Indie games have come a long way in recent years, often putting out games that can surprise and delight us. However sometimes, these games are also meant to get at a deeper meaning. Sometimes these games will challenge us and make us reflect on our own inner psyche. Games like Leila from Ubik Studios is one such game. This short point and click narrative puzzle game gives us more moments of tension, struggle, and searching for self forgiveness than happy joyous moments. 

Leila tells the story of the titular character reliving her memories, for better or worse. While exploring the world through her memories, we see that life is not always what we choose to remember. In fact, through Leila's eyes, we see life can be burdened by the things we choose to forget or repress. Life is all about the journey and Leila's can be seen as a humble close to home journey. This isn't a negative, in fact, this is a positive when it comes to the narrative strength of Leila. 

Leila's life story is not always for the faint of heart. In fact, there are moments where a parent playing this game may feel it is too close to home or too out there to be believed. While the entire game, if you can quickly solve the puzzles, takes just over an hour to complete, that hour can be quite intense. How does it feel to be seen as nothing more than mother? How does it feel to fall into a routine all too often? Leila explores this quickly to leave you reflecting on your own life.

Narrative

In our first of Leila's memories, we find ourselves at a coffee shop, trying to write our next novel. It's at this moment that we start to see how Leila's life has become more about appeasing others than herself. Leila sends drafts of a novel to an editor only to hear it isn't good enough. She needs to sell, fit the mold, so it’s time to write something else. Leila is already being told to appeal to the masses and she does. Something is missing in her life but she doesn't face this reality head on just yet, instead appealing to sell her novel. 

As it turns out, this habit of appealing to others is something that has been with her for some time. As a teenager we see her trying out different looks representing her desire to fit in. In fact, it is not enough to fit in but also to be valued by those she finds desirable. We see this in her images with her boyfriend and how she talks about him. Only to see he has seemingly has lost interest and clips her out of his life on social media. It feels like at this moment, her worth is only based on how valuable others see her. A shame, but as someone who remembers what it was like to be a teenage girl, it was very real. 

We see more and more moments of Leila feeling trapped, disconnected, detached, and sometimes, just depressed. Her self worth is her being an author, a mother, a wife, but what about just being Leila? The parts of her end up being more important than the whole. I won't go through each aspect of the story to keep some surprises. Overall, it just seems to remind us to hold onto ourselves in a world where its easy to lose yourself or become the curated version you create. 

Gameplay

Again, the game is actually quite short spanning just four chapters with only one feeling more potentially joyous than others. Leila is about the journey of self-forgiveness and self worth. It's about having moments where you reflect on life and understand that it is so much more than just a handful of exciting moments. 

Of course, despite its beautifully drawn imagery and the at times comforting and at other times depressing soundtrack that accompanies it, it is not a perfect game. I do love a good puzzle game, however at times, there were puzzles that seemed less than intuitive. Although I’ll admit, once I used the hint on one puzzle, the rest of it fell into place.

There are moments of gore and self harm in the game, but thankfully for those who may not be comfortable, this can be skipped. You’ll still receive a summary of the chapter, without the imagery that accompanies it. It’s a testament to the developers allowing players to explore the story at their own pace and comfort level. As a personal suggestion, players should explore all the chapters as it is the ability to be uncomfortable in the moments with Leila that make the game worthwhile.

Art and Music

Leila includes cut scenes that are beautiful and sometimes haunting. The hand drawn imagery feels smooth, clean, and something about this brings the emotions to the forefront. Perhaps these smooth animations allow us to feel invested in the moment. In these familiar hand drawn environments, the focus is in the beauty or the horror of the moment. As Leila hides in her room after feeling disposed of by her boyfriend, the moment of her tearing at her own skin feels raw, vulnerable, and all too true.

The music lends itself to the atmosphere all too well. In the moments where Leila is viewing the world with rose colored glasses, the music reflects this. As we see Leila removing the facade and allowing herself to feel what she felt in those moments, the music feels darker. Those upbeat notes are replaced with piano notes that reveal a true sadness that lurks beneath. These small touches are what help make Leila’s story truly come to life.

Final Thoughts

Leila tells a story that most people should hear. It gets to the truth of ourselves in the hustle of each day with who we are and how we navigate life. However, at times, the story feels a bit rushed. We explore these moments with Leila and she opens up rather quickly. Some of these moments felt too quick or rushed through. In some ways, I wish this game would have been a bit longer to elaborate on certain moments and feelings. We know her marriage has become stagnant and yet we get very few glimpses as to why. By the end, we see she is more hopeful and free after a full day with this game console. Was her journey to self-forgiveness simply one day long?

With a story that is extremely personal and reviewing moments of pain, regret, and eventually self-acceptance, it feels like the pacing was just a bit too quick. That aside, anyone who has faced any level of struggle, identity crisis, or challenge will find moments of relating with Leila. For a debut game from Ubik Studios, it’s actually an incredible start and I look forward to seeing what they put out in the future should they continue with deep narrative story telling.

Leila is currently out on Steam and GoG and will release to PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox on April 17th. Leila was played on Steam during this review. Thank you to Ubik Studios for the review code.