.
The game takes place in 1986 in a very small town that surrounds a beautiful lake that’s called Providence Oaks. The townsfolk call the town P.O. for short and I just had to take a moment to appreciate that little post office joke. You play as Meredith Weiss who is a big city woman who grew up in this small town as a kid, but hasn’t been back in many years. Taking over postmen duties for her father for two weeks, Meredith begins to appreciate what makes a small town like this so magical in its own way, as well as rekindling friendships from her past. The entire story takes place in a span of two weeks and during regular work hours is where the gameplay comes in.
This is where Lake may lose a lot of its potential audience, the gameplay itself is very bare bones and often rather clunky with that frustrating feeling of a lack of polish. You have a truck to drive around. A map that identifies where all the stops you have to make are and that’s about it. When you get to each destination to deliver mail, you’re mostly just dropping letters off in the mailbox or grabbing a large parcel from your truck and taking it to the front door. Unless you make a stop at a particular home that introduces you to a recurring character, that’s where you’ll be presented with conversation and dialogue choices. That’s all there really is to it. The voice acting and dialogue is mostly alright and serviceable, but it was never super intrinsic or engaging.
There’s a bit of something more “between the lines” in the experience of playing this game though, all of the issues aside that feeling of repetition and traveling around this beautiful little town really began to click with me and made me realize how relaxing it was to play something that isn’t extremely stimulating, but instead wants you to take your time and enjoy the scenery. For that alone I think this is a very unique experience, but I guarantee it may not be something many players will have any interest in even trying. Which is a shame, but with its lack of polish I also struggle to debate against that opinion. Sure, walking around is agonizingly slow and robotic to the point where I’d rather get into the truck just to get to the house next door, and yeah, the radio seems to only have like less than 5 songs that play on loop, but the little story (while doesn’t always land in places) is charming enough and the mailman simulator experience sounds kind of awful in theory, it actually turned out to be a relaxing one for me. It’s a tough one to recommend, but I had a fun experience with it this week after some long work days.
7.5/10
For more information, visit: https://www.gamious.com/portfolio/lake/
Gaming since I was given an original Nintendo as a kid. I love great storytelling and unique ingenuity. When both collide in a single game, I'm a happy gamer. Twitter/IG @NickNavarro87
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