Why pick a cozy game? Well, since there is no such thing as a good Christmas game, as the holiday itself can’t really carry a whole game, I thought “maybe pick something which goes with the spirit of Christmas,” so I started looking at the cozy genre.
This isn’t really my thing, I see this genre more as something to do with my hands when I am listening to a podcast, as I tend to find the gameplay loop of these kind of games pretty boring (foreshadowing).
As for what do I know about this game, its an indie game, that’s it.
So, let’s get on with it.
Story & Setting
The year is 1986, you play as Meredith Weiss, 40 something years old overworked programmer, returning to her hometown of Providence Oaks after being away for over 20 years.
Her reason for returning is a simple one, to temporarily take her father’s position at the post office for 2 weeks, just so her parents can have a much deserved vacation in Florida.
Although the town itself hasn’t changed much, the people sure have, while on the job, Meredith will connect with faces both new and old, while enjoying a little piece of idyllic life in rural US.
Will this experience be a life changing one? Its for you to decide.
Her reason for returning is a simple one, to temporarily take her father’s position at the post office for 2 weeks, just so her parents can have a much deserved vacation in Florida.
Although the town itself hasn’t changed much, the people sure have, while on the job, Meredith will connect with faces both new and old, while enjoying a little piece of idyllic life in rural US.
Will this experience be a life changing one? Its for you to decide.
Presentation
The game uses a cartoony semi-realistic artstyle, when it comes to expressions, characters are pretty stiff, with a very limited range, most of the time you will get a slight head tilt, or a minuscule almost unnoticeable eye squint, even with those limitations, the artstyle does achieve what the game is going for, which is a chill and homey vibe, and I do say, that they did perfected it, in the DLC.
In some occasions, the game even cut corners, and some characters don’t even have models, instead, you interact with them via the phone, or through a door, sneaky but a smart solution, since most of these characters have one-off appearances, with the exception of Steve, and Meredith’s parents (whom do get models in the DLC).
Providence Oaks looks alright, pretty much the standard small town USA, with a few landmarks which give it a little more personality, although you won’t be delivering to them everyday, you can still pass them by while driving, they do help with the immersion.
In some occasions, the game even cut corners, and some characters don’t even have models, instead, you interact with them via the phone, or through a door, sneaky but a smart solution, since most of these characters have one-off appearances, with the exception of Steve, and Meredith’s parents (whom do get models in the DLC).
Providence Oaks looks alright, pretty much the standard small town USA, with a few landmarks which give it a little more personality, although you won’t be delivering to them everyday, you can still pass them by while driving, they do help with the immersion.
Some buildings have pretty detailed interiors, like Meredith’s home, the post office, the blockbuster, and the general store, although I did notice some anachronisms with some of the parody movies inside the blockbuster, but its not a deal breaker thing.
There aren’t that many characters, on occasion, you can even see random NPCs walking around town, or in the background (especially in the Diner), and, although rare, you can see other cars while you drive around, the town may be small, but, it ain’t a ghost town.
There is a lot of nature, and some of the little details around the forest do look quite pretty.
The DLC, adds Christmas decorations, and changes the entire map to winter, which does increase the coziness.
The weather also helps on enhancing the atmosphere, and, there its truly a vibe to drive around while its raining/snowing.
Still, the visuals, limited as they are, do bring a very cozy and relaxing atmosphere, which does make the game feel far more lighthearted than the fact is tagged as mature would make you believe.
As for the sound department, since the cast is quite limited, for both main game and the DLC, the voice acting is surprisingly good, all characters have recognizable voices, and they can make up for the limited animations with pretty good performances. Some of the most memorable moments in the game, are thanks to how good the voice acting is at that given moment.
Although I did found the little radio segment, pretty annoying and a massive nothing burger of an addition, to be fair, its pointlessness does emulate how pointless those special segments are in real life radio.
Music however, even the game jokes about the fact that the radio station has a very limited playlist, the same few songs will be playing on loop, and, yes, it gets old, to the point that I turned off the radio and just listened to my own music instead.
Outside the radio music, background ambiance is almost non-existent.
There aren’t that many characters, on occasion, you can even see random NPCs walking around town, or in the background (especially in the Diner), and, although rare, you can see other cars while you drive around, the town may be small, but, it ain’t a ghost town.
There is a lot of nature, and some of the little details around the forest do look quite pretty.
The DLC, adds Christmas decorations, and changes the entire map to winter, which does increase the coziness.
The weather also helps on enhancing the atmosphere, and, there its truly a vibe to drive around while its raining/snowing.
Still, the visuals, limited as they are, do bring a very cozy and relaxing atmosphere, which does make the game feel far more lighthearted than the fact is tagged as mature would make you believe.
As for the sound department, since the cast is quite limited, for both main game and the DLC, the voice acting is surprisingly good, all characters have recognizable voices, and they can make up for the limited animations with pretty good performances. Some of the most memorable moments in the game, are thanks to how good the voice acting is at that given moment.
Although I did found the little radio segment, pretty annoying and a massive nothing burger of an addition, to be fair, its pointlessness does emulate how pointless those special segments are in real life radio.
Music however, even the game jokes about the fact that the radio station has a very limited playlist, the same few songs will be playing on loop, and, yes, it gets old, to the point that I turned off the radio and just listened to my own music instead.
Outside the radio music, background ambiance is almost non-existent.
Mechanics
The gameplay loop is pretty simple and straight forward.
You start at the post office, and have all your delivery locations for the day on your map, you are free to go about it any way you want. You are free to roam around Providence Oaks as much as you want, and you can explore both on your truck or by foot.
The day will only end, once you have delivered all the mail, and have returned the truck to the post office, although time does seemingly pass, there is no actual time limit within the day.
Weather doesn’t have any noticeable effect on driving, and the same can be said for driving off-road.
If you can’t be bothered, the game does offer auto-pilot, but, its limited to specific landmarks.
When it comes to walking, you can walk, and, you can walk slightly faster, that’s it.
As for delivering the mail, it ain’t rocket science, for regular mail, just approach the mail box, for packages, you have to get them from the back of the truck, the game won’t allow you to deliver incorrect boxes, and, if you forget to pick it up, it will simply remind you.
While delivering the mail, you will interact with some of the residents, since the game doesn’t really has an overarching story, you have to make do with these interactions, its a slice-of-life through and through. Since talking is unavoidable, unless you feel like hitting the skip button, you are forced to talk with everybody.
You start at the post office, and have all your delivery locations for the day on your map, you are free to go about it any way you want. You are free to roam around Providence Oaks as much as you want, and you can explore both on your truck or by foot.
The day will only end, once you have delivered all the mail, and have returned the truck to the post office, although time does seemingly pass, there is no actual time limit within the day.
Weather doesn’t have any noticeable effect on driving, and the same can be said for driving off-road.
If you can’t be bothered, the game does offer auto-pilot, but, its limited to specific landmarks.
When it comes to walking, you can walk, and, you can walk slightly faster, that’s it.
As for delivering the mail, it ain’t rocket science, for regular mail, just approach the mail box, for packages, you have to get them from the back of the truck, the game won’t allow you to deliver incorrect boxes, and, if you forget to pick it up, it will simply remind you.
While delivering the mail, you will interact with some of the residents, since the game doesn’t really has an overarching story, you have to make do with these interactions, its a slice-of-life through and through. Since talking is unavoidable, unless you feel like hitting the skip button, you are forced to talk with everybody.
On occasion, those interactions will lead to side-quests, either giving you another delivery, or giving you a hang out event, either in the afternoon, or at night, hang-out events won’t overlap, for the most part. They are completely optional, its more of a way to give more life to the town, and, if you don’t feel like doing them, you can just reject them.
Most of the hang-out events have to do with getting to know other characters, or reconnecting with old acquaintances of the main character, and, since the main game has 2 love interests, you can also progress their respective routes. There are quite a lot of sub-plots to get involved in, some mandatory which will just happen, many optional which will let you choose if you want to keep advancing it.
Even if you refuse, most stories and sub-plots will still allow you to get back in, although, without prior context, and the game will just play out as if your character did them and knows what happened.
Once you have finished your deliveries, and returned the truck to the post-office, the game will automatically fast forward to either the afternoon if you made plans with someone, or to the evening.
At evening, an event will always play, either receiving a call, and/or playing an event, if you don’t have anything planned, you will get to choose between watching TV, or reading a book, or do a side-quest if its available, whichever you choose will play a little event, and then fast forward to the next day.
That’s it for the gameplay, but, let’s quickly go over the DLC.
Season’s Greetings, its a prequel to the main game, in which you play as Meredith’s dad during Christmas of 1985 up to New Year. Its shorter than the main game, but, it also has some different characters involved, gameplay wise its pretty much the same, it gives some more characterization of the town, and we get to meet Meredith’s parents and get to see their life in Providence Oaks.
Since its a prequel, it can’t diverge too much from what happens in the main game, and I’d argue, that some of what happens in the main game, makes a lot of the themes of Season’s Greetings feel pretty pointless in retrospect.
Most of the hang-out events have to do with getting to know other characters, or reconnecting with old acquaintances of the main character, and, since the main game has 2 love interests, you can also progress their respective routes. There are quite a lot of sub-plots to get involved in, some mandatory which will just happen, many optional which will let you choose if you want to keep advancing it.
Even if you refuse, most stories and sub-plots will still allow you to get back in, although, without prior context, and the game will just play out as if your character did them and knows what happened.
Once you have finished your deliveries, and returned the truck to the post-office, the game will automatically fast forward to either the afternoon if you made plans with someone, or to the evening.
At evening, an event will always play, either receiving a call, and/or playing an event, if you don’t have anything planned, you will get to choose between watching TV, or reading a book, or do a side-quest if its available, whichever you choose will play a little event, and then fast forward to the next day.
That’s it for the gameplay, but, let’s quickly go over the DLC.
Season’s Greetings, its a prequel to the main game, in which you play as Meredith’s dad during Christmas of 1985 up to New Year. Its shorter than the main game, but, it also has some different characters involved, gameplay wise its pretty much the same, it gives some more characterization of the town, and we get to meet Meredith’s parents and get to see their life in Providence Oaks.
Since its a prequel, it can’t diverge too much from what happens in the main game, and I’d argue, that some of what happens in the main game, makes a lot of the themes of Season’s Greetings feel pretty pointless in retrospect.
Final Thoughts
The gameplay is ok, but it gets boring fast, the game is tagged as a walking simulator, and it shows.
The stories themselves can be pretty hit or miss, some characters barely get anything, others get too much, I would say that many of the stories and sub-plots are pointless, but, since its slice-of-life, to be pointless is the point, so it did good on that front.
Delivering the mail is pretty boring, listening to the same music, and getting the same lines from the main character, hoping that the next day I won’t have to drive to the other side of the lake. Interacting with the characters is fine, I did like a few of them, but, there wasn’t much else, which made the basic gameplay loop make me fall asleep.
The game likes to say that choices matter, but, not really, there are barely any consequences from what you decide, for example, I opted to mostly ignore one of the love interests, just for the game to still give me the options to still hang out, and it still gave me the option for her ending, even though I didn’t do any of her hang-out events, although I did do her delivery quests.
Even though the game is short, and I could have tried a 2nd playthrough just to see how much choices actually matter, how boring the gameplay is made not want to do it, those 2 weeks felt like an eternity.
There is a lot of 80s nostalgia within the game as well, I am a zoomer, can’t relate.
I did like the DLC, is more of the boring gameplay sure, but its short and sweet, the main game overstays its welcome, the DLC is just right. I really liked the themes of the DLC, Meredith’s dad is a pretty cool guy, and his friendship with the people around town is very endearing.
The stories themselves can be pretty hit or miss, some characters barely get anything, others get too much, I would say that many of the stories and sub-plots are pointless, but, since its slice-of-life, to be pointless is the point, so it did good on that front.
Delivering the mail is pretty boring, listening to the same music, and getting the same lines from the main character, hoping that the next day I won’t have to drive to the other side of the lake. Interacting with the characters is fine, I did like a few of them, but, there wasn’t much else, which made the basic gameplay loop make me fall asleep.
The game likes to say that choices matter, but, not really, there are barely any consequences from what you decide, for example, I opted to mostly ignore one of the love interests, just for the game to still give me the options to still hang out, and it still gave me the option for her ending, even though I didn’t do any of her hang-out events, although I did do her delivery quests.
Even though the game is short, and I could have tried a 2nd playthrough just to see how much choices actually matter, how boring the gameplay is made not want to do it, those 2 weeks felt like an eternity.
There is a lot of 80s nostalgia within the game as well, I am a zoomer, can’t relate.
I did like the DLC, is more of the boring gameplay sure, but its short and sweet, the main game overstays its welcome, the DLC is just right. I really liked the themes of the DLC, Meredith’s dad is a pretty cool guy, and his friendship with the people around town is very endearing.
The DLC has a lot less sub-plots, but it does make the ones it has count, I really liked the subject matter, and I did feel that this one touches upon some very interesting themes. I also like how the town looks in winter.
All in all, Lake isn’t my type of game, I was solely checking it out for a Christmas review, it has interesting points to make, but the gameplay is far too slow and repetitive for me to fully enjoy it, although I did enjoy my time with the DLC.
If you want a chill game with no stress, and some interesting themes about life and adulthood, Lake is worth checking out. The themes alone were what kept me interested enough to beat the game, and the DLC, and the ending of the DLC was very sweet and thought provoking.
And, that’s that, Merry Christmas.
All in all, Lake isn’t my type of game, I was solely checking it out for a Christmas review, it has interesting points to make, but the gameplay is far too slow and repetitive for me to fully enjoy it, although I did enjoy my time with the DLC.
If you want a chill game with no stress, and some interesting themes about life and adulthood, Lake is worth checking out. The themes alone were what kept me interested enough to beat the game, and the DLC, and the ending of the DLC was very sweet and thought provoking.
And, that’s that, Merry Christmas.
Pros
- + Relaxing and easy to get into.
- + Mostly likeable characters.
- + Has a lot of charm.
Cons
- - Very slow and repetitive gameplay.
- - Almost no variation in soundtrack.
- - Main game is longer than it needs to be.
6
Gameplay
To quote the game itself, "there is a fine line between boredom and relaxation," the gameplay loop is very easy, slow, and repetitive, its so relaxed I almost fell asleep playing.
8
Graphics
There is a charm to the artstyle, and some of the locales are pretty, but it has a few rough edges, like the almost non-existent facial animations, or the occasional bugs with the shadows.
7
Story
The multiple side plots you get involved in, build up to a main theme, which is pretty good, I can understand what the devs were going for, but the pacing is far too slow.
6
Sound
Good voice acting, with some occasional questionable performances, I genuinely got sick of the soundtrack and had to turn off the in-game radio.
3
Replayability
Its slow and short, has multiple endings, but the gameplay loop is far too boring, maybe giving some time between replays might make it better.
6.5
out of 10
Overall
Lake is a slow and simple cozy game, it doesn't want to be anything more, the characters are interesting, and following their storylines can be rewarding with some actually interesting and thought provoking moments, but, the gameplay is so slow a repetitive I had to take breaks from the game because I was falling asleep while playing, driving around and delivering mail is unfathomably boring, who knew? Still, if you want a simple game, which doesn't really offer much on the gameplay department, but has some interesting characters and themes, or, if you simply want a game for relaxing, then, this is a decent pick, not really my cup of tea, but I can see the appeal.
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