Indigo Lake Review

Genuinely scary games are something of a rarity on the iOS market, but one developer that seems to have nailed it with previous spine-tinglers 7 Deadly Dolls and The Woods is Three Cubes Research, who have taken the psychological horror genre by storm. Their latest endeavor, Indigo Lake, is a first-person open world survival horror game set around an abandoned lake resort. It's an expansive standalone adventure that somehow manages to surpass anything Three Cubes Research have previously created.

In Indigo Lake, players take on the role of a paranormal investigator who is sent to find missing-in-action specialist Dr. Everett and put the supernatural happenings to rest. In first-person view, equipped with a hand-gun and an impressive Google-Glass style headset, players can navigate freely around the huge 3D environment either on foot or by driving a 4x4 vehicle. Controls are in the traditional style of a first-person shooter, using the left thumb to move or steer and the right thumb to look around with a tap on the perimeter to fire the weapon.

Indigo Lake is best experienced first hand, so many of the haunting aspects of the game are best left untold, but I will admit to having jumped out of my skin and feeling very unsettled throughout. The adventure game style puzzles were quite challenging and considerably well thought-out. The low texture levels work incredibly well at creating a ghostly atmosphere, and the enhanced visuals are created through lighting effects, which all-in-all makes for an especially haunting experience. The emphasis on sound design truly stands out from the very beginning. The sepulchral rumbles and tortured screams are very disturbing and most certainly unsettling. Some additional features added to the game are a nice touch. One is the opportunity for players to record their own videos straight from the game to camera-roll, something quite unprecedented.

Three Cubes Research have done a great job on Indigo Lake, but unfortunately I still managed to come across a giant flaw, which has since been discovered. If players die before saving the game will reload right from the beginning, which, infuriatingly, I had the horror of finding out. The best work around for this is to save often by rotating the device to portrait and clicking the file icon with the down arrow, followed by the green confirm button.

Indigo Lake is an effectively chilling experience which fans of the horror genre can not afford to miss. Anyone looking for a good scare will definitely appreciate this one.