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Lake , developed by Netherlands - based studio Gamious , could be described as a portmanteau word ofFirewatchand a mail delivery simulator - but it ’s not quite clean if that ’s skillful or bad . It ’s a very cozy experience , exploring a little town in the wild of Oregon , and there ’s plenty of interesting people to adjoin . On the other hand , the pace is often painfully deadening and make it hard to stay invested .
pose in 1986,Laketells the tarradiddle of Meredith Weiss as she have two weeks off from her tech problem in a big metropolis to return to her hometown of Providence Oaks , Oregon . She pass those two weeks taking over for her father as the ring armor delivery soul so that her parents can take an lengthened vacation . While house , she reunites with old friends , makes new ones , and is exit wondering whether she should stay there or go back to her caper in the city .
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By conception , thevisuals and gameplay are simpleand aim to bring home the bacon a restful experience to its role player . Gameplay can essentially be boil down to delivering chain mail , discourse with occupier , the periodic fetch quest and after - work bent out , and a phone - call at the end of the dark to progress the overall story . Visually , Lakelooks like abeautiful PlayStation 2 titlewith modern lighting effects which , like Meredith , helps the actor experience a specific sort of serenity that comes from nostalgia .
Unfortunately , give up the mail is the sapless part ofLakeand it is what players will be doing for over half of the total playtime . On PC , driving is done with the arrow key and using the mouse will just move the television camera alternatively of the steering roulette wheel , which is also useless because the camera will break down back to its original position after a few second . Thisbad driving mechanicis not only counter - nonrational to other microcomputer driving experience , but it ’s also a shift from controlling Meredith as her orientation is controlled with the shiner .
The other issue is that Meredith walks incredibly slow and what would be a " ravel " or " jog " input is abridge to a firm manner of walking , which does n’t make Meredith find much faster . This progress to an already slowly - paced game feel slow and a bit irritating after a while .
WhereLakeshines is in its characters . Meredith , Miss Jenkins , Angie , Frank , and Kay ; these are all name calling that the player will get to know intimately as they get more and more comfortable with the town . The writing for each character is generally very good and thedialogue highlights their personality , but there are moments where it feels besotted . Meredith can choose different talks choice which will square off how she forms relationships and how the town will come to watch her . The only issue that come out of these interaction is some instances of squeeze Latinian language which gets hard to navigate when the player did n’t designate for it , but all the dialogue options flirt into it regardless .
Overall , Laketells a beautiful story , has nuanced and interesting type , and has an environment that feels comforting and inviting . What detracts from the experience is , alas , the game’stedious tasks and slow pace . This combination makes it heavy to allow for the experience with a clear opinion about the time spent in Providence oak , but what is clear is thatLakewill utterly fulfill players who finger like they require to escape and spend some metre take it slow and easygoing .
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Lakereleases September 1st , 2021 for PC , Xbox One X / S , and Xbox Series X / S. Screen Rant was provide with a Steam Key for the purposes of this review .