Back in 2021 ahead of its release, I covered information about Lake, specifically the performance woes of the demo on the Xbox One. Luckily PC players don’t have to worry about that, as the requirements on Steam are fairly low and there isn’t much high-octane action in the life of Meredith Weiss back in 1986. Taking over for her dad as her parents are on vacation, Meredith takes a mid-life crisis without the sports cars and instead goes back to her cozy rural town to deliver everyone’s pre-Amazon deliveries. Some are more enjoyable than others.

While the lovely people of the sleepy little town of Providence Oaks are heavy on character, it is easy to get tired of some of them, particularly the over-written ones. Lake is very story-focused, and I can’t help but admit that sometimes games like this with such a focus on story and not enough on gameplay can lose me. To sum up a majority of the gameplay in a sentence, you drive a mail van around and you deliver everyone’s post, be it large packages or simply junk mail, bills, and birthday cards.

The important part is that you are telling those stories of Meredith and the conflict of her business lifestyle against this life full of friends, family, and familiarity. The 40-something realizes that her life in the big city lacks fulfillment, both in her personal and professional life. There is a decision you have to make over your two weeks in Oregon, one with three options that have heavy implications for Meredith’s future. Even with its somewhat shallow world surrounding the titular lake of Providence Oaks, the point is contemplativeness and meditative thought on how life is shaping up for the software engineer of the 80s.

The colorful and soft-looking artwork (almost Disney or Dreamworks-like) makes the simple “cozy” story and gameplay something perfect for snuggling up under a blanket and drinking something warm and dark. Some days basking in the glow of the morning sunlight, others drenched in typical Oregon rain clouding over your day as you walk and drive around delivering the mail. If there is something I’d have begged for pre-release, it would be for Meredith to have the ability to say “morning,” or something simple (postman/person-like) to say to people she passes while walking around.

I say this as there are no animations for her getting in and out of the truck, with scripted conversations for each day being similarly fade-to-black, fade-up. She has dialog to mumble to herself when something looks like bills, so a simple button to cycle through greetings wouldn’t have gone amiss as she slowly walks around. There is a button to “speed her up,” but gentle speed-walking isn’t much of a heightened pace. That is of course a problem with the setting more than Lake itself. America is a place that looks at foot traffic and pedestrian mobility as second-class.

The story of Meredith coming to realize her life is changing is actually quite charming, even if you have to turn the hippy-dippy generic North Western indie pop down to enjoy it. I get that it is to set the mood and that it was impossible to license 80s hits. However, as I’ve said recently, everyone has a subscription to a music streaming platform. To get back to the story, it is sometimes funny in its awkward moments. Not the annoying Miss Jenkins, Mickey’s out-of-tune guitar as he worbles the same lines, or the guy playing Space Invaders at the motel.

The slight “jank” of Lake leans into its charm as you awkwardly stumble through conversations with Robert while Mo tries to poke you into forcing a relationship with the lumberjack. Not to mention the phone calls from the parents as you tell busy-body dad to chill his jets and stop your mother from telling you to jump on a lumberjack’s idea of space mountain. Top this off with conversations with your boss as he tries to get you to do work from home since I guess remote wasn’t an option in the 80s. He eventually tries to tease you back to work with something big.

I chose the romantic option, which sounds like a spoiler until you realize I haven’t mentioned what it is. Nor do I plan on doing so. Only 16 percent of players on Steam picked the same option. The choices themselves are fairly simple, and I’d have liked something to make it all pop a little more. As I’ve said, I have a predilection toward balancing the gameplay with the story, and maybe that’s where I think Lake fell a little short.

The gameplay feels as if it fills an obligation more than it does something out of a desire to be there: The van has four buttons to control it, brake, accelerate, horn, and get out. It feels light to control and there is nothing in terms of a damage model to speak of to “punish” mistakes. Outside of the desired story segments, the world feels segmented off and it feels like there is very little in terms of interactivity. These aren’t deal breakers, they just cement that you aren’t supposed to care about the world itself but more about the people of Providence Oaks.

Despite my gripes with Mrs Jenkins going on and on as well as the weightlessness of the van making its control lackluster, I don’t hate Lake. Quite the opposite. I purposefully mentioned a hot drink a moment ago, a call back to another mail delivery title I covered this year that’s almost all about character too, Mail Time. That mundanity and mindlessness of gameplay is something I enjoy when the world is so inviting, though I think there is a level of separation between the world and yourself that holds you at arm’s length.

Ultimately, Lake is a snack of simplicity as you take on the life of Meredith Weiss, odd graphical glitches here or there aside, and gives you a chance to connect with a few characters in the idyllic Providence Oaks. There will be some (more than myself) who will begrudge the simplicity of small-town living and the lack of overall explosive excitement. No one is getting pregnant at a young age or fighting the things making crop circles over at Farmer Jack’s. Gamious made a lovely calm game about friends, relationships, and self-discovery that is just warm and happy as you idly drive to your next stop.

A PC review copy of Lake was provided by Whitethorn Games for this review.

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Lake

$19.99

7.5

Score

7.5/10

Pros

• A warm, cozy, comfort of a game that's so inviting.
• The RV ending.
• Such a beautiful art style.

Cons

• If the world is this disconnected, why no endless mode?
• A couple of graphical glitches pulling you out of its world.