Preview | Lake |

LifeisXbox’s Lake preview | The second demo I tested that’s featured during LudoNarraCon, is for Lake, a game coming exclusively to PC and Xbox. Lake is a game developed by Dutch studio Gamious and takes place in the ’80s. You play as Meredith Weiss, who takes a break from her career in the big city to deliver mail in her small and quiet hometown called Providence Oaks. You’ll be spending two weeks here as Meredith, taking over her dad’s role as a mail carrier. I didn’t think Lake would really be my kind of game, but as soon as I started playing the demo, I got carried away by the rustic feeling that this game brings. Let me share with you all my thoughts about Lake!

A bit more information

During Meredith’s two-week stay in Providence Oaks, she’ll be running into familiar and new faces. While delivering mail, she’ll engage in chit-chat with people all over town, and it’s up to you to decide who you talk to. There is some basic conversation, but every now and then, you pick what you want to say. You’re steering the conversation, creating friendships, or leaving as quickly as you can. The Steam description even mentions starting a romantic relationship with someone! I did feel a spark with the girl from the video rental place, so I’m hoping gay relations are also possible in the full game! This aside, at the end of the game, you’ll have to decide if Meredith returns to the city, or if she stays in the town she grew up in.

Driving my delivery truck

One thing quickly became clear: I’m a terrible driver. Luckily, this didn’t impact my gameplay too much. The actual delivering part of the game was quite relaxing. You carry around letters and packages, which you have to deliver to people all over town: some live in the ‘town center’, while others are located on the other side of the big ass lake that’s in the middle of the map. There is a minimap that’s quite useful, but if you get lost, there is also a bigger map. I really enjoyed riding around and taking in all of the sights. The graphics aren’t the best ones out there, obviously, but they suffice for this beautiful game. Attention to details was also taken into account, like shadows of trees and rays of sunlight that appeared on my truck. I did encounter some glitches every now and then, but this was to be expected since it’s not a finished game yet. At one point, my feet were stuck in the cement, so that’s was a bit weird. And after finishing my second or third workday, I literally fell through the scenario/map or something??? I don’t know what the hell happened, but it looked like I was floating around above the clouds. I was so confused for a second, but it was clearly a big bug that still needs to be addressed by the developers. Or it was their way of saying ‘this is the end of the demo’ because I couldn’t continue afterward?

The sound aspect, wow!

There can be quite a few things said about the sound aspect of the game. First of all, the game is fully voiced, and I absolutely LOVED this! Every character you meet has a unique voice that suits their personality. I’m sure the game wouldn’t have been half as much fun if there were no voices, so big thumbs up for this. I did feel like the faces of the people didn’t show any emotion really. Someone may have sounded excited or aggravated, but their face always looked blank.

Besides talking to the town folks, you’ll also be spending a lot of time in your delivery truck. Luckily, it has a radio with the perfect tunes! While driving through the forest, every song just made me feel like I was on a road trip! Since I’m a ’90s kid, I never got to experience the ’80s, but from the looks of this game, it seemed quite fun. There are also plenty of sound effects when you’re driving, something I quickly found out when I crashed my truck a few dozen times. But not only if you hit a bush or a street sign, but there are also sound effects when a car drives by, etc. Music will also start playing when you walk into the store, the dinner,… making the experience feel even more real and relaxing!

How is Lake looking so far?

Well, it’s looking quite amazing so far! I’m really excited to see this game fully released because I’m sure it’s going to be just great. There are still things that need the developer’s attention, like the glitches, and the ability to remap controls, but all in all, I dare say the demo impressed me a lot.